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Eating fish at a certain age may protect against asthma
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Consuming fish from 6 months to 1 year of age may protect against developing asthma later on, but babies who consume fish before or after this timeframe may not have the same level of protection, according to study results published online this week.
Jessica Kiefte-de Jong, RD, PhD, of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues reported on data from a cohort of 7,210 children in the Netherlands born between 2002 and 2006. They examined health records of children aged 4 years, who consumed fish at the first 6 months of life, the next 6 months or after 1 year of age.
The researchers noted that 40% to 45% of children who waited until after their first birthdays had wheezing, compared with only 30% of children who consumed fish for the first time between the age of 6 months and 1 year. Children who first had fish before six months of age had similar rates of wheezing to those introduced after age 1.
The amount of fish at age 14 months was not associated with asthma-like symptoms (P>.15).
“There seems to be a window of opportunity between the age of 6 and 12 months in which components in fish may be protective against wheezing,” Kiefte-de Jong told Infectious Diseases in Children.
The researchers noted one main study limitation; specifically, that there was not an objective measurement of asthma noted.
Also, the researchers wrote: “This is an epidemiologic study and thus does not permit final conclusions with respect to the causality of the described associations because residual confounding by other lifestyle factors may exist.”
The researchers concluded, however, that their research may warrant further study.
Disclosure: One researcher received a grant from Pfizer Nutrition to establish a center on aging research, ErasmusAGE; deJonjg is a nutritionist and epidemiologist on staff at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam the Netherlands; the other researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Perspective
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Gary Rachelefsky, MD
This study highlights a need for well-planned prospective studies to evaluate diet or supplements and determine if it could alter the course of asthma or atopy. The results of the study do suggest that there is a way of altering the genetic disposition to asthma through diet manipulation early in life.
There are controversies with food allergy, ie, should introduction to nuts be delayed until later or should the introduction be early on in life. However, the question remains whether it is possible to alter the predisposition to atopy in general through introduction of foods into the child’s diet.
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