Mediterranean Diet Helps Protect Children from Asthma

A newly released study has found that children who eat a Mediterranean diet have increased protection from asthma and allergies that affect the respiratory system.

Researchers from three different countries, Spain, Greece and the U.K, carried out the study. The subjects of the study were children that lived in rural parts of the Greek island of Crete. There were nearly 700 children studied. These living conditions were chosen because children in these rural Create areas have a low incidence of asthma and other respiratory allergies.

The study discovered a few significant features in the diets of the children. It was found that the children ate a diet that contained a lot of fruit and vegetables and these foods helped to protect the children from the respiratory conditions.

The specific organisations involved in the research were the National Heart and Lung Institute in the U.K, Crete's Venezelio General Hospital, the University of Crete and Barcelona's Research in Environmental Epidemiology.

Researchers specifically studied the children to see how often the symptoms of asthma occurred. Reactions such as wheezing and allergic rhinitis were documented. These reactions are generally caused by allergies to pets or dust mites.

A questionnaire was also used to study the eating habits of the children. Both, children between the ages of 7 and 18 and their parents were asked questions about the children's eating habits. There were 58 foods considered from various food groups. These groups were: fruits, fish, cereal, vegetables, meat, dairy, poultry, oils and margarines. The children and parents were asked to say how often they ate each type of food on the list.

The results of the questionnaire showed that 80 percent of the children consumed fresh fruit twice daily. It also found that two-thirds of the children ate fresh vegetables twice daily.

Around 300 of the children were found to have some kind of protective affect against allergic rhinitis and wheezing. In these children it was found that they ate certain foods on a daily basis. These foods included; tomatoes, grapes, oranges and apples. Eating nuts at least three times a week also appeared to give protection against wheezing. Both nuts and red skinned grapes contain nutrients that help fight damaging free radicals. Nuts contain vitamin E which protects cells against free radicals and red skinned grapes contain antioxidants and resveratrol. Reseveratrol helps reduce inflammation.

Nuts are also an excellent source of natural magnesium, a mineral believed to improve the capabilities of the lung and protect against asthma.

The assistant director of Asthma UK, Leane Male, said, "The results of this study add to the existing evidence which indicated that a healthy diet can play an important role in the control of asthma symptoms. They demonstrate that the Mediterranean diet, which traditionally contains higher levels of fresh fruit and vegetables, can have a beneficial effect on asthma symptoms in children."

Sources
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6525237.stm
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_headline=med-diet-tonic-for-asthma--&method=full&objectid=18860730&siteid=66633-name_page.html
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23391603-details/A%20Mediterranean%20diet%20could%20prevent%20childhood%20asthma/article.do