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A study of 9,000 mother/child pairs show an association between high maternal sugar intake during pregnancy and allergy and allergic asthma in their children. Back Page 28 February 2018 Inhalation Prior research has shown a correla- tion between high intake of bever- ages containing sugar and the inci- dence of asthma in children. 1 Now, a study of nearly 9,000 mother/ child pairs by a team from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the University of Bristol has shown high maternal sugar intake during pregnancy may increase the risk of allergy and aller- gic asthma in their children. 2, 3 Pub- lished in the European Respiratory Journal, 2 the study was also de- scribed in articles published by Sci- ence Daily, nine.au.com and at Sugar Blog. 4-6 Methods Data was analyzed from a major birth cohort study, the Avon Lon- gitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) also known as "Children of the 90s." e co- hort recruited mothers who were pregnant in the early 1990s and has followed their children since. e new study used a food fre- quency questionnaire during the third trimester of pregnancy to evaluate mothers' intake of added sugar, as well as respiratory and al- lergic outcomes in their children at seven years of age, by skin testing for common allergens including dust mite, cat and grass. Added or free sugars are defined by the World Health Organization as "all monosaccharides and disaccha- rides added to foods by the manu- facturer, cook or consumer, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices." 6, 7 ey dif- fer from naturally occurring sugars found in whole foods such as fruit, vegetables or dairy products. 6, 7 In addition, the study controlled for potential confounders, such as background maternal characteris- tics, social factors and other as- pects of maternal diet, including foods and nutrients that have been previously linked to child- hood asthma and allergy. Results ere was only weak evidence for a link between free sugar intake in pregnancy and asthma overall. However, there were strong posi- tive associations between free sug- ar intake and allergy and allergic asthma (where the child was diag- nosed with asthma and had posi- tive skin tests to allergens). No link was evident between the amount of sugar children ate during early childhood and their likelihood of developing allergies or asthma. A comparison of the 20 percent of mothers with the highest sugar in- take versus the 20 percent of mothers with the lowest sugar in- take showed an increased risk of 38 percent for allergy in their children, with a 73 percent in- creased risk for allergy to two or more allergens and a 101 percent increased risk for allergic asthma. No associations with eczema or hay fever were found. Conclusions and further plans e researchers "speculate that the associations may be explained by a high maternal intake of fructose causing a persistent postnatal al- lergic immune response leading to allergic inflammation in the de- veloping lung." 2, 3 Lead researcher Professor Seif Shaheen of QMUL explained that based on the observations, it cannot be said that a high intake of sugar by mothers in pregnancy is definitely causing allergy and al- lergic asthma in their children. However "given the extremely high consumption of sugar in the West, the team will certainly be investigating the hypothesis fur- ther with some urgency," he said. "e first step is to see whether we can replicate these findings in a different cohort of mothers and children. If we can, then we will design a trial to test whether we can prevent childhood allergy and allergic asthma by reducing the consumption of sugar by mothers during pregnancy." 3 Meanwhile, Shaheen recommended that preg- nant women follow current nutri- tion guidelines and avoid exces- sive sugar consumption. High maternal sugar intake during pregnancy associated with allergy and allergic asthma in children