Eating Nuts in Pregnancy Tied to Lower Allergy Risk in Offspring
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
A new study suggests that mothers who eat nuts during pregnancy can eat them without fear of causing nut allergies in their babies.
Researchers used data from a large prospective study of health and lifestyle among female nurses. They studied 8,205 mothers who were not allergic to nuts and their children born from 1990 to 1994, and found 140 cases of peanut or tree nut allergy among the offspring.
After adjusting for age, race, season of birth, smoking, consumption of fruits and vegetables and other factors, they found that mothers who consumed nuts at least five times a month were almost 70 percent less likely to have a baby with a nut allergy than those who ate nuts less than once a month.
“We showed an association between diet and allergy,” said the senior author, Dr. Michael C. Young, an allergist at Boston Children’s Hospital, “but not cause and effect.”
The authors of the study, published online in JAMA Pediatrics, acknowledge that the dietary questionnaires were not specific for the dates of pregnancy, and that paternal influences on allergy were not investigated.
Still, Dr. Young said, “Previously, women were concerned that eating nuts during pregnancy probably would lead to an allergic baby, but our data dispels that. A woman who is pregnant can eat peanuts without fear that she will have a baby allergic to peanuts.”
Researchers used data from a large prospective study of health and lifestyle among female nurses. They studied 8,205 mothers who were not allergic to nuts and their children born from 1990 to 1994, and found 140 cases of peanut or tree nut allergy among the offspring.
After adjusting for age, race, season of birth, smoking, consumption of fruits and vegetables and other factors, they found that mothers who consumed nuts at least five times a month were almost 70 percent less likely to have a baby with a nut allergy than those who ate nuts less than once a month.
“We showed an association between diet and allergy,” said the senior author, Dr. Michael C. Young, an allergist at Boston Children’s Hospital, “but not cause and effect.”
The authors of the study, published online in JAMA Pediatrics, acknowledge that the dietary questionnaires were not specific for the dates of pregnancy, and that paternal influences on allergy were not investigated.
Still, Dr. Young said, “Previously, women were concerned that eating nuts during pregnancy probably would lead to an allergic baby, but our data dispels that. A woman who is pregnant can eat peanuts without fear that she will have a baby allergic to peanuts.”
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