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Study: Children's fast-food diet cancels breastfeeding benefits
January 29, 2009
EDMONTON, Alberta — A study of Canadian children published in the international journal, Clinical and Experimental Allergy, has again found a correlation between fast-food consumption and asthma.
The study found that while breast-feeding can lower the chance of a child getting asthma, a regular fast food diet cancels out the benefit in children.
The newly published study led by University of Alberta professor Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj, has determined that eating fast food more than once or twice a week negated the beneficial effects that breastfeeding has in protecting children from the respiratory disease.
A number of different findings led the researchers to their conclusion — showing links between fast food and asthma, breastfeeding and asthma, and all three together.
More than half the children studied ate fast food more than twice a week. The team looked at about 700 Manitoba children, about 250 of whom had asthma and another 475 who did not. The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the analyses were conducted by a postdoctoral student.
The researchers suggested the prevalence of fast food in today's society may explain why asthma rates keep rising even though more mothers are breastfeeding. The group did not look at why fast food might cause asthma. But the authors suggest the high fat content, and high salt levels (which can increase twitchy airways and wheezing) may be to blame.
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