Pregnant women have been given mixed messages about nuts. Until recently some national guidelines called for women to avoid eating nuts and peanuts during pregnancy. Experts feared that in utero exposure would increase a child’s chance of developing asthma or allergies.
A new study from Denmark throws that advice into question. Over 60,000 pregnant Danish women were included in this research. Those who ate tree nuts gave birth to children who were actually 25% less likely to develop asthma by the time they were a year and a half old. At seven years of age, children whose mothers had eaten peanuts during pregnancy were 34% less likely to have asthma.
[The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online June 29, 2012]
The People's Perspective on Medicine