Runny noses are among the most common health complaints of childhood. Swedish researchers conducted an eight-year long study to find out if diet has an impact on the risk of rhinitis.
The Study:
There were nearly 2,000 youngsters included, all born between February 1994 and November 1996. When they were eight years old, the parents were asked about rhinitis (sneezing, sniffling and runny nose) from allergies or without allergies. The kids (some with their parents’ help) answered questions about what they ate.
The Results:
Approximately 1,600 children did not have rhinitis regularly at the age of 8; by the time they reached 16, about 20 percent of them had developed nasal allergies. Another 15 percent had rhinitis that could not be traced to allergies.
Which Fish Reduce Risk of Rhinitis?
One item on the menu at age 8 had an impact on the risk of rhinitis at age 16. School kids who frequently ate oily fish such as salmon, mackerel or herring were only half as likely to be sniffling and sneezing in their teens.
The study was conducted in Sweden, after all, where it is much more likely than in the US that youngsters might eat herring. Tuna and “fish fingers” made no difference for rhinitis.
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online July 4, 2015
