Mom's vitamin E may affect child's asthma risk

Amy Norton, "Mom's vitamin E may affect child's asthma risk", Reuters,
September 1, 2006,
Link:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...-MOMS-RISK.xml

Women who get enough vitamin E during pregnancy may help lower their
child's future risk of asthma, a study suggests.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and
Critical Care Medicine, add to evidence that vitamin E may aid in lung
and immune system development.

It's too soon, however, to advise pregnant women to take vitamin E
supplements, the study's lead author told Reuters Health.

"It should be strongly emphasized that women should eat healthily
during pregnancy and not take vitamin E supplements just because of
this study," said Dr. Graham Devereux of the University of Aberdeen in
the UK.

A balanced diet, he noted, should include various sources of vitamin E,
such as vegetable oils, nuts, fatty fish, leafy green vegetables and
fortified cereals.

One of the problems with vitamin E supplements, Devereux explained, is
that previous studies have found it to be no help in preventing various
conditions for which it seemed promising -- from cancer to the
pregnancy complication pre-eclampsia.

Still, the new study builds on previous work by Devereux and his
colleagues suggesting that adequate vitamin E during pregnancy benefits
children's lung health. In the earlier research, they'd found that
2-year-olds whose mothers got relatively little vitamin E during
pregnancy had an elevated risk of wheezing.

These latest findings show that at age 5, these same children were more
likely than their peers to be diagnosed with asthma.

The study included 1,861 children whose mothers were recruited during
pregnancy. The researchers surveyed the women on their diet habits
during pregnancy and assessed children's diets and respiratory health
at age 5.

They found that children whose mothers had the lowest vitamin E intake
during pregnancy were still more likely to suffer wheezing at age 5,
and were about twice as likely to have doctor-diagnosed asthma.

These mothers got anywhere from 2 to 6 milligrams (mg) of vitamin E per
day -- well short of the 15 mg that U.S. health authorities recommend
for women, pregnant or not.

Devereux and his colleagues also measured women's blood levels of
vitamin E during pregnancy. They found that 5-year-olds whose mothers
had higher vitamin E levels tended to have better scores on lung
function tests.

It's possible, Devereux said, that supplements containing modest doses
of vitamin E -- like the recommended 15 mg -- would be beneficial
during pregnancy. But studies need to investigate that possibility
before any recommendations are made, he stressed.

SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,
September 2006.

This study holds some promise correlating vitamin E to a child's risk
of asthma development. I would be concerned about giving pregnant women
additional vitamin E, since this is a fat soluble vitamin, which means
that it can accumlulate in the adipose tissue. Over time, this
accumulation of high levels of vitamin E could lead to toxicity, which
has the potential to cause harm no only to the mother but also to the
developing fetus. In addition, I am wondering whether the women in the
study took a pre-natal vitamin each day? If the women in the study took
a pre-natal vitamin, which most likely contains 30 international units
of Vitamin E (100% of the RDA), perhaps the current guidelines are
sufficient. Vitamin E is an excellent anti-oxident, however I would not
recommend additional supplementation to pregnant women. The risks
outweigh the benefits for such a protocol in my opinion. I think there
are many more factors that go into a child's risk for asthma that are
beyond the scope of vitamin E supplementation.
Roman Bystrianyk wrote:
Amy Norton, "Mom's vitamin E may affect child's asthma risk", Reuters,
September 1, 2006,
Link:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...-MOMS-RISK.xml

Women who get enough vitamin E during pregnancy may help lower their
child's future risk of asthma, a study suggests.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and
Critical Care Medicine, add to evidence that vitamin E may aid in lung
and immune system development.

It's too soon, however, to advise pregnant women to take vitamin E
supplements, the study's lead author told Reuters Health.

"It should be strongly emphasized that women should eat healthily
during pregnancy and not take vitamin E supplements just because of
this study," said Dr. Graham Devereux of the University of Aberdeen in
the UK.

A balanced diet, he noted, should include various sources of vitamin E,
such as vegetable oils, nuts, fatty fish, leafy green vegetables and
fortified cereals.

One of the problems with vitamin E supplements, Devereux explained, is
that previous studies have found it to be no help in preventing various
conditions for which it seemed promising -- from cancer to the
pregnancy complication pre-eclampsia.

Still, the new study builds on previous work by Devereux and his
colleagues suggesting that adequate vitamin E during pregnancy benefits
children's lung health. In the earlier research, they'd found that
2-year-olds whose mothers got relatively little vitamin E during
pregnancy had an elevated risk of wheezing.

These latest findings show that at age 5, these same children were more
likely than their peers to be diagnosed with asthma.

The study included 1,861 children whose mothers were recruited during
pregnancy. The researchers surveyed the women on their diet habits
during pregnancy and assessed children's diets and respiratory health
at age 5.

They found that children whose mothers had the lowest vitamin E intake
during pregnancy were still more likely to suffer wheezing at age 5,
and were about twice as likely to have doctor-diagnosed asthma.

These mothers got anywhere from 2 to 6 milligrams (mg) of vitamin E per
day -- well short of the 15 mg that U.S. health authorities recommend
for women, pregnant or not.

Devereux and his colleagues also measured women's blood levels of
vitamin E during pregnancy. They found that 5-year-olds whose mothers
had higher vitamin E levels tended to have better scores on lung
function tests.

It's possible, Devereux said, that supplements containing modest doses
of vitamin E -- like the recommended 15 mg -- would be beneficial
during pregnancy. But studies need to investigate that possibility
before any recommendations are made, he stressed.

SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,
September 2006.