Avoiding high intake of sugary beverages during pregnancy and in early childhood could be one of several ways to reduce the risk of childhood asthma.

‘Asthma can complicate other medical conditions. Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption during pregnancy may increase the risk of childhood asthma.’

The study, published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, involved over 1,000 mother-child pairs in the US. 




After their first and second trimesters, mothers who participated in the study completed questionnaires about their food and beverage consumption, including regular soda and fruit drinks.
When their children reached early childhood (3.3 years), the mothers completed another questionnaire to report their children's consumption of a variety of foods and beverages, including regular sodas and fruit drinks.
In mid-childhood, 19 per cent of the children had asthma.
Mothers in the highest quartile of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption during pregnancy were 63 percent more likely than those in the lowest quartile to have mid-childhood-age kids with asthma, the findings showed.
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Recent studies, they said, suggest that in addition to increasing asthma risk through obesity, fructose itself may cause inflammation in the lungs.
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