Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children and the prevalence is increasing around the world. Despite this, most research dollars are spent on adult chronic disease. “One might ask” a group of researchers posited “whether this is because our politicians and senior administrators feel themselves to be more likely to suffer from the latter, and thus ignore allergic diseases as they mostly impact children and young adults.”
An enormous study about asthma and allergies in childhood was published that includes more than a million children in nearly a hundred countries, making it the most comprehensive survey of asthma and allergies ever undertaken. The researchers found striking worldwide variations in the prevalence and severity of asthma, allergies, and eczema—a 20 to 60-fold difference in prevalence of symptoms of asthma, allergic runny nose, and atopic eczema around the world. The large variability suggests a crucial role of local characteristics that are determining the differences in prevalence between one place and another.
What kind of environmental factors? Why does the prevalence of itchy eyes and runny noses range anywhere from 1% in India, for example, and up to 45% of kids elsewhere? There were some associations with regional air pollution and smoking rates, but the most significant associations were with diet. Adolescents showed a consistent pattern of decreases in symptoms of wheeze (current and severe), allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, and atopic eczema with increases in per capita consumption of plant foods. The more their calories and protein came from plant sources, the less allergies they tended to have.
In general, there seems to be an association between an increase in asthma prevalence and a decrease in consumption of fresh fruits, green vegetables, and other dietary sources of antioxidants, helping to explain why the prevalence of asthma and respiratory symptoms are lower in populations with high intake of foods of plant origin. High intakes of fat and sodium, and low intakes of fiber and carbohydrates, are linked with asthma, while traditional and vegetarian diets are associated with lower rates. For example, if we look closer within India, in a study of more than 100,000 people, “those who consumed meat (daily or occasionally) were more likely to report asthma than those who were strictly vegetarian.” This also meant avoiding eggs.
Eggs have been associated, along with soft drink consumption, with increased risk of respiratory symptoms and asthma in schoolchildren. On the other hand, consumptions of soy foods and fruits were associated with reduced risk of respiratory symptoms. In fact, removing eggs and dairy from the diet may improve lung function in asthmatic children in as little as eight weeks. Therefore, it may be a combination of eating fewer animal foods and more plants.
High vegetable intake, for example, has been found protective in children, potentially cutting the odds of allergic asthma in half. And fruit has also shown a consistent protective association for current and severe wheeze and runny nose in adolescents, and for current and severe asthma, allergies, and eczema in children.
Why is this? I’ve talked about the endocrine-disrupting industrial pollutants building up in the meat supply that may increase the risk of allergic disease, but the increase in asthma may be a combination of both a more toxic environment and a more susceptible population. One review notes that “The dietary changes which have occurred over recent years may have led to a reduction in these natural antioxidant defenses, resulting in a shift of the antioxidant status of the whole population and leading to increased susceptibility to oxidant attack and airway inflammation.”
In adults, for example, the risk of airway hyper-reactivity may increase seven-fold among those with the lowest intake of vitamin C from plants foods, while those with the lowest intake of saturated fats may have a 10-fold protection, presumably because of saturated fat’s role in triggering inflammation.
The protective effect of plant-based food may also be mediated through effects on intestinal microflora. It turns out that differences in the indigenous intestinal flora might affect the development and priming of the immune system in early childhood. Kids with allergies, for example, tend to be less likely to harbor lactobacilli, the good bacteria that’s found in fermented foods, and naturally on many fruits and vegetables. Lactobacillus probiotics may actually help with childhood asthma, which may help explain why children raised on largely organic vegetarian diets may have a lower prevalence of allergic reactions. Infants raised this way tend to have more good lactobacilli in their guts compared to controls, though they were also more likely to have been born naturally, breastfed longer, and not been given antibiotics, so we can’t really tell if it’s the diet until we put it to the test.
