Read the new research on links between asthma and antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E yet?
Here’s the breakdown:
- Asthma patients had lower levels of vitamin A in their diets than non-asthmatics.
- Asthma patients also had lower levels of vitamin C in their blood and in their diets than non-asthmatics.
- Severe asthma patients had half as much vitamin C in their diets as mild asthmatics.
- Severe asthma patients also had lower blood levels of vitamin E than mild asthmatics did.
But the researchers in this British study acknowledge their conclusions don’t “prove” these vitamin deficiencies cause asthma.
If asthma runs in your family or you/your children have other factors, the findings are significant even without the establishment of a cause-and-effect relationship, of course. Making sure your kid eats enough carrots (vitamin A) and drinks enough OJ (vitamin C) may not prevent her from developing asthma, but it sure won’t hurt her.
I’ll use AG as an example here. While I fall short in my parenting skills in numerous areas, nutrition isn’t one of them. At the risk of sounding obnoxious, I’ll admit here that I’m the mom who won’t keep soft drinks in the house, who won’t buy Pop Tarts, who rarely goes through the drive-thru, and who’s been known to make her own pizza rather than order delivery. On top of which, of my two kids AG is the healthier eater by far. And carrots are her favorite vegetable, even.
Yet she’s my kid with asthma.
Remember:
When research like this comes out, it doesn’t necessarily mean you (read: asthma parents) did anything wrong. Asthma is different for everyone. The medical community has even started to view/describe it as a syndrome or collection of syndromes with multiple causes, both known and unknown, rather than as a single disease. Research like this does, however, mean you should be aware of possible preventative measures for future kids, or for yourself.
In other words, file this in our favorite drawer: Don’t Blame the Asthma Parents
More New Research:
New “Antedrugs” Fight Asthma Inflammation Without Side Effects
Wow! And I like carrots… and OJ. While I’m not the nurtition guru you are, I think my diet is pretty good. But there’s always room for improvement!
I also read this in the MyAsthmaCentral e-mail I got (AFTER reading your post haha) this morning.
I guess in dealing with anybody, nutrition is important (medical condition or not), but when we have to take extra care of ourselves or someone we care about, it becomes a higher focus in our lives.
I’ll admit, I don’t eat the best (hey, Ialthough it’s really no excuse, ‘m a teenager!), but I have made changes in my eating over the last few years (I became a vegetarian almost three years ago, which although does not necessarily make me a healthier eater, it just makes me more conscious of what I’m eating.)
Also, I’m with both the Asthma Girls — I LOVE CARROTS.
Asthmagirl, I’ll have to leave your OJ behind–oranges and other citrus fruits make my face burn, go figure that this started happening after I actually began to like orange juice!
Also, I kind of wish I had the type of parents who wouldn’t buy Pop Tarts and soda (While not a soda drinker myself, my dad drinks at least a can of Coke a day. Yuck. The Pop Tart thing? Guilty. I actually ate one in math this morning that I bought in Minneapolis!
Well, moderation, I guess!)
One of the best quotes I’ve heard was from an interview on TeenAsthma.ca with Anton Stralman from the Toronto Maple Leafs (hit me, I’m a Leafs fan!) where the interviewer said “Your body can only give you what you give it.” So true.
Oh, believe me, guys–we eat our share junk food. I just try hard to limit it–I have the advantage of becoming a mom when all the nutrition research got pretty good. (And Kerri, you’re way more health-conscious than me when I was a teen.)
I bought some vegetable seeds yesterday to try a little (a VERY little) container gardening in Colorado–I made sure to add carrots just b/c of this.
I wonder if the health-conscious thing comes with growing up in this timeframe–the obesity epidemic, subway ads for 6 grams of fat or less, having a very wellness-based school curriculum, etc. It’s kinda just entrenched itself in me!