Preventing Childhood Allergies

As any parent will tell you, the rise of allergies amongst children is almost epidemic with asthma being a particular concern. To avoid lengthy testing and treatment prevention has got to be the better option.

There is now evidence from a Spanish study on children from birth to 6 years of age that if their diet has over 40 grams of vegetables daily (about a third of a cup) then they were less likely to suffer with symptoms of childhood asthma.

The study showed that some vegetables were more effective than others and these included cucumber, tomato, aubergine, green beans and courgettes. If you want to really protect children from inherited childhood allergies, the study done in Menorca also showed that if the same children were given small, regular, helpings of omega-3 fish such as mackerel, tuna, herring, sardines or salmon then they were less likely to from genetically inherited childhood allergies.

How do they do that? These vegetables and the oily fish contain high levels of antioxidants and are also anti-inflammatory. This means that they produce a protective and healing effect on the bronchial passageways thus offering some protection from allergies and asthma.