Eating Avocado During Pregnancy Could Help Lower the Chance of Allergies in Infants

Pregnancy is an exciting and anticipatory time. Expectant parents are concerned about the ways their behavior can help their unborn child thrive. Now, there’s good news about a food that can can give kids a leg up before they are even born

A recent Finnish prospective cohort study published in the journal Pediatric Research shows that children born to women who ate avocado while pregnant are less prone to developing food allergies during their first year of life. There were 2,272 participants in the study.

One in 13 Children Suffer From Food Allergies
According to news-medical.net, one in every 13 children suffer from food allergies. These can range from minor reactions to major life-threatening events. So it is certainly understandable why a parent would want to prevent their child from developing an allergy.

The study showed that babies had 44 percent less of a chance of developing allergies by the end of their first year of life if their mother ate avocado during pregnancy, reported The Times of India, while adjusting for factors such as maternal health and lifestyle.

Avocados have many health benefits, and some of them may specifically be beneficial to infant development in the uterus: they contain folate and fiber, which is important for heart development and neural development, lutein, which is very important for eye development, and fats that are beneficial for early brain and structural development.

In addition, as new-medical.net points out, avocados also contain antioxidants which help alter T-cell responses, thus preventing allergies, and their high fiber content may also alter the gut-biome in a positive way.

The study’s author, Dr. Sari Hantunen, a senior university lecturer at the University of Eastern Finland told news-medical.net, “There is no cure for food allergy. Based on these findings, it’s encouraging to know that eating avocados may provide even more value to maternal and children’s health.”

Avocados are Not Alone
Avocados are not the only food with properties that seem to prevent allergies in children if eaten by their parent before birth. Apples, for instance, may reduce incidents of allergy-induced wheezing. And mothers who ate more fruits and vegetables and yogurt during pregnancy saw less allergic rhinitis, asthma, eczema, and wheezing in their infants as compared to mothers who ate less of those foods.

Conversely, mothers who ate a lot of sweet things and baked goods during pregnancy saw a higher incidence of allergies in their children, as well as those who ate a lot of processed meat.

People who are pregnant have the slightly anxiety-inducing knowledge that not only are they affected by what they eat, but their unborn child is as well. Eating well during pregnancy can help not only the mother but the infant itself.