Prenatal vitamin E and asthma

Children are more likely to develop wheezing and asthma by age 5, if mothers do not have a sufficient intake of vitamin E during pregnancy, according to a study published in the September American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine. The vitamin E levels and respiratory status of 1,253 mothers and children were assessed over a five-year period, Graham Devereux, MD, PhD, et al., Department of Environmental & Occupational Medicine, University of Aberdeen, UK, state. In a previous study, the researchers assessed vitamin E levels in 1,856 mothers at 12 weeks gestation and obtained symptom questionnaire data from 1,253 children. In light of the new findings, children born to mothers whose intakes of vitamin E ranked in the lowest quintile were five times more likely to manifest early persistent asthma than mothers with vitamin E intakes in the highest quintile, Devereux et al. state. The researchers suggest the relationship between prenatal vitamin E intake and children's rates of asthma "warrants further investigation," adding that vitamin E supplementation in adults who have asthma has not shown to provide clinical benefits...