title: Mediterranean diet is associated with reduced asthma and rhinitis in Mexican children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diet during pregnancy and childhood has been suggested to play an important role in children's asthma risk. We assessed whether the adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern, for children in the last 12 months and their mothers during pregnancy, was associated with both childhood asthma and allergic rhinitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2004 using a random sample of 1476 children (6- to 7-year old) from the Mexicali region, Mexico. Dietary data of children's intake in the last 12 months and their mothers' intake during pregnancy was collected, through a parental food frequency questionnaire. A Mediterranean diet score was computed [Trichopoulou et al., N Engl J Med 348 (2003), 2599]. Data on seven asthma and rhinitis-related outcomes were obtained from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was inversely associated with asthma ever (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.40-0.91), wheezing ever (0.64, 0.47-0.87), rhinitis ever (0.41, 0.22-0.77), sneezing ever (0.79, 0.59-1.07), current sneezing (0.71, 0.52-0.96) and current itchy-watery eyes (0.63, 0.42-0.95). No associations were found using the mothers' pregnancy diet score, except for current sneezing (0.71, 0.53-0.97).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest a protective effect of following a healthy dietary pattern on asthma and allergic rhinitis in Mexican children.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Batlle
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garcia-Aymerich
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barraza-Villarreal
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Antó
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Romieu
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D038441:Diet, Mediterranean; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008800:Mexico; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control