Dietary antioxidants and bronchial asthma in school children

ABSTRACT

The relation between dietary factors in school children and asthma has increased significantly in the last 10 years. So, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of bronchial asthma among preparatory school children and to determine the relation between their intake of antioxidant diet and bronchial asthma. A cross sectional study involved 500 students from 3 preparatory schools from Cairo was conducted. A self-administered questionnaire was designed to record information about socio-demographic data, history of bronchial asthma, and food lYeqitency intake Then the frequencies of consumption of food among asthmatic children and non asthmatic were compared. The prevalence of doctor diagnosed bronchial asthma was 9.6% [45/500], The OR of children who consumed cocked vegetables, tomatoes, fresh fruit and citrus fruit more than four times per week in comparison with those who do not eat these foods were 0.17 [95% CI 0.06-0.49, p= 0.0002], 0.41 [95% CI 0.17-0.99, p=0.041], 0.33 [0.12-0.90, p=0.024], 0.28 [95% CI 0.10-0.76, p=0.007] respectively. After the logistic regression analysis, the adjusted OR of children who consumed fish, cocked vegetables and tomatoes in comparison to those didn't consume these foods remained below one and significant However, consumption of snaks was considered a risk factor for bronchial asthma. The study concluded that a diet rich in vegetables, specially tomatoes, could be has a protective role on childhood bronchial asthma So, it is recommended to do prospective studies and clinical trials to examine the potential beneficial effects of foods containing antioxidants, specially lycopene in reduction of morbidity and mortality rates of bronchial asthma among children