Doctors advise that every woman should eat peanuts in pregnancy because of the following reasons we have outlined in this article. Evidence also shows that women who eat peanuts in pregnancy have higher chances of helping their babies overcome allergies
The health of a baby may depend on the mother’s eating habits during pregnancy, and now, a new study suggests that eating peanuts or tree nuts during pregnancy could lessen your child’s risk for allergies and asthma.
The study was conducted at Harvard Medical School and published in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. It was led by Michael Young, MD, MPH, an associate professor in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), researchers compared peanut-allergic children whose mothers avoided peanuts during pregnancy with those whose mothers ate peanuts during their first trimester of pregnancy. The children were followed until age 5 years to assess asthma risk factors and allergy development.
Babies who were exposed to peanuts and tree nuts in utero had a 17 percent reduced risk of reporting peanut allergy at 6 years old, according to research published Monday in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Babies who were exposed to peanuts and tree nuts in utero had a 17 per cent reduced risk of reporting peanut allergy at 6 years old, according to research published Monday in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
It’s not clear why this exposure is protective, but it could have something to do with previous studies that have shown that babies exposed to lots of dirt and bacteria during pregnancy are less likely to develop allergies later on. Peanuts are legumes and therefore are similar enough to vegetables that they might be triggering the same beneficial gut bacteria when eaten by pregnant women.
And those same children were 18 per cent less likely to report asthma at age six, the study found.
- Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways.
- Asthma causes wheezing, coughing and difficulty breathing.
- Asthma causes breathlessness.
“We did find some reassuring evidence that nut consumption might actually have the opposite effect,” Dr. Michael Young, Associate Director of Research at Boston Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School told CNN about the results.
The study looked at more than 1,000 pregnant women, who were divided into two groups: one that ate peanuts and tree nuts regularly and the other that didn’t.
The researchers found that women who consumed peanuts and tree nuts during pregnancy had a lower risk of having a preterm baby or one with low birth weight.
While it’s important to note that this study was conducted on animals and not humans—and therefore cannot be directly applied to us—it does give us some insight into why eating peanut butter may be beneficial for your diet during pregnancy.
Peanuts contain essential nutrients like protein and magnesium, as well as healthy fats that are critical for brain development in fetuses.
Mothers may help their babies by eating peanuts or other nuts while pregnant.
It’s no secret that peanuts are a good source of protein, fibre, vitamin E and magnesium. But did you know they’re also rich in folic acid? Or that they help make sure your body has enough vitamin B6?
Most pregnant women already know how important these nutrients are for their babies’ health (and their own). It’s not surprising then that scientists who followed thousands of mothers over time found that those who ate more nuts during pregnancy were less likely to give birth prematurely or have an underweight baby.
For further reading please visit https://parenting.firstcry.com/articles/eating-peanuts-during-pregnancy-its-benefits-side-effects/