Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to eat burgersMamas, don’t let your babies grow up to eat burgers
Not if you want them to minimize their risks of developing asthma, that is.
In a study published in the journal, Thorax, researchers gathered data on 50,000 kids living in 20 countries, both in the developed world and in the third world, and they concluded that a kid who eats burgers three times a week has a significantly higher risk of developing asthma, while (no surprise here) kids who eat a mostly Mediterranean-style diet (with its heavier intake of fruits, veggies, healthy oils, and fish) have a significantly reduced risk of developing asthma.
Interestingly, overall meat intake seemed to have no effect on asthma risk, so what is it about burgers that leads to more wheezing and coughing?
No one knows, of course, but it’s most likely one of two things:
- Burgers themselves contain something (fat, salt, charring) that raises the risk of developing asthma, or
- Eating a lot of burgers (and hey, three times a week is a LOT of burgers) is a marker for other factors that play a role in asthma risk, such as, for example, a reduced intake of veggies and other healthy food (every parent knows that a kid who is allowed to eat burgers three times a week will get away with lots of other poor eating habits, too).
Written by Dr. Art Hister
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 15:39
0 Comments