Consumption of oily fish and childhood asthma risk

To investigate the association between diet and airway disease in children in the light of epidemiological studies suggesting that consumption of fish more than once a week reduces the risk of developing airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR).

Diet was assessed by a detailed food frequency questionnaire and airway disease by respiratory symptoms or airway responsiveness to exercise.

A questionnaire, containing questions about the frequency of eating more than 200 foods, was sent to the parents of 574 children in whom we had measured recent wheeze (by questionnaire), AHR (by exercise) and atopy (by skin prick tests) six months before this study. We defined current asthma as the presence of both recent wheeze and AHR.

Response rate to the questionnaire was 81.5% (n=468.) After adjusting for confounders such as sex, ethnicity, country of birth, atopy, respiratory infection in the first two years of life and a parental history of asthma or smoking, children who ate fresh, oily fish (>2% fat) had a significantly reduced risk of current asthma (odds ratio, 0.26; 95% confidence interval, 0.09-0.72; P<0.01). No other food groups or nutrients were significantly associated with either an increased or reduced risk of current asthma.

These data suggest that consumption of oily fish may protect against asthma in childhood.