Breakthrough in asthma research (From Daily Echo)
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Dust mites control and diet help asthma treatment
5:00pm Sunday 6th June 2010 in News
ASTHMA researchers on the Isle of Wight have discovered that diet and controlling dust mites can help tackle the condition in high-risk children.
Experts from the David Hide Asthma and Allergy Research Centre have monitored 120 children since 1990 with a family history of allergy.
In the study, babies up to one year old avoided dairy products, soya and nuts, as did their breastfeeding mothers.
The 58 babies slept on vinyl mattresses and covers, and the spray acracide was used to combat house dust mites.
Another group of 62 babies and their mothers made no changes to their diet or bedding, and acted as a control group.
Dr Martha Scott, who led the study, said children had less allergic reactions aged one, two, four and eight and significantly less asthma at 18 years.
She said: ''Whilst this study is small it does suggest that it is possible to prevent the onset of asthma in high-risk individuals by instituting a strict regime that avoids some of the common triggers for asthma in the first year of life."
The results were presented today at an allergy conference in London.
A health expert issued a new warning over the link between cleaning sprays and asthma.
Chlorine, bleach, disinfectants and other cleaning agents are fuelling a rise in asthma at home and at work, said Jan-Paul Zock.
Adrian Smith says...
7:41am Mon 7 Jun 10
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Perhaps just cleaning beds, airing rooms, turning down the temperature at home, letting the children outside - all these might help more than spraying "acracide".
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The study group is too small and no doubt this widely circulated press-release is in advance of requests for funding a bigger survey.