Dairy food, calcium, and vitamin D intake in pregnancy and wheeze and eczema in infants

¹ Dept of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan
² Dept of Social and Preventive Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
³ Dept of Public Health, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: miyake-y{at}fukuoka-u.ac.jp.

	Abstract

The present prospective study examined the association between maternal consumption of dairy products, calcium, and vitamin D during pregnancy and the risk of wheeze and eczema in the infants aged 16–24 months.

Subjects were 763 Japanese mother-child pairs. Data on maternal intake during pregnancy were assessed with a diet history questionnaire. Symptoms of wheeze and eczema were based on criteria of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood.

Higher maternal intake of total dairy products, milk, cheese, and calcium during pregnancy was significantly related to a decreased risk of infantile wheeze, but not eczema (adjusted odds ratios [ORs] between extreme quartiles [95% confidence intervals [CIs]]=0.45 [0.25-0.79], 0.50 [0.28-0.87], 0.51 [0.31-0.85], and 0.57 [0.32-0.99], respectively). When maternal vitamin D consumption during pregnancy was categorized into 2 groups using a cut-off point at the 25th percentile, children whose mothers had consumed 4.309 μg·day^-1 or more had a significantly reduced risk of wheeze and eczema (adjusted ORs [95% CIs]=0.64 [0.43--0.97] and 0.63 [0.41-0.98], respectively).

Higher consumption of calcium and dairy foods other than yogurt during pregnancy may reduce the risk of infantile wheeze. Higher vitamin D intake during pregnancy may be protective against childhood wheeze and eczema.