Doctors Link Junk Food To Rise In Childhood Asthma

by Zofeen T. Ebrahim

(IPS) KARACHI -- Fresh and dry fruits are out for many Pakistani children and have been replaced by cookies, colas and candies. This is worrying pediatricians who say diets rich in junk food could be the culprits behind the rapid rise of asthma and allergies in children.

"The Pakistani child seems to be going through a palate change with desire for food that is fast and processed. This is a cause of concern," said Dr. Naseeruddin Mahmood, a pediatrician that coordinated a huge international study known as the ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children).

The project was carried out in 150 countries where so far 50,000 children have been studied.

In Karachi alone, 6,000 children from the six-to-14 age brackets, in posh residences and slums, were tested for asthma and allergies. The testing that began in 1998 yielded some "very perturbing findings," said Mahmood.

"In 1996 about 2,000 children were studied between the ages of 13 and 14. The prevalence of asthma was about nine percent and allergic rhinitis was about 22 percent," he told IPS.

Mahmood said the same age group was studied again in 2001, this time with 3,000 children from the same schools in collaboration with Care and Cure, a non-governmental organization working on school health.

The results this time around alarmed Mahmood.

According to the pediatrician the prevalence of asthma was 19 percent and allergic rhinitis was more than 30 percent.

The results of the first study in 1996 were published in 'The Lancet,' a prestigious British medical journal. The results of the latest study are in the process of being collated.

"We need to evaluate the causes as it is taking a toll on our young population. Hospitalization, cost of medicine, time out from work by parents, the cost burden of disease -- these are dimensions that remain unmeasured," said Mahmood.

Highlighting the relationship between diet and asthma, Mahmood pointed out that children these days eat less fruit and vegetables and instead rely on fast food. This, he said, is thought to be one of the reasons behind the increase in asthma cases worldwide.

In Saudi Arabia recently a comparison of some 100 children with asthma symptoms and about 200 non-asthmatic children showed that those who had the lowest intakes of vegetables, milk, vitamin E and minerals were more likely to suffer from the disease, researchers said.

Children whose diets were low in vegetables and vitamin E were two to three times more likely to develop asthmatic symptoms than other children irrespective of other factors such as family size, affluence and parental smoking, they added.

The children most at risk lived in urban areas such as Jeddah where poor diet was associated with the availability of junk food, the researchers said.

"It's just not considered fashionable to be eating fruits. How many parents take their children to buy fruits but almost everyone loves to go to big department stores filled with packed and processed foodstuffs?" asked Mahmood.

"Parents and teachers need to identify asthma as a growing problem. Most important we must relearn our eating habits," stressed the pediatrician.

Asthma, the most common chronic childhood disease, is one of the fastest growing ailments, with cases increasing by up to 50 percent every 10 years. An estimated 150 million people worldwide suffer from the condition.

The illness causes inflammation of the small tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs. Triggers such as colds, cigarette smoke, pollen, dust mites and animals can cause the gasping and wheezing of an asthma attack.

While studies have linked asthma to diet, Mahmood stressed that a changed lifestyle is also to be blamed for the increase in the number of cases.

The pediatrician said many children were becoming obese due to the sedentary couch potato-like lifestyles they were leading.

"Also many children being indoors are exposed for long periods of time to carpet dust, mosquito repellent coils, incense and perfumed candles," he pointed out. "All these aggravate asthma."

Dr. Javed Husain, a chest physician at the Aga Khan University Hospital said that there were misconceptions in Pakistan about diet and asthma.

"Patients should eat a balanced diet and there is no need to avoid rice, milk, eggs or yogurt, as is commonly believed in our society," stressed Husain.

He also pointed to the need of removing the social stigma attached to asthma in Pakistan. "Patients with asthma can live a normal life provided they take appropriate treatment," he said.