Diet in childhood and adolescence – impact on asthma and lung function in early adulthood

Bakgrund:

Dietary factors such as antioxidants and fatty acids have been hypothesized to influence the development of asthma, but the results from previous studies are conflicting. Recent findings from my research group indicate that diet (intake of fish, polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants) in school age may influence asthma up to adolescence, and that diet may influence lung function development among children with asthma.

However, it remains unclear how dietary patterns and other dietary factors (e.g. dietary fibre) influence asthma and lung function development. Furthermore, development of asthma is a dynamic process, and the role of diet for development of asthma up to adulthood remains unknown. There are few longitudinal cohorts with repeated information on diet, asthma and lung function from childhood to adulthood.

Since dietary habits may change over life, having measures of diet at different ages is a major advantage in studies on diet and subsequent asthma and lung function. Målsättning:

The aim of the proposed project is to investigate the role of diet for the development of asthma from childhood to early adulthood. In particular, we will focus on dietary patterns and specific dietary factors (e.g. fatty acids and dietary fibre) and investigate the persistence, remittance and new onset of asthma, as well as lung function up to age 24-years.

Arbetsplan:

The research will be conducted within a Swedish population-based birth cohort (BAMSE) where 4089 participants have been followed repeatedly from infancy. Extensive information on exposures and outcomes are available based on questionnaires, clinical examinations and blood samples. The planned project will utilize already collected data on the study participants up to age 24-years.

We will use repeated information on diet obtained from food frequency questionnaire at ages 8, 16 and 24-years as well as from biomarkers for fatty acid intake at ages 8 and 16-years. Longitudinal analyses will be performed to explore the association between diet and subsequent asthma and lung function up to age 24-years.

Betydelse:

Dietary modification represents a possible approach for prevention or alleviation of asthma and may also have a beneficial influence on lung function. Therefore, our findings can potentially contribute to strengthening and developing the dietary recommendations for patients with asthma, as well as for prevention of asthma and lung function impairment in the general population.