Nuts when pregnant can cause asthma in babies

Pregnant women could increase the chances of their children developing asthma if they regularly eat nuts while pregnant, doctors warned today.

Researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands believe that nuts cause changes in a mother's allergic system which can be passed on to her child.

The team studied 4,000 mothers and their offspring, and found expectant mothers who eat nuts or nut products such as peanut butter each day while pregnant increase their children's risk of developing asthma by more than 50 per cent.

The eight-year study involved mothers filling in a questionnaire detailing how often they consumed various types of food. The information was analysed next to their children's asthma symptoms.

Professor Saskia Willers, who led the team, said: "The only consistent association between maternal intake during pregnancy and childhood asthma symptoms was with nut products.

"Daily versus rare consumption of nut products was consistently associated with childhood asthma symptoms."

The team now aims to identify other foods that could cause similar problems.