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A study of almost 9000 mother-child pairs has found that high intake of sugar during pregnancy may increase the risk of allergy and allergic asthma in children.

When comparing the 20%聽of mothers with the highest sugar intake versus the 20% of mothers with the lowest sugar intake, there was an increased risk of 38% for allergy in the offspring (73% for allergy to two or more allergens) and 101% for allergic asthma.

Led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), the team聽used data from a world-leading birth cohort study, the , also known as 鈥楥hildren of the 90s鈥�. The cohort recruited mothers who were pregnant in the early 1990s and has been following up their offspring ever since.

The , published in the聽, analysed associations between maternal intake of free sugars聽in pregnancy and allergy (defined by positive skin tests to common allergens, namely dust mite, cat and grass) and asthma at seven years of age.聽Free sugars comprise sugars (monosaccharides and disaccharides) added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer, cook聽or consumer, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups聽and unsweetened fruit juices. The intake of free sugars was estimated by a food frequency questionnaire in the last trimester of pregnancy.

While there was only weak evidence for a link between free sugar intake in pregnancy and asthma overall, there were strong positive associations with allergy and allergic asthma (where the child was diagnosed with asthma and had positive skin tests to allergens). Importantly, the offspring鈥檚 free sugar intake in early childhood was found to have no association with the outcomes seen in the analysis.聽The team found no association with eczema or hay fever.

Lead researcher Professor Seif Shaheen from QMUL鈥檚聽Blizard Institute聽said: 鈥淲e cannot say on the basis of these observations that a high intake of sugar by mothers in pregnancy is definitely causing allergy and allergic asthma in their offspring. However, given the extremely high consumption of sugar in the West, we will certainly be investigating this hypothesis further with some urgency.

鈥淭he first step is to see whether we can replicate these findings in a different cohort of mothers and children. If we can, then we will design a trial to test whether we can prevent childhood allergy and allergic asthma by reducing the consumption of sugar by mothers during pregnancy. In the meantime, we would recommend that pregnant women follow current guidelines and avoid excessive sugar consumption.鈥�

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