Those creamy darlings beloved on brunch menus may be more than just a trendy topping.
New research suggests that expecting mothers who indulge in this high-fat fruit could be giving their babies a head start in avoiding food allergies.
A Finnish study that analyzed data from over 2,200 mother-child pairs found that infants born to mothers who consumed avocados during pregnancy had a 44% lower chance of developing food allergies by their first birthday compared to those whose mothers abstained.
The findings — published in the journal Pediatric Research — assessed maternal diets through questionnaires during the first and third trimesters.
Infant allergic outcomes were evaluated at 12 months, focusing on conditions like food allergies, eczema and wheezing.
While the avocado connection was significant for food allergies, no notable associations were found for the other conditions.
It’s worth noting that mothers who consumed avocados tended to be older, non-smoking, have higher diet quality scores, lower BMIs and breastfed longer in the first trimester.
Avocados are rich in nutrients beneficial for fetal development, including fiber, folate, lutein and healthy monounsaturated fats.
These components are believed to support the developing immune system, potentially reducing the likelihood of allergic reactions in infancy.
Food allergies now affect approximately 1 in 13 children in the US, representing an increase of 50% in the prevalence of food allergies between 1997 and 2011.
Experts attribute the rise to several factors, including a shift to more refined diets, vitamin D deficiencies due to a lack of sun exposure and the “hygiene hypothesis” — which posits that our cleaner contemporary environment exposes children to fewer microbes, causing their immune system to overreact to certain foods.
A recent study performed in Sweden adds to a growing body of research that suggests one of the factors may be the delayed introduction of allergenic foods.
Researchers analyzed the data of 2,060 babies and found that introducing them to a diverse diet — categorized as consisting of 13 or 14 different foods — at 9 months of age was associated with a 45% decrease in the risk of food allergies by the time the infant reached 18 months.
However, the study suggests that the same protective effect does not seem to occur when implementing a diverse diet at an earlier age, such as 6 months.
This association held strong even after adjusting for factors like family history of allergies, breastfeeding duration and the mother’s education levels — although the researchers noted that “children with a history of eczema may benefit the most from eating a diverse diet early in life for food allergy prevention.”
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