Salty Snacks Increase Asthma in Kids

Children who eat salty snacks more than three times a week have a nearly fivefold higher risk of having asthma symptoms, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The association was even more prominent in children who watch TV or play video games more than two hours per day.

The findings also revealed children who ate Mediterranean diet were less likely to have asthma symptoms, consistent with previous studies evaluating the association between the Mediterranean diet and asthma in children.

Researchers enrolled 700 children age 10 to 12 from 18 schools located in the greater area of Athens. Children and their parents completed questionnaires, which evaluated, among other things, dietary habits. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was evaluated using the KIDMED (Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for Children and Adolescents) score.

Overall lifetime prevalence of asthma symptoms was 23.7% (27.6% boys, 20.4% girls; P=0.03). Forty-eight percent of children reported salty-snack consumption (≥1 times/week). Salty-snack consumption was positively associated with the hours of television/video-game viewing (P=0.04) and inversely with the KIDMED score (P=0.02). Consumption of salty snacks (>3 times/week vs never/rare) was associated with a 4.8-times higher likelihood of having asthma symptoms (95% confidence interval: 1.50 to 15.8), irrespective of potential confounders. The associations of salty-snack eating and asthma symptoms were more prominent in children who watched television or played video games >2 hours/day. In addition, adherence to the Mediterranean diet was inversely associated with the likelihood of asthma symptoms.

"Since the prevalence of asthma is quite high in industrialized populations, and has continued to increase during the past years, future interventions and public health messages should be focused on changing these behaviors from the early stages of life, by informing parents, guardians, teachers and any other person that could teach children a healthier lifestyle," the authors said.