Asthma is a major public health concern since it affects millions of people globally. Infants and children below the age of seven years are not left off the hook necessitating studies into the pathogenesis of the disease. Studies have postulated a close link between Vitamin D and asthma noting that the vital vitamin has significant immunomodulatory effects ( Parr, Magnus, Karlstad, Holvik, Lund-Blix, Haugen, … Nystad, 2018) . On the other hand, Vitamin A deficiency has been shown by studies to affect the development of lungs causing airway hyper-responsiveness and thus can be a predisposing factor to increased risk of asthma. In the research study, the researcher seeks to show the relationship between asthma in children below the age of seven years and the maternal consumption of vitamins A and D. The study draws the conclusion that excessive vitamin A during pregnancy resulted in an increased risk of asthma contraction while taking vitamin D as recommended acted to reduce the risk of contracting asthma.
Article summary
The researchers while examining the link between the consumption of vitamins A and D during pregnancy utilized a sample of children who were of school going age with an average of seven years. As such, a sample of sixty-one thousand six hundred and seventy-six school going children were selected for the research study. The study yielded results that showed that uptake of the vitamins A and D by mothers during pregnancy had a profound impact on the probability of children to acquire asthma within seven years ( Parr et al., 2018) . According to the study, mothers who took Vitamins A in excess increased the risk of their children contracting asthma while taking reduced amounts of vitamin D was successful in reducing the chances of contracting asthma.
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According to the research article, mothers who were being studied were enrolled in the study while their pregnancies were eighteen weeks old. As such, their dietary consumption of the vitamins under study was observed and recorded. The records of the study were collected from the medical birth registry in Norway ( Parr et al., 2018) . The role of food supplements consumed by infants was also recorded along with the other nutrients that such supplements provided. According to the research study, children who were born by mothers who had taken considerably high levels of vitamin A were found to be more susceptible to asthma. Most specifically, the mother who took high vitamin D rates showed reduced incidences of asthma in their children. With regard to the consumption of supplements containing vitamins D, there was no evidenced increase in risk for children contracting asthma. In conclusion, the study showed that indeed, consuming more than the recommended levels of vitamin A during pregnancy is a predisposing factor for the development of asthma in school going children aged seven years and below ( Parr et al., 2018) . However, the research does not indicate the potential interaction of Vitamins A and D.
Conclusion
Since the study is significant in the understanding of the correlation between asthma and vitamins A and D, it can be argued that the study qualifies to be good science. Most notably, vitamin A is known to act as an antioxidant which may contribute considerably to the decrease of serum retinol through increasing its cellular demand as well as its elimination through urine. Declining retinol levels causes respiratory epithelial changes. These changes potentially predispose the respiratory system to infections among these infections being asthma. On the other hand, vitamin D can be viewed to exhibit a protective role thus ensuring that the immunology of the body system is strong to withstand potential inflammations to respiratory tract subsequently fighting asthma.
References
Parr, C. L., Magnus, M. C., Karlstad, Ø., Holvik, K., Lund-Blix, N. A., Haugen, M., … Nystad, W. (2018). Vitamin A and D intake in pregnancy, infant supplementation, and asthma development: the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , 107 (5), 789-798. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqy016
