Ultra-Processed Foods Tied to Nearly Fourfold Asthma Risk in Children

In this study, researchers in Spain followed nearly 700 children aged 4 to 5 for an average of 3.4 years, tracking their diets and later diagnoses of asthma or allergies. The results show that children getting more than 30 percent of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods – including soft drinks, packaged snacks, and sugary breakfast cereals – had almost four times the risk of developing asthma during their early school years compared with children eating the least processed diets.

The researchers identified a clear dose-response pattern: as the proportion of ultra-processed foods in children’s diets increased, so did the likelihood of asthma. After adjusting for factors such as body weight and screen time, the study concluded that limiting processed foods in children’s diets could be an important public health strategy for reducing asthma risk.

Separate research has shown that asthma patients could halve their risk of suffering a severe attack simply by taking a vitamin D supplement. Recent studies particularly support the use of vitamin D3 for alleviating symptoms of asthma. Low levels of zinc, selenium, and vitamin D3 have been found in childhood asthma, while vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy has been demonstrated to reduce rates of asthma and wheezing in children.