Australian study links fiber consumption during pregnancy to babies born with allergies and autoimmune disease – Xinhua

SYDNEY, July 12 (Xinhua) – An Australian study found that a high-fiber diet during pregnancy could significantly reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia, a serious disease that could also lead to allergies and autoimmune diseases. Immune in babies later life.

Researchers from the Charles Perkins Center at the University of Sydney (UoS), the Barwon Infant Study from Deakin University, Monash University, James University Cook and the Australian National University released the joint study Wednesday.

Professor Ralph Nanan of UoS, lead author, told Xinhua that the link between diet and preeclampsia is due to acetate, a compound produced in the intestinal bacteria of mothers during fiber processing.

Currently, preeclampsia affects up to 10% of pregnancies and its symptoms include high blood pressure, protein in the urine and severe swelling of the mother, frequently leading to premature deliveries.

The first revelation of the study was to directly bind acetate to mothers who develop preeclampsia.

"We measured acetate levels in (a group of pregnant women) and found that mothers who developed preeclampsia had significantly lower acetate levels than healthy mothers," he said. said Nanan.

Then, through experiments on mice, the researchers showed that the development of an important immune organ called the thymus was significantly reduced, but could be saved through acetate.

"Babies from pre-eclamptic pregnancies have a smaller organ, an immune organ called the thymus, located behind the sternum," Nanan said.

"And the thymus is actually a very important immune organ because it produces cells that prevent allergies and autoimmune diseases."

"So that means we now have a mechanism to understand why a low-fiber diet, like the Western diet, is badociated with more allergies and autoimmune diseases later in life," did he declare.

Based on research, Nanan recommends that pregnant women eat a diet rich in plant-based and unprocessed foods, which he says will likely be better for health.

"Eat real foods, not processed foods, they should be mostly herbal, a little meat and some fish, but mostly herbal and not too much," he said.

Nanan added that the Chinese diet, which includes many vegetables and unprocessed foods, is better than the Western diet, which includes a large amount of preservatives.

The study team hopes that future research will confirm the link between fiber and pre-eclampsia and may help prevent the disease and reduce the number of allergies and autoimmune diseases later in life .