Asthma is a chronic lung disorder characterized by airway responsiveness and airflow obstruction. Symptoms include periodic wheezing, chronic cough, chest tightness and breathlessness. Severity ranges from occasional to persistent symptoms and even frequent episodes of potentially fatal exacerbations. Asthma affects 300 million people worldwide and is one of the most common chronic diseases.
Recently, scientists have done research which reveals that unhealthy lifestyle behaviors including salty-snack eating, reduced consumption of fruits and vegetables, and prolonged television/video-game viewing were strongly related to the presence of asthma symptoms in children. They speculated that the excessive sodium in salty snacks increases the incidence of wheezing and bronchial hyper-responsiveness. Studies have also established associations between asthma in young children and inadequate maternal intake of vitamin E, vitamin D, selenium, zinc, and polyunsaturated fatty acids during pregnancy. However, supplementation with antioxidative nutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and omega-3 fish oil provides almost no benefit in adults with asthma.
For children with asthma, parents should take effort to limit their intake of salty snacks (like crispy snacks, potato chips, hotdogs, pizzas, and hamburgers) and to limit their TV-viewing duration to less than 2 hours daily to reduce their chance of having symptoms. Provide alternative healthy snacks with fresh fruits, dairy, nuts and whole grains such as peanut butter on apple slices or celery sticks, and banana & yogurt graham cracker sandwiches to promote the intake of protective essential nutrients.
http://www.examiner.com/nutrition-in-new-york/child-nutrition-and-asthma