BBC
Health – Children of mothers who eat plenty of apples during pregnancy
are less likely to develop asthma, research suggests.

The
University of Aberdeen project quizzed 2,000 mothers-to-be on their
eating habits, then looked at their child’s health over five years.
They found that those who ate four or more apples a week were half as
likely to have an asthmatic child compared with those who ate one or
fewer.

The study was presented at the American Thoracic Society conference.
The researchers also found a link between eating more fish in
pregnancy, and a lower chance of their child developing the allergic
skin condition eczema.

Women who ate one or more portions of any type of fish during pregnancy
weekly had almost half the chance of having a child diagnosed with
eczema within the first five years.

There are no firm clues as to why apples and fish might be able to
produce this benefit - no other foodstuffs were linked to decreases in
asthma or eczema. However, apples are already linked to better lung health when taken by
adults, perhaps due to their antioxidant properties, and oily fish in
particular contain Omega-3 oils, which, it has been suggested, offer
health benefits.

It
is, however, notoriously difficult to uncover links between maternal
diet and child health, given the numerous other factors which may be
involved in the development of diseases such as asthma and eczema. The
Aberdeen team has a group of 2,000 women, who, more than five years
ago, monitored their food intake during pregnancy, and then allowed
researchers to see what happened to their children. …

Dr Victoria King, Research Development Manager at Asthma UK says: ‘This
study suggests a simple modification that can be made to a pregnant
mother’s diet which may help protect her child from developing asthma
before the age of five. The study supports our advice to pregnant
mothers to eat a healthy, balanced diet. One in ten children in the UK
has asthma so it is vital to continue
funding research that could reduce the incidence of childhood
asthma.  (05/21/07)
more…

BBC Nature & Humanity –
Action is needed to prevent the loss of some of the UK’s best-loved
plants and wildlife to climate change, the authors of a report have
suggested.

The seven-year research programme known as Monarch was developed to
assess the impacts of projected climate change on wildlife in the UK
and Ireland. The authors warn that some species, such as the
capercaillie, could vanish from Britain by the 2050s.

But other species, including the stone curlew, may spread to more of
the UK. Species likely to do best in the hotter, drier summers and
warmer, wetter winters predicted by climate scientists are species
whose strongholds are currently in continental and Mediterranean
Europe. For example, while it is mainly a Mediterranean and continental
European bird, there is a British stone curlew population centred on
Breckland and Salisbury Plain, with smaller enclaves elsewhere in
southern and eastern England. Researchers from Monarch (Modelling
Natural Resource Responses to Climate Change) say climate change may
create the potential for the stone curlew to colonise other sites
across much of southern Britain. However, while more frequent summer
drought conditions across southern Britain are likely to favour the
dry, short vegetation that it needs for breeding areas, it will reduce
the availability of earthworms, which are an important component of its
diet.

The adonis blue butterfly is another species that might thrive with a
warmer climate. At present, it is restricted to southern England in
Britain and Ireland, as it is at the northern limit of its climatic
range. It has declined over the last 200 years and has been lost from
the northern part of its British range, in the Cotswolds and East
Anglia. and is now largely confined to chalk grasslands. Researchers
say a population expansion is possible, although it may be limited by
the fact is likes to live on chalky soil.

Conversely, the climate may become unfavourable for birds like the
capercaillie which is found in more northerly climes. In Britain, it
became extinct in the18th Century but was reintroduced in the 19th
Century from Sweden, and currently, is confined to central and northern
Scotland.

Conservationists say the report reminds us that helping wildlife adapt
will become an increasingly important strand of British conservation
work - not just for the threatened species but for thousands of others
that will also need to move to find more suitable climes. (05/21/07)
more…