Margarine May Benefit Pregnant Women

Pregnant women who consume products with vitamin E, such as margarine, may help reduce their child’s risk of asthma, suggests a study from the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom. Researchers examined the vitamin E intake of 1,253 mothers and the respiratory status of their children throughout a 5-year period, according to Newswise.

Children whose mothers were in the low vitamin E consumption percentile were 5 times more likely to have asthma than children with mothers in the high percentile for vitamin E consumption.

“Our findings suggest that vitamin E has a dual effect on lung function and airway inflammation and that the effects could change at differing periods of prenatal and early life,” said lead researcher Dr. Devereux. “Lung function was associated with early vitamin E exposure independent of atopy, whereas allergic airway inflammation was associated with vitamin E exposure later in life.”

Researchers from the study recommended vegetable oils (sunflower, rapseed and corn), margarine, wheat germ, nuts and sunflower seeds as major sources of vitamin E.

In my opinion, this is yet another reason that margarine can be part of an overall healthy diet!