According to a study conducted by the National Institute of Public Health and Environment in the Netherlands, children are more at risk to develop asthma if one or both parents had a history of the disease and if the mother was overweight.
The study followed 4 000 children from birth to eight years of age. The mothers were close to 30-years-old, and 21% of them had a body mass index greater than 25.
The results demonstrated that if the mother was overweight during pregnancy and one of the parents had a history of asthma, the child had a 65% higher risk of becoming asthmatic as well. On the contrary, if neither parents suffered from asthma, then there was no link.
Despite the progress, the disease is responsible for 5 000 deaths per year in the United States.