Hamburgers lead asthma risk to kids: NZ research

The more hamburgers the kids eat, the bigger risks of asthma attacks they tend to, said a Tuesday released report by New Zealand researchers.

The research carried out on 1,300 New Zealand children indicated eating hamburgers more than once a week nearly doubles the risk of asthma and wheezing in children.

The study published in the international scientific journal Allergy said children who eat at least one hamburger a week are 75 percent more likely to have asthma and almost 100 percent more likely to suffer wheezing problems.

The researchers recorded diet of 1,321 children aged between 10 and 12 years, and traced their asthma and asthma symptoms. After adjusting for lifestyle factors, including other foods and how fat the children were, compared with children who never ate hamburgers, the researchers found frequent consumption of hamburgers was linked to asthma symptoms.

Asthma occurs in every country in the world and has about six percent of the population affected in the developed countries. New Zealand is one of the countries which have the highest rate: 20 percent.

Dr Wickens who leads the study said diets containing junk foods which are high in salt could be contributing to the problem.

Source: Xinhua