A study has found that the children of pregnant women, who ate fish and apples during pregnancy, are more likely to be protected against asthma and allergic diseases, than the ones who do not eat them.

The study, conducted at the University of Aberdeen, Britain, found that eating apples throughout pregnancy may protect against wheezing and asthma in 5-year-old children, while fish consumption may lower the risk of eczema, an allergic skin condition. The findings were to be presented Sunday at the American Thoracic Society's International Conference in San Francisco.

Health Day news quotes Saskia Willers, a doctoral student at Utrecht University in the Netherlands as saying, "To our knowledge, we are one of the first studies evaluating the influence of maternal consumption of so many different foods and food groups during pregnancy on childhood asthma and allergic disease."

The researchers from Netherlands and Scotland studied 1212 children born to women who had filled out food questionnaires during their pregnancy and concluded that a mother's diet during pregnancy influences child's respiratory health than the child's own diet until 5 years of age.

The apples contain powerful antioxidants called flavonoids, while fish contains omega-3 fatty acids, which also have a protective effect on the heart and may have a protective effect in asthma.