Water and nutrient intake in pregnant New Zealand women: association with wheeze in their infants at 18 months.

The association between water and nutrient intake in pregnant women, and wheeze in their 18 month old infants, was investigated in a prospective study. Volunteers (n=369) recruited from northern New Zealand were visited in months 4 and 7 of pregnancy. At each visit anthropometric measurements were taken, diet assessed by 24-hour recall and 3-day food records and questionnaires determining personal details administered. Eighteen months after birth, infants were measured, and questions on infant feeding and wheeze asked. Overall, mothers reported 32% of their infants had wheezed in the last 12 months. After adjusting for significant covariates and energy intake, higher maternal intakes of dietary water (p=0.009) and manganese (p=0.024) were associated with decreased wheeze, and glucose (p=0.003) with increased wheeze. Prevalence of infant wheeze decreased 18.5% from the lower to the upper quartile of water intake, and 17.4% from the lower to the upper quartile of manganese intake. Wheeze was more common in Polynesian than European infants (41.8% vs 28.9%). Polynesian mothers consumed significantly less dietary water (median 451 g less) and manganese (median 1374 μg less) than European mothers per day. Glucose was only significant because of strong association with infant wheeze at extremely high maternal intakes of >40 g/day in ~10% of the subjects. There was no association between maternal dietary supplement intake and wheeze. Mothers estimated at high risk of infant wheeze consumed less tap water, whole grains, tea, fruit; and more fruit juice, soft drink, processed meat and fish products, and refined grain products. This is the first study to report an intergenerational association between maternal water, and glucose intake with infant wheeze.