CNN.com reports that a study from Britain’s Royal Brompton Hospital and the National Heart and Lung Institute showed that the Mediterranean diet can help alleviate respiratory allergies and asthma in children. In the study of 690 children (ages 7-18) living on the Greek island Crete, those who ate the largest amount of fresh fruits and nuts were the least likely to have breathing allergies. Although grapes, oranges, tomatoes, apples, and nuts had no effect on skin allergies, children who eat a lot of them have less problems with wheezing and/or runny noses. Published in the journal Thorax, the study concluded that, “diet may explain the relative lack of allergic symptoms in this population.”
