Scientists at the Imperial College in London, working with an Australian university, have found that babies who experience what is termed a 'lower respiratory viral infection' like a cold, or who have an allergic sensitivity, are more likely to go on to develop asthma.
The study looked at 200 children and tracked their progress. A child who had a lower respiratory viral infection early on and who developed an allergy before they were two years old, was three to four times more likely to develop asthma before the age of five.
It is believed this was due to the way in which the body reacts to the infection and allergens.
It comes as another medical study finds that women who eat plenty of apples during pregnancy can help reduce the risk of their child having asthma. 2000 women had their diets tracked during pregnancy, then the health of their babies was monitored for five years. Women who ate at least four apples per week in pregnancy had children who were half as likely to develop asthma as those children whose mothers had eaten one or less apples each week in pregnancy.
The study also found that eating fish in pregnancy decreased the chances of the woman's baby having eczema.
For more about babies and asthma, visit www.asthma.org.uk.
