There is debate regarding how healthy meat consumption is to the human body concerning cancer and heart diseases. A new study has now found that consumption of meat in children could cause breathing problems.
Icahn School of Medicine researchers at Mount Sinai have established that children consuming cooked meat are 20% more likely to experience wheezing.This is a breathing problem mostly associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and Asthma. According to the study, roasting, frying, or grilling meat results in inflammatory compounds, which cause the chest to tighten. It results in wheezing, which is a coarse whistling and high-pitched sound one produces when they breathe. Sometimes wheezing can be due to respiratory infections such as acute bronchitis and allergies.
It is important to note that heating proteins fuels advanced glycation end products (AGES), which are harmful compounds. These compounds have been linked to several chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Mount Sinai’s Sonali Bose, the study’s corresponding author, said that the study results indicated they are associated with wheezing in children independent of diet quality.
The researchers conducted the study in over 4,000 children below 18 years in the US. They examined their diets and signs of respiratory problems, in which children having high AGE levels had an 18% likelihood of wheezing. Notably, this increase remained after factoring in several other factors such as household income, race, sex, age, asthma, and body mass index.
Mostly, wheezing disturbing sleep (26%), requiring medication (35%), and occurring during exercise (34%) increased considerably in children aged two to 17 years. Interestingly, eating all meat types almost doubled the chances of sleep-disturbing wheezing, which required medication to ease the symptoms.
The authors indicated in a media statement that cohort studies show a correlation between meat consumption and pediatric airways health. They said that the confirmation of a link between AGE and non-seafood meat consumption supports the hypothesis that AGEs cause airway inflammation in children.