Consuming sugary drinks during pregnancy may increase asthma risk in mid-childhood

This is also the case if their mothers drank a lot of sugar-sweetened beverages while pregnant.

That's according to new research published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

In Prenatal and Early-life Fructose, Fructose-containing Beverages, and Mid-Childhood Asthma, researchers report on 1,068 mother-child pairs participating in Project Viva, a longitudinal study based in Eastern Massachusetts designed to find ways to improve the health of mothers and their children.

After their first and second trimesters, mothers who participated in the study completed questionnaires about their food and beverage consumption, including regular soda and fruit drinks.

When their children reached early childhood (3.3 years), the mothers completed another questionnaire to report their children's consumption of a variety of foods and beverages, including regular sodas and fruit drinks.