Hamburgers cause asthma, NZ research says

Eating hamburgers more than once a week nearly doubles the risk of asthma attacks and wheezing in children, according to research carried out on 1300 New Zealand school pupils.

Other takeaway food and fizzy drinks also increase the chances of getting asthma, doctors found.

Youngsters who eat at least one hamburger a week are 75 per cent more likely to have asthma and almost 100 per cent more likely to suffer wheezing problems, according a study published yesterday in the international scientific journal Allergy.

The investigation of the extent to which fast foods are a risk factor for asthma was led by Dr Kristen Wickens of the Wellington Asthma Research Group, based at the Wellington Medical School.

The group -- investigating the role played by lifestyle changes over the past 30 years in a large increase in allergic disease -- linked the consumption of fast food to the prevalence of asthma and allergy.

They used 1321 children in Hastings, aged between 10 and 12 years, and recorded their diet, as well as checking asthma and asthma symptoms as part of an international study of asthma and allergies in childhood known as ISAAC.

After adjusting for lifestyle factors, including other foods and how fat the children were in comparison with children who never ate hamburgers, they found frequent consumption of hamburgers was linked to asthma symptoms.

The higher the consumption of hamburgers, the higher the incidence of asthma.

Dr Wickens said diets containing junk foods which are high in salt could be contributing to the problem.

"The high salt content in hamburgers may increase the risk of wheezy illness," she said.

Asthma is worst in developed countries, which tend to have about 6 per cent of their population affected. New Zealand has the highest incidence in developed countries at 20 per cent.

A greater proportion of teenagers in New Zealand than in other countries suffer from asthmatic symptoms, such as wheezing, breathlessness and tight-chestedness.

Some theories have blamed Western diets, higher standard of living, falling levels of exercise rates, and increased dustmites and pollution.

But Tokyo, with higher pollution than Wellington has only one fifth of the asthma incidence, while the Scottish island of Skye has the highest incidence of asthma in Britain and almost no pollution.

- NZPA