These days it seems a lot of children have allergies or allergic illnesses, like asthma. In pregnancy many women have been avoiding nuts out of fear that eating them will increase the chance their child has a nut allergy or asthma. Well, a recent study tells a different, more positive story.

A large, well-designed study published this month observed that maternal peanut and tree nut consumption in pregnancy actually decreased the risk that the child would develop asthma. Compared with mothers consuming no peanuts, children whose mothers reported eating peanuts 1 or more times per week were 40% less likely to have been diagnosed with asthma.

So it seems there is no need to avoid nuts in pregnancy!