A long term study into the health of children has found that the introduction of fish before the age of nine months could cut the risk of a child developing eczema by a quarter.
The children were all part of an on going health study looking at almost seventeen thousand infants born in 2003 in western Sweeden. Questions were asked about diet, home environment and evidence of eczema when children were six and twelve months old.
At six months old, thirteen percent of the families said their child had already developed eczema. This rose to twenty percent by their first birthday. Children with sibling or mother with ecema were almost twice as likely to be affected by twelve months but whilst breast feeding, the age at which dairy products were introduced and the presence of a fury pet in the home had no detectable influence on eczema; the introduction of fish before nine months cut the risk by twenty five percent.