Sugar may have connection to kids' asthma

It's a fact: most kids love sugar. Candy could be a food group all by itself for young children and teens, which goes a long way in explaining why certain asthmatic symptoms show up when a diet rich in sugar is consumed.

The theory behind the sugar and asthma connection comes from the Nestle Research Center of all places. Not a bad location to try testing this idea! What researchers found was that ingesting lots of sugar results in mucus production and narrowed airways due to inflammation.

In turn, asthmatic wheezing is produced. This priming of the immune system was a hypothesis presented by Dr. Sonja Kierstein. Testing began on mice, which reacted to the sugar much like kids (in other words, they couldn't get enough of it). By the end of the procedure, the sugar-fed mice had twice the airway inflammation as their tested counterparts. If you're interested in reading more, check out the report here.