Early Life Food Desert Status Is Associated With Alpha and Gamma‐Tocopherol Levels and Infant Lung Function

TL;DR

Living in a food desert during early life is linked to lower infant lung function and altered vitamin E levels, suggesting a potential impact on respiratory health.

Contribution

This study is the first to examine the association between early life food desert status and specific vitamin E levels and lung function in infants.

Findings

Infants in food deserts had lower lung volumes at 3 months of age.

Infants with ideal tocopherol levels were not found in food deserts.

Ideal tocopherol levels were associated with higher lung function measurements.

Abstract

Living in a food desert (an area with limited access to affordable and nutritious food) is associated with a higher prevalence of childhood asthma. There is a lack of information regarding the impact of spending the first year of life in a food desert on subsets of Vitamin E (α‐ and γ‐tocopherol) levels and lung development.

Determine if living in a food desert at 3 months of life is associated with altered α‐ and γ‐tocopherol, and infant lung measurements.

Newborns recruited within 1 week of delivery and prospectively followed for 3 months. 32 infants had sedated lung function tests and 50 had food desert data for analysis along with serum for α‐tocopherol and γ‐tocopherol analysis.

Fifty (50) infants within the prospective Indiana High‐risk for Atopy in Neonates Cohort through Early life (INHANCE) were analyzed.

Lung function, serum tocopherol concentration, and food desert status from the INHANCE cohort were analyzed. Because α‐tocopherol and γ‐tocopherol have opposing mechanistic functions, and the combination of high α‐tocopherol with low γ‐tocopherol have been shown to associate with better lung function in 2‐ to 3‐year olds and in adults, in this study of 3‐month old infants, quadrants of high and low α‐tocopherol and γ‐tocopherol were assessed for association with food deserts and lung function tests.

Fisher's Exact tests were used to compare food desert designations with quadrants, due to small counts. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) models were used to compare lung function values across the four quadrants, and Student's t‐tests were used to compare the lung function z‐scores across the two‐level quadrant groups.

At 3 months of age, lung volumes were lower in children living in food deserts (FVC: p = 0.006; FEV0.5: p = 0.008). None of the infants (n = 50) with the ideal tocopherol combination lived in a food desert compared to the other three quadrants with less ideal tocopherol combinations (p = 0.04). The infants (n = 32) with the ideal tocopherol combination had higher FRC (p = 0.006) and FEV0.5 (p = 0.025) z‐scores than infants in the other three quadrants.

Not living in a food desert is associated with the highest α‐ and lowest γ‐tocopherol levels at 3 months of age. At 3 months of age, not living in a food desert was associated with higher lung function; with higher lung function associated with the highest α‐tocopherol and lowest γ‐tocopherol levels. Prospective trials are needed to determine if a lack of nutritious food during pregnancy and the first year of life is linked with decreased α‐tocopherol and increased γ‐tocopherol throughout this time period, and if this potential link is consistently associated with lower airway measurements that persist for the first few years of life.

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