FRIDAY, Jan. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women who eat a Mediterranean diet rich in fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, dairy products and olive oil may help protect their children against asthma and allergies, new research suggests.

The study, published online this week in Thorax, included 468 mother and child pairs that were followed from pregnancy up to 6.5 years after birth. The researchers collected information on eating habits and on the children's asthma and allergy symptoms.

About 36 percent of the mothers ate a low-quality Mediterranean diet during pregnancy, while the rest ate a high-quality Mediterranean diet. A little more than 13 percent of all the children had persistent wheezing, 17 percent had positive responses to skin test allergens, and almost 6 percent had asthma-like symptoms plus positive skin test results.

The study found that mothers who ate a high-quality Mediterranean diet during pregnancy were significantly more likely to have children free of asthmatic symptoms and allergies than women who ate a low-quality Mediterranean diet.

Pregnant women who ate vegetables more than eight times a week, fish more than three times a week, and legumes more than once a week seemed to protect their children the most from asthma and allergies. Mothers who ate red meat more than three to four times a week seemed to increase their children's risk.

Children's eating habits at the age of 6.5 years seemed to have little effect on their asthma or allergy risk, the study found.

More information

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology has more about prevention of allergies and asthma in children  .

MONDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A real-time test for four common respiratory viruses has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The ProFlu+ test provides results within as few as three hours.

Other respiratory virus tests are fast but not as accurate or are accurate but not as fast, the FDA said.

The ProFlu+ test can analyze a single sample for influenza A virus, influenza B virus, and respiratory syncytial virus A and B (RSV). These viruses can cause influenza, pneumonia and an infection of the airways called bronchiolitis. All the viruses are leading causes of lower respiratory tract infections.

"Antiviral drugs are most effective when initiated within the first two days of symptoms," Dr. Daniel Schultz, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a prepared statement. "This new test, which is part of the new era of molecular medicine, can help the medical community quickly determine whether a respiratory illness is caused by one of these four viruses and initiate the appropriate treatment."

The ProFlu+ test is made by Prodesse, Inc. of Milwaukee.

More information

The FDA has more about this approval.

SATURDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The tiniest bits of air pollution from your vehicle's exhaust may be the most dangerous to your heart's health, suggests a new U.S. study.

Particles that are about one-thousandth the size of a human hair, cause plaque build-up in the arteries, according to a University of California, Los Angeles-led study. This condition, called atherosclerosis, can lead to heart attack and stroke.

These particles also contribute to hardening of the arteries by shutting down the protective qualities of so-called "good" high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, according to the study, which appears in the Jan. 17 online edition of Circulation Research.

Over five weeks, researchers exposed mice with high cholesterol to larger fine pollution particles (2.5 micrometers in size) or ultrafine particles (less than 0.18 micrometers), then compared them to mice exposed to filtered air. The mice exposed to ultrafine particles had 25 percent more arterial plaque development than the mice exposed to fine particles and 55 percent more than mice that breathed filtered air.

"This suggests that ultrafine particles are the most toxic air pollutants in promoting events leading to cardiovascular disease," study author Dr. Jesus Araujo, an assistant professor of medicine and director of environmental cardiology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.

While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates fine pollution particles, it doesn't monitor ultrafine -- or nano-sized -- particles, according to background information in a news release about the study.

"We hope our findings offer insight into the impact of nano-sized air pollutant particles and help explore ways for stricter air quality regulatory guidelines," principal investigator Dr. Andre Nel, UCLA's chief of nanomedicine, said in a prepared statement.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about the possible health effects of air pollution  .