--- title: The Link Between Flour And Asthma description: Bakers, beware: flour is a primary cause of job-related asthma in France, finds new research. Researchers analyzed 330 cases of occupational asthma, with data provided... canonical: https://time.com/3274244/flour-can-cause-asthma/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-08T10:00:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:02:05.697Z article:section: Health og:title: Flour Is Leading Cause of Job-Related Asthma in France og:description: Bakers, beware: flour causes more asthma than ammonium, study says og:url: https://time.com/3274244/flour-can-cause-asthma/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e42a2fd3d95d57f/6986a232e8524b891b60491f/475143079-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 475143079 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Flour Is Leading Cause of Job-Related Asthma in France twitter:description: Bakers, beware: flour causes more asthma than ammonium, study says twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e42a2fd3d95d57f/6986a232e8524b891b60491f/475143079-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Flour Is the Main Cause of Work-Related Asthma in France by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 8, 2014 10:00 AM UTC  Pizza dough Pizza doughManuel Sulzer—Getty Images/Cultura RF by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 8, 2014 10:00 AM UTC Bakers, beware: flour is a primary cause of job-related asthma in France, finds new research. Researchers analyzed 330 cases of occupational asthma, with data provided by a network of respiratory doctors, over three years. Their findings, which were presented at the European Respiratory Society’s International Congress, showed that flour was the main cause and the culprit in 20% of the cases. The next biggest asthma-inducer at the workplace were the ammonium compounds found in cleaning products, blamed in 15% of cases. It’s not a new phenomenon and even has a name: “[baker’s asthma](http://oem.bmj.com/content/59/7/498.full).” Flour may irritate the respiratory system, and some of the dust and enzymes in flour can cause allergy-related symptoms, researchers think. The data also shows that people working in food manufacturing were at a greater risk for asthma than people working in agriculture, and women were more likely to suffer from job-related asthma compared to men. The researchers hope that their study will help inform asthma prevention efforts. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3274244/flour-can-cause-asthma/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3274244/flour-can-cause-asthma/"},"headline":"Flour Is the Main Cause of Work-Related Asthma in France","datePublished":"2014-09-08T10:00:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:02:05.697Z","description":"Bakers, beware: flour is a primary cause of job-related asthma in France, finds new research. Researchers analyzed 330 cases of occupational asthma, with data provided...","url":"https://time.com/3274244/flour-can-cause-asthma/","keywords":["Research","Asthma"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e42a2fd3d95d57f/6986a232e8524b891b60491f/475143079-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e42a2fd3d95d57f/6986a232e8524b891b60491f/475143079-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"475143079","caption":"475143079","creditText":"Manuel Sulzer—Getty Images/Cultura RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3274244/flour-can-cause-asthma/","name":"Flour Is the Main Cause of Work-Related Asthma in France"}}]}] ```