Reviewing recent research, Augusto Litonjua reports that low vitamin D levels mostly track with higher asthma and allergy risk, though a few studies found the reverse, and that small short-term trials suggest supplements ease eczema and asthma flares. The optimal level stays unclear.
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Vitamins
Vitamin D may help children with asthma
Among 86 children studied in London, those with therapy-resistant asthma averaged 28 nmol/L of vitamin D, against 42.5 in children with moderate asthma and 56.5 in those without asthma. Higher levels tracked with better lung function and fewer exacerbations.
Food
Babies who consume fish early in life have a lower risk of wheezing
A Swedish cohort study found babies who ate fish before nine months had a 40 percent lower risk of recurrent wheezing. Broad-spectrum antibiotics in the first week of life doubled that risk and nearly tripled the risk of multiple-trigger wheezing up to age 4.5.
Food
Low-fat yogurt intake when pregnant may lead to child asthma and hay fever (PR)
In the Danish National Birth Cohort, women who ate fruit-flavored low-fat yoghurt once a day while pregnant were 1.6 times more likely to have children with asthma by age 7 than women reporting none. Milk intake carried no such risk and appeared protective.
Environment
Mold exposure during infancy increases asthma risk (PR)
University of Cincinnati researchers followed 176 children for seven years and report in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology that infants in homes scoring high on the EPA's environmental relative moldiness index were three times more likely to develop asthma by age 7.
Lifestyle
Does prenatal exposure to magnetic fields cause asthma in kids?
In a Kaiser Permanente cohort whose mothers wore meters during pregnancy, each 1-mG rise in median daily magnetic field exposure was associated with a 15% higher rate of asthma in offspring. Children of mothers with high exposure had a more than 3.5-fold higher rate.
Food
Breastfeeding prevents asthma-related symptoms
Among more than 5,000 Dutch children followed to age four, those never breastfed were about 1.4 and 1.5 times more likely to wheeze or have persistent phlegm than children breastfed for six months. Early solids or other milk also tracked with more asthma-related symptoms.
Disease
More Americans Living with Asthma Every Year
A CDC Vital Signs report counts about 25 million Americans, 8 percent of the population, with asthma in 2009, up 4.3 million since 2001. Costs rose from about $53 billion in 2002 to $56 billion in 2007, and 40 percent of uninsured people with asthma could not afford their medicine.
Vitamins
Vitamin D good for asthma patients
The Lancet reported an 18-year-old whose asthma attack followed viewing his ex-girlfriend's Facebook profile, though experts say any stress could trigger one. A separate study found people low in vitamin D 50 percent more likely to need hospital care for an attack.
Vitamins
Should Facebook users take vitamin D to prevent asthma attacks?
The Lancet reported the case of an 18-year-old with otherwise well-controlled asthma who had an attack after viewing his ex-girlfriend's Facebook pages, and recovered after quitting the site. The article adds that studies link low vitamin D to poorer asthma control.
Vitamins
Eczema, asthma and vitamin D
A reader's email to the Vitamin D Council asking Dr. Cannell whether his breastfeeding wife's and infant daughter's vitamin D doses are adequate and whether their eczema and asthma could be linked to vitamin D, preceded by an editor's appeal for donations to the organization.
Disease
May is Asthma Awareness Month
Asthma is the most common long-term disease of children but affects adults too, causing repeated wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and night or early morning coughing. CDC says people can control it by knowing warning signs, avoiding triggers and following a plan made with their provider.
Food Chemicals
Plastic chemical triggers allergic asthma
In an animal study presented to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, mice whose mothers drank water containing 10 micrograms of BPA per mL developed airway problems; those exposed to lower doses or none did not. The researchers were testing which exposure levels matter.
Vitamins
Low vitamin intake linked to high risk of asthma
A Nottingham University meta-analysis of 40 studies from 1980 to 2007 found people with asthma took in significantly less vitamin A, and those with severe asthma about 50 percent less than those with mild disease. Vitamin E intake showed no link to asthma risk.
Drug
How Safe Is Your Asthma Medication?
Robert Davidson, a former clinical research subinvestigator at a Tucson allergy clinic, alleges trials of seven approved asthma and allergy drugs were corrupted by protocol violations and falsification, with unsuitable patients enrolled and staff unblinding studies.
Vitamins
Vitamin D reduces asthma severity
Children hospitalized with asthma problems typically had low blood levels of vitamin D, echoing a 2006 Australian study in which sunlight eased asthma severity in mice. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology reports maternal supplementation may cut children's asthma risk.
Vitamins
Deficiency of vitamins A and C increases asthma risk
A Nottingham meta-analysis of 40 studies from 1980 to 2007 found people with low intake of vitamin C ran a 12 percent higher asthma risk and also had low vitamin A levels. Vitamin E intake showed no link, though people with severe asthma had very low blood levels of it.
Phytochemicals
Broccoli compound may help prevent respiratory inflammation
In a Clinical Immunology study, 65 volunteers took broccoli or alfalfa sprout preparations for three days. Those given 100 grams or more of broccoli sprouts showed significantly higher antioxidant enzymes in nasal airway cells, with 200 grams producing the largest increases.
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