Low-fat Diet May Help Temper Asthma Symptoms

Individuals suffering from asthma may be able to naturally improve their condition by eliminating heavy, high-fat foods from their diets, according to a new Australian study.

Lisa Wood, research fellow of the University of Newcastle, and her colleagues found that asthmatic patients experienced diminished lung function and responded less favorably to medication after eating a high-fat, high-calorie meal.

For the study, a research team recruited 40 asthma sufferers and randomly assigned them to eat either a 1,000 calorie, fast-food-style lunch, or a reduced fat meal consisting of yogurt and fruit. They conducted lung examinations and took blood samples both before and after the meal.

At the conclusion of the study, participants who consumed the high-fat meal experienced significantly increased airway inflammation and responded poorly to albuterol, a common asthma medication.

"This is the first study to show that a high fat meal increases airway inflammation, so this is a very important finding," said Wood. "The observation that a high-fat meal changes the asthmatic response to albuterol was unexpected as we hadn’t considered the possibility that this would occur."