What's New In Asthma Treatment?

Asthma is a common disease around the world, and it's especially common in the United States. At least 24 million people in the USA are asthmatics, and asthma is the leading chronic illness in American children. Epidemiologists estimate that 3 to 10% of Americans suffer exercise-induced asthma, as do 2 to 10% of the populations of Canada, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The disease process of asthma is exceedingly complex, involving hyper-responsiveness of the bronchial passages, inflammation of the airways, obstructions of airflow, and, in many cases allergies.

Asthma isn't just embarrassing on the playground or in the classroom. Asthma can be a killer. Every day in the United States alone, 9 people die of asthma. If you are an asthmatic, getting your disease under control could literally save your life. Fortunately, asthma is a frequently a preventable disease. Here are five surprising insights from recent scientific studies that can help asthmatics lead healthier lives.

1. Too much vitamin D can aggravate asthma.

Vitamin D is supposed to be a miracle vitamin, and many heath commentators tell us we just can't get enough. If you have asthma, however, you really can get too much vitamin D, especially if you live in tropical or subtropical regions of the world, within 30 degrees north or south of the equator. Scientists have noticed that increased UV-B sunlight exposure leads to higher rates of asthma. It is well known that vitamin D helps regulate the immune system, and it's also well known that allergy-induced asthma results from an "overactive" immune system. Don't overdo vitamin D supplementation, and don't spend too much time in direct sun.

2. Obesity aggravates asthma, but obese people are less likely to die of the disease.

Noting an "obesity paradox," physicians presenting research papers at the 2012 conference of the American College of Chest Physicians showed data indicating that people who have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more are less likely to suffer "fatal aggravations" of asthma, leading to death. The physicians presenting their findings speculate that obesity interferes with the ability of the immune system to produce inflammatory cytokines that cause especially intense asthma attacks.

3. Asthma may be caused by a fungus among us.

Researchers at the Institute of Primary Care and Public Health at Cardiff University in Wales (in the UK) have found that the lungs of asthmatics are often filled with enormous numbers of tiny fungi. Everyone has small numbers of fungi in their lungs, but asthmatics have more fungi and different species of fungi than those found in the lungs of non-asthmatic people.

4. People who have asthma tend to be anxious.

This finding of a research team at the University of Vienna in Austria would seem just to be common sense, but the fact is, nearly everyone who has asthma suffers chronic, intense anxiety, 88% of asthmatics in the Austrian study. Anxiety in asthma takes its toll on muscle control, causing asthmatics to trip more, fall more, drop objects more often, and have greater muscle coordination problems in sports and in the activities of daily living.

5. House dust can trigger asthma attacks, but it isn't just any kind of house dust that is the most problematic.

Dr. Donald Cook of the National Institutes of Health and Duke University and colleagues have found that it's the bacteria on house dusts that cause the allergies that trigger an allergic attack. This means that combination of dampness and dustiness is harder on asthma sufferers than dust in a low-humidity house.

Five Novel Treatments For Asthma

Some of the most useful interventions in treating asthma don't involve using inhalers or taking drugs. Here are five tips for reducing the frequency and severity of asthma attacks that most asthmatics overlook.

1. Get your exercise at the pool, not at the gym.

Moist air reduces the responsiveness of the airways to airborne-stimulants, and air does not get a lot moister than the air you breathe while you are swimming.

There are fewer particulate pollutants in the air at a pool than in the air in your home or at your place of work, and there are relative few asthma-inducing fungi in the air at the pool itself--although you probably don't want to spend too much time in the locker room. Excessive chlorination of the water in the pool causes its own problems, but moderate use of antibacterial agents in the pool makes the water ideal for exercise.

2. Listen to, or better yet, make your own music to relieve dyspnea (breathlessness).

A study at the Jagellonian University in Poland found that music therapy reduced anxiety and dyspnea (shortness of breath) and improved lung capacity in both male and female asthmatics, although the effects were more pronounced in men. The Beth Israel Hospital in Boston in the USA has used make-you-own music therapy (with a flute-like instrument known as a recorder) with success for children who have asthma. In Australia, playing the didgeridoo has been prescribed in the treatment of both asthma and sleep apnea.

3. If exercise triggers your asthma attacks, consider cutting back on salt and salt tablets.

A large number of scientific studies confirm that consuming more sodium in the diet leads to higher rates of exercise-induced asthma, although scientists don't really know why. If your asthma attacks occur when you exercise, don't eliminate salt in your diet, but avoid the pickles and heavily salted fries, and don't just take salt pills and water when working out in hot weather. Drink fruit juice, Gatorade, or coconut water instead.

4. If your kids have asthma, ask them to avoid sugar-sweetened soft drinks.

A study commissioned by the US Centers for Disease Control found that 9% of school-aged children who didn't drink any sugar-sweetened soft drinks at all had asthma, while 15% of school-aged children who drank three or more sugary soft drinks a day had the disease. Stopping or cutting back consumption of sodas and energy drinks containing high-fructose corn syrup may not cure asthma, but it probably will help.

5. The first time you have sexual intercourse with a new partner, don't forget your inhaler.

Doctors classify some especially severe asthmatic attacks as "honeymoon asthma," asthma triggered by the physical exertion and stress of having sex with a partner for the first, and sometimes, second or third, time. When asthmatics begin physical relationships with new partners, it is especially important to have all other asthma-inducing factors under good control.