Study suggests vitamin D may help control asthma

New York: In addition to strengthening the bones, higher levels of vitamin D may also help asthmatic children to become more resilient to the damaging effects on the airways caused by indoor air pollution, say researchers, including a researcher. Indian origin.

"Asthma is an immune-mediated disease," said lead author Sonali Bose, an assistant professor at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine. "According to previous scientific studies, we knew that vitamin D was a molecule that could affect asthma by acting on the pathways related to antioxidants or the immune system," she added.

The researchers found that low blood levels of vitamin D were linked to the adverse effects on respiratory health of indoor air pollution from sources such as cigarette smoke, cooking, burning candles and smoking. Incense in children with asthma.

In contrast, in the most polluted indoor airplaces, higher blood levels of vitamin D were associated with a decrease in asthma symptoms in children. Importantly, the results showed that the effects were most pronounced in obese children, Bose said.

"This highlights a third factor at play here – the obesity epidemic – and helps shed light on this risk when we consider individual susceptibility to asthma."

For the study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In practice, researchers tested three factors: air pollution in homes, vitamin D levels in the blood and symptoms of asthma, in 120 already asthmatic schoolchildren. One-third of the children were obese.

"One way to increase vitamin D levels in the blood is to increase sun exposure, but this is not always possible in urban environments or in people whose pigmentation of the skin. skin is darker, "said Bose.

"Another option is to use dietary supplements or to consume more foods rich in vitamin D, such as oily fish, mushrooms or vitamin D fortified foods, such as bread, juice, and other foods. orange or milk. "