Asthma: Weigh Less, Breathe Better

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MunichOverweight adults who suffer from asthma should lose weight. Because with the pounds you lose, your breathing difficulties improve and your quality of life increases.

It has been known for a long time that being overweight is associated with twice the risk of developing asthma. Even more: In heavy asthma sufferers, the lung problems are more serious than in slim fellow sufferers. Doctors suspect that the cause of the connection could be certain messenger substances that are formed in adipose tissue and worsen the disease.

Slimming down for more lung strength

A Canadian research team led by Smita Pakhale from the University Hospital in Ottawa conducted a small study to determine whether weight loss had a positive effect on the disease. To this end, they recruited 22 asthma patients aged between 18 and 75 years. On average, the participants had a body mass index of 32.5 - so they were not only considered overweight, but even obese. The scientists put 16 of them on a three-month diet for weight loss, the remaining six test subjects served as a control group.

In order to determine the severity of the asthma illness before and after weight loss, the researchers tested, among other things, the reaction of the bronchi to the substance metacholine. In asthmatics, the smooth bronchial muscles are over-sensitive to the substance and contract. The severity of the asthma can be measured by how high the concentration of metacholine has to be to provoke such a reaction. The researchers also recorded the participants' lung strength as part of what is known as the one-second capacity (FEV1 = forced expiratory volume in one second). This is the amount of air that the patient can exhale with all his might and as quickly as possible within a second.

Breathe better, live better

During the three months of the diet, the participants lost between nine and 16 kilograms of body weight. The asthma patients in the control group, on the other hand, put on weight slightly.The weight loss actually had a positive effect on asthma symptoms: "We were very pleased to find a significant improvement in asthma symptoms and quality of life," says study director Pakhale. The bronchial tubes of the slimmed-down participants reacted more slowly to metacholine and the one-second capacity of the lungs also increased.

In Germany around ten percent of all children under the age of 15 suffer from bronchial asthma. In about half of them, the disease disappears by the age of seven or during puberty. Around five percent of adults in Germany have asthma. (cf)

Sources:

Smita Pakhale et al .: Effects of Weight Loss on Airway Responsiveness in Obese Adults With Asthma: Does Weight Loss Lead to Reversibility of Asthma ?; Chest. 2015; 147: 1582-1590. doi: 10.1378 / chest.14-3105

Lung doctors in the net, www.lungenaerzte-im-netz.de, accessed on June 9th, 2015

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