How Does Nutritional Quality of Diet Affect Asthma Symptoms?

A team of researchers has found that healthier diets among people with asthma are associated with fewer symptoms and greater control of the disease. The findings were published online July 11, 2018, in the European Respiratory Journal.

Because the relationship between asthma and the nutritional quality of the diet are still poorly understood, the researchers set out to investigate the link. They analyzed data from a subset of 34,766 participants in the NutriNet-Santé study cohort in France, who answered a detailed respiratory questionnaire.

Participants’ asthma was defined by the asthma symptom score, and their asthma control was assessed via the asthma control test (ACT). The researchers evaluated participants’ diets using 1 of 3 dietary scores—the the Alternate Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010), the literature-based adherence score to Mediterranean diet (MEDI-LITE) and the modified Programme National Nutrition Santé Guideline Score (mPNNS-GS).

The findings demonstrated that approximately 1 in 4 participants reported having at least 1 asthma symptom. Based on the dietary scores, the researchers noted a statistically significant negative association between a healthier diet and the asthma symptom score.

They also found that “Among participants with asthma (n=2609) we also observed a negative association between a healthier diet and poorly controlled asthma. This was significant in men … and borderline significant in women.”

“Healthier diet behaviours were associated with fewer asthma symptoms and greater asthma control,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Gerchufsky

Reference:

Andrianasolo RM, Kesse-Guyot E, Adjibade M, Hercberg S, Galan P, Varraso R. Associations between dietary scores with asthma symptoms and asthma control in adults [published online July 11, 2018]. Eur Respir J. 2018;52(1):1702572. doi:10.1183/13993003.02572-2017