BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--Fish oil supplementation may reduce the severity of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) by reducing inflammation in patients with asthma, according to a study published in Chest (129, 1:39-49, 2006).
Researchers from Indiana University, University Hospital of Wales and Llandough Hospital, in Penarth, Wales, conducted a randomized, double blind, crossover study on 16 asthmatic patients with documented EIB. At baseline, researchers switched eight test subjects from their normal diet to a supplementation regimen involving 3.2 g/d of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 2.0 g/d of docohexaenoic acid (DHA), and also switched eight individuals from their normal diet to daily placebo capsules for three weeks. At the beginning of the study and at the end of each treatment phase, researchers assessed patients' pulmonary function, induced sputum differential cell count percentage, concentrations of proinflammatory eicosanoid metabolites and cytokines. Test subjects on their normal diet or the placebo regimen exhibited EIB. However, test subjects given the fish oil diet showed improved pulmonary function to below the diagnostic EIB threshold, with a concurrent reduction in bronchodilator use. Patients given fish oil also showed a significant reduction in induced sputum differential cell count percentage and concentrations of proinflammatory eicosanoid metabolites and cytokines before and following exercise, in comparison to individuals following their normal diets and the placebo regimen.
The researchers concluded the data suggest fish oil supplementation may represent a potentially beneficial nonpharmacologic intervention for asthmatic subjects with EIB.
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