Asthma is a condition characterized by a situation in which an individual feels difficult to breathe because the narrowing of the air passage leads to the lungs. It is a type of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and mainly originated from also some allergy, which can be seasonal, environmental, or even food-related.
Over 25 million Americans are facing asthma. There are 7.7% of adults and 8.4% of children. Since the early 1980s, asthma has been increasing rapidly in all age groups, sex, racial groups, etc.
All the asthmatics want to know about a particular diet, which can help in improving asthma control or decreasing the amount of medication that they require. Our food is responsible for several health issues such as high cholesterol, heart disease, blood pressure level, etc. When an individual eats a healthy diet, these risks get decreased.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which is usually present in milk products. It is one of the vital vitamins for bone health. Often, people intake vitamin D by consuming fortified foods as well as supplements because the typical diet does not contain enough food that is perfect sources of vitamin D for achieving sufficient levels.
In the pathophysiology of asthma, vitamin D can impact the levels of specific immune cells and can also decrease the inflammation caused due to a viral infection in the respiratory system. There are numerous studies, which have demonstrated a relationship between asthma(1) and vitamin D. Higher levels of vitamin D can protect against asthma development and recurrent wheeze in childhood.
Usually, people who have asthma, have a deficiency of vitamin D. Lower the level of vitamin D in the body, more asthma symptoms, more inadequate asthma control, and increased airway hyperreactivity.
There is a variety of food available who have a sufficient amount of vitamin D. So when you are planning to raise the vitamin D level in your body, go for the following:
[Also Read: Natural Remedies to Treat Asthma]
Vitamin D is generally considered safe when an individual takes in the recommended amount, but a high dose can also lead to spiked calcium levels in the blood, which results in kidney stones, constipation, confusion, vomiting, and nausea. While vitamin D can have a massive impact on the immune functioning at various points in asthma’s pathophysiology.
Whenever you feel like your body is deficient of vitamin D, that means you need to bring its level at a sufficient level and make sure the levels are normal. For recovering the deficiency of vitamin D in the body, an individual can opt natural resource, i.e., sunlight. By exposing your body parts such as legs, arms, chest, back, and face in the light of the sun, you get enough vitamin D.
[Also Read: Home Remedies for Asthma]
Vitamin C is a water-soluble antioxidant, which is usually present in vegetables and fruits. It is touting a defense against an immunity booster and the common cold. Mostly, people eat a healthy diet to get enough vitamin C(2) without taking any supplements.
It has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which helps it in making potential interest in asthma. Western food diet has low levels of vitamin C due to this; it has a significant impact on asthma.
Antioxidants help in preventing the damaging effects of oxidative stress as well as reactive oxygen species, which are produced by inflammatory cells that are present in the lungs. The low intake of vitamin C (antioxidants) leads to an imbalance that can do chronic inflammation as well as cause damage to the lungs.
There are various types of foods that are high in vitamin C. So when an individual is planning to raise the vitamin C in his body, he can go for the following:
Usually, people think that vitamin C is safe, but a high dose of vitamin C can lead to diarrhea, nausea, and kidney stones. It is the fact that both for and against of vitamin C are beneficial for asthma. There are not many recommendations of supplements for specific asthmatics health condition. There is strong evidence that vitamin C’s effect on asthmatic children is heterogeneous.
However, research needs to confirm the groups of children who will get the most significant benefit from supplements of vitamin C. In some health conditions, vitamin C is capable of reducing bronchoconstriction.
It can replace antihistamines, antibiotics, antitoxic, antipyretics, and antiviral drugs at bowel tolerance levels. It helps in reducing inflammation.
[Also Read: Essential Oils For Asthma]
Vitamin E is a type of fat-soluble vitamin, which indeed found in nuts, oils, seeds, and green leafy vegetables. Usually, people take supplements of vitamin E as a preventive measure for decreasing risk of a variety of disorders such as cancer, heart disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
When an individual eats a healthy and nutritious diet, it makes him avoid taking any supplements of vitamin E because his body will not have any deficiency.
Vitamin E has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in the lung along with that it can decrease specific inflammatory markers, for example, neutrophils. Similar to vitamin C, the low level of this vitamin depends on the diet.
The low level of vitamin E also associated with evidence of poor lung functioning and a higher level of vitamin E associated with decreased severity of asthma and improved lung functioning.
Plenty of food items are available, which are full of vitamin E. When you want to increase vitamin E in your body, you can add the following food items in your diet:
There is no side effect even if people take more of the recommended dose in their daily diet, and due to this, generally, vitamin E considered to be safe.
In some cases, consumption of too much vitamin E can increase the risk of bleeding as well as hemorrhagic stroke along with congestive heart failure. Too much use of vitamin E can also lead to nausea, rash, stomach cramping, diarrhea, weakness, headache, and visual changes.
A form of vitamin E, i.e., gamma-tocopherol, which is commonly present in foods, and it is useful to treat asthma. Due to the antioxidant properties of vitamin E, it has potential therapeutic benefits for people who have asthma.
However, there are some discrepancies in benefits of dietary vs. supplements of vitamin E, probably that is due to the gamma-tocopherol form of vitamin E is usually present in food, whereas almost all other supplements contain alpha-tocopherol.
Intake of vitamins supplements can improve health, and it is becoming favorite day by day. Supplements of a multivitamin are usually useful to fulfill the deficiency of different type of vitamin supplements.
The perfect home remedy for asthma is vitamin D, which can slow the declining lung functioning as well as improves immune health. Vitamin D also stops remodeling of the lung, i.e., the narrowing of airways over time. Calcitriol, the type of vitamin D, which develop in our body, is a natural anti-inflammatory.
Still, many people are chronically low in vitamin D because they spend less time outside and also take a low-nutrient diet. The daily recommended dose for an adult is about 600 IU that can quickly easily build up in a body by a combination of sunlight and a healthy diet.
Vitamin C can increase immunity along with that it acts as an antioxidant, inflammation, and reducing free radical damage. Vitamin B helps in supporting cognitive functions as well as boost our body immunity. Vitamin B3 and B12 both are low in asthma patients, but some nutrients can lower antihistamine level and can also reduce wheezing.
You can treat your asthma problem naturally by reducing environmental as well as dietary toxin intake. You need to eat more nutrient-rich food, address the role of the nervous system in lung functioning, and to learn to manage stress better. There is no severe impact on these home remedies for treating asthma.
In case, asthma medications are not able to help someone to address the attacks; then, it is necessary to call an ambulance or visit the ER right away. Although asthma attacks rarely become fatal, so being cautious is the best option. There are various signs of a severe asthma attack such as blue lips, pale face, very rapid heartbeat, sweating, and inability to exhale, and all these require immediate intervention.
[Also Read: Yoga for Asthma]
The causes of asthma are not clear yet. Some people get asthma attacks, and others do not. The reason might be due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors such as exposure to numerous irritants, airborne substances like dust mites, pollen, mold spores; respiratory infections, physical activity, etc.
In case, you have asthma, and you must figure out asthma triggers because it can aggravate the symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, and breathing problem. While there is no cure of asthma but you can take a few steps you need to take to keep asthma in control such as start staying away from allergens, avoid the smoke of any type, prevents cold.
There are various treatment options or asthma medications such as short-acting bronchodilators, inhaled steroids, long-acting bronchodilators, anticholinergic agents, anti-IgE treatment, anti-IL5 treatment, chromones, theophylline, Immunotherapy or allergy shots, etc.