If you are among the fifteen million Americans with asthma, you know about asthma attacks. The main airways of your lungs become inflamed and swollen with mucus and other gunk. The muscles surrounding these airways tighten and constrict spasmodically. Air gets in, but it has a tough time getting out. You desperately wheeze while you try to catch your breath.
Asthma is increasing globally at an alarming rate. In the United States, asthma rates have nearly doubled in the last twenty years. The disease kills more than five thousand people per year and racks up $6 billion in yearly healthcare costs.
One American asthma statistic is my dad, a twenty-year veteran of the illness. He manages his disease with exercise, measuring his lung volume, healthy eating, air purifiers, and working with his doctors to find a medication regimen to keep his asthma under control.
But he’s concerned that taking five medications to control his asthma may do long-term harm. After a few years on his asthma medications, he noticed his skin was more fragile and that he couldn’t taste his food. Last year he had a heart irregularity that was likely linked to a lung infection. He wheezes and worries that he isn’t doing all he can do to protect his health. He reads about alternative approaches to controlling asthma but is frustrated that his doctors can’t or won’t tell him what else he can do.
Allergies and stress trigger my dad’s asthma, but experts link this to common aspects of living. Pollution inside our homes and offices comes from recycled air filled with mold, dust, and chemicals. Other triggers include tobacco smoke and scents from perfume, soap, and cleaning products. And for many, being overweight, unhealthy eating, exercise, cold weather, and food allergies are culprits. Even aspirin can induce asthma.
Standard treatment has been the lifelong use of drugs that keep the airways open and reduce inflammation. The main drugs are bronchodilators, which open airways, and steroids, which dampen inflammation by suppressing the immune system.
This chronic use of drugs presents serious implications for health, according to pharmacist and nutritionist Ross Pelton, Ph.D., and coauthor of The Nutritional Cost of Prescription Drugs. "Nutrition depletion either causes or is a significant contributing factor for these drugs’ side effects," he warns. For example, his research shows that "oral use of steroid drugs can cause problems with the immune system [and can] deplete vitamins A, C, D, B6, B12, and folic acid, and calcium, chromium, magnesium, selenium, and zinc."
Inhaled versions of these drugs are used most often because they produce fewer side effects. However, not as much is known about the inhaled version of steroids, which concerns Pelton. "Use of inhaled steroids has increased enormously in teenagers," he says. He predicts that "we will be seeing early onset of osteomalacia and osteoporosis," both serious degenerative bone diseases that result from inadequate calcium and vitamin D. Steroids are known for depleting calcium, but they also deplete nutrients needed for healthy hearts, skin, and immune systems.
New on the market is Advair, an inhaler that combines steroids and a bronchodilator. Side effects for this drug include heart palpitations, headaches, nervousness, decreased sense of taste, stomach problems, and mouth and respiratory infections. "It goes back to the immune system," Pelton says.
Nothing beyond a daily multiple vitamin mineral supplement has been recommended for my dad. This wouldn’t surprise Pelton. "Most doctors aren’t aware of [drug-induced nutrient depletions]," he says. He also notes that "Doctors are very busy. Drug company reps give them a lot of information, but [aren’t explaining] the drug nutrient depletions." Side effects related to drug-induced nutrient deficiencies don’t surface until a person has been taking the drugs for a while. Drug companies conduct studies about the nutrient deficiencies, but these are footnotes in the medical literature and rarely appear in the mainstream media. Pelton adds, "The information [about drug-induced nutrient depletion] has been in the literature for twenty to twenty-five years." Pelton has read between four hundred and five hundred articles regarding drug-induced nutrient depletions for a wide variety of drugs in addition to asthma medications.
Unfortunately, so far natural alternatives have been less effective than prescription medications in the treatment of asthma. However, several natural therapies are available that can either lessen a drug’s side effects or decrease dependence on these drugs. Pelton recommends one incredibly simple natural therapy. When dispensing inhalers, he gives the advice to drink a glass of water every hour. Use of inhalers has decreased for people who use this advice. Pelton also says, "We should be familiar with the [anti-inflammatory action] of omega-3 fatty acids [which are] critical." These fatty acids are found in marine fish oils and flax seeds. Other nutrients asthma sufferers can fortify themselves with are magnesium and vitamin C. According to Pelton, "Magnesium is a muscle relaxant and one of the most deficient minerals in the American diet. Vitamin C can cut down on the free radical cascade."
Free radicals are unstable molecules that damage healthy tissue and are overproduced during inflammation. They’re like rogue soldiers damaging everything in their path. Antioxidants are like the knights on white horses that neutralize free radicals. Antioxidants have been shown to lessen the severity of asthma attacks. This is important but over time our bodies can’t recover from the damage, which can lead to increased risk for heart disease, cancer, and scarring in the lungs.
Damage from inflammation has caught the attention of both complementary and conventional medicine. Currently, two asthma-related clinical trials are now enrolling participants. One study will test borage oil and ginkgo biloba. Borage oil contains a unique essential fat that lessens inflammation. Ginkgo biloba is rich in antioxidants and contains quercetin, which is structurally similar to a bronchodilator. Another study will look at magnesium supplements and their role in muscle relaxation. Relaxing the airway muscles will reduce wheezing. The studies, with their purpose of finding less toxic helper therapies for asthma, are being conducted by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a government agency.
If stress is your asthma trigger, there’s good news. Yoga is listed by the World Health Organization and The Asthma Campaign in the United Kingdom as a practice that decreases attacks and increases tolerance to some triggers.
Dad is keenly interested in fewer symptoms and less medication. He can have both. The easier-to-implement methods are drinking more water and beginning a yoga practice. A harder task will be thoroughly investigating his medications to see which nutrients he needs more of either through food or supplements. The payoff will be less wheezing and fewer worries about future health.
Disclaimer: This column is for information only and no part of its contents should be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, recommendation, or endorsement.
René Norman, R.D./L.D. is a registered dietitian and nutrition therapist in private practice. She can be reached at RntheRD@hotmail.com.