Positive Health Online

Abstract

FORD and co-workers, Division for environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA, esf@cdc.gov, have studied the antioxidant levels in the blood of adults with asthma.

Background

It is thought that antioxidants can protect the lungs of people with asthma against oxidative stress.

Methodology

Antioxidant concentrations were measured in the serum of 771 adults with current asthma, 352 adults with former asthma, and 15,418 adults without asthma.

Results

The concentrations of vitamin A and its derivatives, vitamin C, vitamin E, several carotenoids, and selenium in the serum of people with asthma were similar to those in people without asthma. When the analysis was confined to people who did not take vitamin supplements, asthma patients had lower serum levels of vitamin C and beta-cryptoxanthin (a carotenoid), and a lower vitamin E / triglyceride ratio than controls. Lower vitamin C levels were observed in people with current or former asthma than in people who have never had asthma.

Conclusion

From this study, it does not appear that people with asthma in the USA have antioxidant deficiencies.

References

Ford ES, Mannino DM, Redd SC. Serum antioxidant concentrations among U.S. adults with self-reported asthma. The Journal of Asthma 41 (2): 179-187, Apr 2004.

Comment

While the authors conclude from the above study that asthmatics in the USA are not generally suffering from antioxidant deficiencies, the results did provide the interesting result that asthmatic sufferers had lower levels of vitamin C than people who never had asthma. This may point to an important aspect of the metabolic biochemistry of asthma, in regard to vitamin C.