Oil supplementation with a special combination of n-3 and n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids does not protect for exercise induced asthma. A double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

Abstract

Background Many patients suffering from exercise-induced asthma (EIA) have normal lung function at rest and show symptoms and a decline in FEV 1 when they do sports or during exercise-challenge. It has been described that long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) could exert a protective effect on EIA. Methods In this study the protective effect of supplementation with a special combination of n-3 and n-6 LCPUFA (sc-LCPUFA) (total 1.19 g/ day) were investigated in an EIA cold air provocation model. Primary outcome measure: Decrease in FEV 1 after exercise challenge and secondary outcome measure: anti-inflammatory effects monitored by exhaled NO (eNO) before and after sc-LCPUFA supplementation versus placebo. Results 99 patients with exercise-induced symptoms aged 10 to 45 were screened by a standardized exercise challenge in a cold air chamber at 4 °C. 73 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria of a FEV 1 decrease >15% and were treated double-blind placebo-controlled for four weeks either with sc-LCPUFA or placebo. 32 patients in each group completed the study. Mean FEV 1 decrease after cold air exercise challenge and eNO were unchanged after four weeks sc-LCPUFA supplementation. Conclusion Supplementation with sc-LCPUFA at a dose of 1.19 g/d did not have any broncho-protective ant anti-inflammatory effects on EIA.

Nutrition in Asthma

“…In the systematic review above, three-fifths studies were ≤3 weeks, 95 97 98 one study was 8 weeks, 96 and only one study was 6 months in duration. 99 Studies by Brannan, 100 Mickleborough et al 101 and Dreßler et al 102 were all ≤4 weeks, with varying doses (6 g, 5.2 g, 1.19 g/d). Only Mickleborough et al 101 (which had the highest dose) found improvements in lung function, reduced bronchodilator use, and reduced sputum inflammatory cytokines, while the others found no bronchoprotective effects of supplementation.…”

Evaluating Children and Adolescents with Suspected Exercise Induced Asthma: Real Life Data

“…The ECC was performed according to the ATS guidelines for EIB [13] and as recently described [9][10][11]. The subjects ran in a cold chamber (Ilkazell Isoliertechnik, Germany) cooled to 2-4 °C (microprocessor-based controller, Dixell, Emerson Climate Technologies, United Kingdom) on a treadmill (Schiller Intertrack 8100 T Med, Germany) with an incline of 10 % for 6 minutes ( ≤ 12 years) or 8 minutes ( > 12 years).…”

“…In this regard, EIB may be a sign of insufficient disease control in patients with bronchial inflammation [6,22,35]. Recently, we and others could show that exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) measurement is a valuable screening tool for EIB [4,[9][10][11][12]. An eNO cut-off value of 46.0 ppb detected EIB at 100 % in all suspected patients and an eNO cut-off value of 35.5 ppb in house dust mite (HDM) sensitized patients [10].…”