Asthma and Enteric Coated Fish Oil

One of my cats had to have surgery, so I'm stuck enjoying the 70 degree weather in Florida rather than making the long trek back to Long Island I had planned. Oh well.

A friend of mine coached girls basketball for many years, and over that time he had a small handfull of them suffer from what is called "sports" or "exercise induced" asthma. The vigorous exercise triggered an acute narrowing of the airways, making it very hard for them to breathe.

30 minutes of rest and an inhaler would work 99% of the time. And these were the tough girls. The vast majority of them, as well as boys these days, opt for zero sports period. Misinformed parents don't help when they push their kids away from possibly hurting themselves which means no activity at all.

My friend's team had a remarkable system for handling asthma. The affected girl would jump out of the game and her teammates would help with the inhaler while an assistant coach watched. Then the girl's breathing would get back to normal and everything would be fine.

Then, after a rest, she would often resume play, as if it had never happened at all.

This reminded me of a study I've just seen recently showing that pharmaceutical grade fish oil combined with a low salt diet reduces the incidence of bronchoconstriction, or "exercise induced" asthma.

The study, which was done at the University of Indiana in 2006, showed post-exercise lung function of adults with mild to moderate persistant asthma, improved by 64%. The use of emergency inhalers decreased by roughly 31%.

There was a key finding in the study that grabbed my attention. While on the diet and supplementing with fish oil, airway pro-inflammatory cells and markers were reduced in the participants. These are responsible for airway inflammation and airway obstruction.

So where are kids these days getting all their salt, which is a key factor?

Snack food: potato chips, Doritos, Cheetos, hot dogs, frozen pizza, and most microwavable food. They're all loaded with salt.

If you spend much time around kinds, you know they're putting this stuff away by the kilo.

My advice...get rid of it. Start buying less of it, and start introducing the kids to good food. Everybody benefits.

And don't just get enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil for yourself. Get it for the whole family. It's never too early to start everyone on the road to healthy living, and nobody is going to get a strong, healthy body by eating Fritos.

Enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil plus exercise and good food will mean your chances of contracting this form of asthma may be slim indeed.

Dr. Bill is an author and doctor. He takes this enteric coated fish oil for its amazing health benefits.