Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that affects 15 million persons in the United States. An estimated 5 million children have asthma, which makes it the most common chronic disease of childhood. Some 60 percent of people who use steroids long term for asthma and other diseases will develop a mood disorder, such as depression or manic depression. During their lifetimes, about half of all Americans will develop knee osteoarthritis, a common kind of arthritis that wears away cartilage cushioning the knee joint.

Asthma diet and food selection
Diet can influence asthma symptoms and progression. Unfortunately, most doctors and specialistis in asthma treatment do not discuss natural diet treatment for their patients with asthma. A diet rich in fish or cod oil might possibly reduce the risk for asthma and atopic diseases. Those who never ate fish in childhood have an increased risk for asthma and earlier asthma onset. Fish intake in adulthood is associated with protection against asthma symptoms.

Asthma triggers include
Additives to alcoholic beverages or foods — metabisulfites, MSG, tartazine (yellow dye #5), yeast, sulfite additives in wine.
Allergens from animal dander, cockroaches, dust mites or mold spores, pollen (trees, grass, weeds), indoor and outdoor pollutants.
Foods such as eggs, milk, nuts, soy, wheat and peanut. Toddlers who consume large amounts of margarine and foods fried in vegetable oil may be twice as likely to develop asthma as their peers who eat less of these foods.
Changes in humidity or barometric pressure.
Diseases such as sinusitis, rhinitis, viral infections, hyperthyroidism.
Drugs such as aspirin, NSAIDs, beta blockers, sulfites, or estrogen can trigger asthma or make it worse. Some women who use oral contraceptives may have an increased risk for asthma. The effect depends on body mass index (BMI), with the rate of asthma increasing as BMI goes up.
Irritants -- tobacco smoke, wood-burning, perfumes, cleaning agents, carbon dioxide, pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone. Children who live near a busy road may be at increased risk of wheezing, a symptom of asthma. Exposure to air pollutants may increase the risk of death among people with severe asthma. Almost 100 million people in 21 U.S. states breathe unhealthy levels of tiny particles spewed by coal-burning power plants, cars and factories
Physical triggers - exercise, hyperventilation, cold air.
Physiological factors - stress, psychological factors. Stress of finals may worsen the symptoms of asthma.
GERD can cause asthma. Chronic gastric acid aspiration, as occurs with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), has a profound effect on the nature of the immune response to aerosolized allergens. Chronic aspiration shifts the type of T-helper immune response from Th1 to Th2, which is characteristic of asthma.
More than half of asthma patients exhibit some aspect of GERD. However, the benefit of treating GERD to prevent asthma is controversial, largely because the underlying mechanism is not well understood.

Swimming in pools disinfected with chlorine increases the risk that a child will develop asthma or allergies. Teenagers who spend more than 1,000 hours swimming in chlorinated pools, either indoors or outdoors, have more than several times the risk of having asthma than teens who primarily swim in pools using a copper-silver disinfecting method. Alfred Bernard, a professor of toxicology and research director at Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium says when too much chlorine is added to water or builds up in the air of indoor pools, there is unavoidably some irritation of the organs of the bather in contact with the water and air. There is now increasing evidence that these irritating effects may be detrimental to the airways of regular swimmers, especially the children who are the most vulnerable and the most frequent attendees of chlorinated pools. Published in the Sept. 14 2009 online issue of Pediatrics.

Environmental control measures include removing carpets from the patient’s bedroom and living areas, weekly washing of bedding and clothing in hot water, specially designed mattress and pillow covers, removing stuffed animals, keeping pets outdoors. Quilts made of synthetic fibers like polyester might trigger wheezing in some children with asthma.

Stress and emotional events - stressful or emotionally troubling events lead to worsening asthma episodes.

Alternative and Natural therapies for asthma
Avoid or reduce exposure to allergens listed above
Eat more cold water fish with high content of fish oils. Eating oily fish like salmon or mackerel regularly may reduce the risk of asthma symptoms, according to new British research.
Have hot soup and tea--warm liquids lessen severity
Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Have a wide variety of produce, preferably organic.
Reduce hydrogenated and trans fats
Reduce omega-6 oils such as corn, safflower, and sunflower
Vitamin C, magnesium, and ginkgo may help
Fish oil supplements may help reduce the severity of exercise-induced asthma. Eating oily fish such as salmon or trout during pregnancy appears to help protect babies predisposed to asthma from developing the condition during their first years of life.
Boswellia is an Ayurvedic herb that has been found to be helpful.
Flavonoids are helpful, including quercetin. Quercetin has been researched and Is sold as a natural supplement.
Petasites or a butterbur extract.
Sylimarin may protect against histamine-induced bronchoconstriction. This substance is found in the herb milk thistle.
Yoga is helpful

Antioxidant supplements could ease asthma symptoms
Indian scientists who conducted an extensive chemical analysis of blood samples from people with asthma say that beefing up levels of antioxidants may help thwart symptoms of the lung disease. Asthma is a chronic disease in which airway inflammation causes attacks of wheezing, coughing and breathlessness. The underlying causes of asthma, and the factors that trigger attacks, are under investigation. Genetics, developmental factors and environmental triggers are all believed to play important roles. Previous research has shown that a disturbance in the balance between the body's oxidant production--the formation of molecules such as free radicals that can damage tissue but are a normal byproduct of body processes--and natural antioxidant defenses is involved in asthmatics' inflammation response. Antioxidants are a class of chemicals that neutralize oxidants, and include vitamins C and E and certain substances found in fruits and vegetables. In the present study, published in the January issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers measured the levels of antioxidants and oxidants in the blood of 38 men and women with asthma and compared them to levels in blood samples from 23 healthy people. Dr. Ahmad Nadeem of the University of Delhi and colleagues write that asthmatic patients showed "alterations in a wide array of oxidants and antioxidants, with balance shifting toward increased oxidative stress in asthma." The good news, according to the researchers, is that "the observations in the present study also have clinical implications" for asthmatics. The findings suggest, the authors conclude, that boosting the antioxidant defenses of asthma patients could be "beneficial."

Asthma information
Asthma may be classified as mild, moderate, or persistent. Patients with persistent asthma require medications that provide long-term control of their disease and medications that provide quick relief of symptoms. Medications for long-term control of asthma include inhaled corticosteroids, cromolyn, nedocromil, leukotriene modifiers and long-acting bronchodilators. Inhaled corticosteroids remain the most effective anti-inflammatory medications in the treatment of asthma. Quick-relief medications include short-acting beta₂ agonists, anticholinergics and systemic corticosteroids.
   Airway inflammation is the primary problem in asthma. An initial event in asthma appears to be the release of inflammatory mediators (e.g., histamine, tryptase, leukotrienes and prostaglandins) triggered by exposure to allergens, irritants, cold air or exercise. The mediators are released from bronchial mast cells, alveolar macrophages, T lymphocytes and epithelial cells. Some mediators directly cause acute bronchoconstriction, termed the "early-phase asthmatic response." The inflammatory mediators also direct the activation of eosinophils and neutrophils, and their migration to the airways, where they cause injury. This so-called "late-phase asthmatic response" results in epithelial damage, airway edema, mucus hypersecretion and hyperresponsiveness of bronchial smooth muscle.

Asthma, nuts, pregnancy
Daily consumption of nut products during pregnancy increases the risk of childhood symptoms of asthma. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, July 2008.

Asthma and C section
Babies born by Caesarean section are more likely to develop asthma than children delivered naturally. Babies born by C-section are not exposed to their mother's bacteria when they pass through the birth canal -- something that helps prime the immune system and could explain the increased risk.

Would you consider fish oils to be an asthma natural therapy?
   Yes, asthma study results show fish oils to be an alternative therapy with some positive results in lung and breathing improvement.

I was born with severe asthma, but was blessed with remission at about age 12. When 30, I moved to Wisconsin; during the spring, the Asthma came back alarmingly, incapacitating me. At that time, a drug called Marax was prescribed; it healed the asthma attack like magic. After leaving Wisconsin, I had no more attacks until recently. Currently I've got severe recurrence of breathing problems, so bad that it's impossible to sleep at night. Steroids provided by doctors don't help at all, and I don't like to take steroids. I find that Marax is based on an ancient Chinese remedy for Asthma, namely ma Huang, and that it's now been banned by western medicine. I'd like to find a supply of ma Huang; I find it extremely irritating and outrageous that a drug that is so important to me is now difficult to obtain.