Does Healthy Diet Matter in Asthma Prevention and Control?

Asthma is a global public health problem withsubstantial burden, particularly in terms ofdisability and limited quality of life. Asthmaaffects millions of people of all ages worldwide, with some data showing increased prevalence in recent years, especially among children in low- and middle-income countries [1]. Among a multitude of possible contributing factors, changes in diet composition and worsening nutritional quality have been implicated in the epidemiology of asthma [2]. Previous studies have suggested that some individual nutrients (e.g., long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin D, and antioxidants) or individual food groups (e.g., fruits, vegetables, and fish) may be associated with the etiology and biophysiology of asthma [3-6]. Because diet is a complex combination of foods from various groups and human nutritional status is dependent on the interplay of the nutrients that are naturally present in the whole-food admixture, there is an increasing interest in examining the impact of overall dietary patterns on asthma development and progression [7]. The study by Halpern-Silveira and colleagues [8] in this issue of Indian Pediatrics focused on this important emerging topic. This cross-sectional case-control study was designed to investigate the association of specific foods, food groups and a Mediterranean diet with asthma severity in 268 children with persistent asthma and 126 age-matched controls with intermittent asthma. The children were 3 to 12 years old and recruited from 2 teaching hospitals in Brazil. Performed by pulmonologists specialized in childhood asthma, diagnosisof asthma was based on the 2009 British Thoracic Society Guidelines, and severity classifications included intermittent and persistent asthma (mild, moderate, or severe) according to the 2007 US Guidelines for the Diagnosis an