October 10, 2009

By David Liu  Low vitamin intake may raise the risk and severity of asthma, NaturalNews.com reported citing a new study by researchers from Nottingham University in the UK.

Jo Leonardi-Bee and colleagues meta-analyzed data pooled from 40 studies conducted between between 1980 and 2007 and found people with asthma had a significantly lower daily intake of vitamin A than those who did not have the illness.

The researchers also found that those who had severe asthma tended to have 50 percent lower vitamin A intake than those who had a milder asthma.

Foods high in vitamin A include sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, cantaloupe, spinach, kale, collards, and butternut squash.

In addition to vitamin A, vitamin C intake was also found to be associated with asthma risk.

People with insufficient intake of vitamin C were at 12 percent lower risk of developing asthma than those with a higher intake of the nutrient.

Foods high in vitamin C include orange juice, grapefruit juice, strawberries, tomato, sweet red pepper, broccoli and potato.

The researchers did not find any association between vitamin E intake and asthma risk. However, people with severe asthma had 20 percent lower levels of vitamin E in their blood than those with mild asthma.

Other studies have already linked low vitamin D levels with severe asthma.

The results of the current study were published in the journal Thorax.