August 4, 1998 – A study carried out in a university hospital on 20 people (13 men and 7 women), aged 7 to 28 years, and suffering from asthma on the effort, has just demonstrated a possible protective effect of the vitamin C against this type of asthma.
All subjects were diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma following testing. They were advised to stop taking any asthma medication or bronchodilator 12 hours before the test. They were given a resting lung function test, before and 1 hour after receiving 2 g of ascorbic acid or a placebo, before a 7-minute exercise session on a treadmill. The test was repeated after one week with each patient.
The researchers observed a protective effect against airway hyperresponsiveness in 9 patients. However, ascorbic acid had no effect on resting lung function after 1 hour. Four of the five patients who had received ascorbic acid and documented the protective effect of vitamin C continued to receive 0.5 g / day of vitamin C for an additional two weeks with the same effect.
The researchers’ conclusion is that the effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing exercise-induced asthma cannot be predicted, but that it may have a protective effect against this type of asthma for some people. Further studies will be necessary to identify the type of patients responding to vitamin C and to understand the mechanism of action of exercise-induced asthma as well as the role of vitamin C in preventing it.
Cohen HA, Neuman I, Nahum H, Blocking effect of vitamin C in exercise-induced asthma. Arch Pediatr Adoles Med. 1997; 151: 367-370.
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According to Alternatives Therapies in Health and Medicine, July 1998, Vol. 4, No. 4
