A growing body of research suggests that good nutrition does more than support general health. It may also play an important role in keeping the lungs healthy, especially for people living with asthma.
A new study published in the journal Thorax has found that higher blood levels of vitamins A and D are linked to better lung function, with vitamin D also appearing to slow biological aging in adults with asthma.
Asthma is a long-term condition that causes the airways to become inflamed and narrow, making breathing difficult.
It affects both children and adults and can lead to coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Although medicines help control asthma, researchers continue to search for lifestyle factors that may improve long-term lung health.
Scientists from an international research team analyzed information from two large groups of people with asthma.
One group included 1,165 children from the Genetic Epidemiology of Asthma in Costa Rica Study, while the second included 1,041 adults from the Omic Determinants of Longitudinal Lung Function in Asthma study.
The researchers measured blood levels of vitamins A and D and compared them with lung function. Lung health was assessed using standard breathing tests that measured how much air participants could breathe out and how quickly they could do so.
The results showed that both children and adults with higher vitamin A levels generally had better lung function than those with lower levels. Adults whose vitamin D levels were at least 30 nanograms per milliliter also had healthier lungs than adults with lower vitamin D levels.
Another important finding involved biological aging. Instead of measuring age by birthdays, the researchers examined epigenetic aging, which reflects changes in gene activity caused by environmental and biological influences.
Adults with higher vitamin D levels showed less evidence of accelerated biological aging, suggesting that maintaining healthy vitamin D levels may help protect both the lungs and the body’s cells.
The study also investigated tiny molecules called microRNAs and DNA methylation. These help control whether genes are switched on or off. The researchers identified hundreds of genes influenced by vitamins A and D that appear to regulate inflammation and lung function. These findings help explain how nutrition may affect asthma at the molecular level.
The authors noted that vitamin D deficiency is common in people with asthma and is often linked with more severe disease, poorer asthma control, and greater need for medication. However, they emphasized that this study cannot prove that taking vitamin supplements alone will improve lung function.
This is the first study to combine vitamin A, vitamin D, lung function, microRNAs, and DNA methylation in both children and adults with asthma. Its large sample size strengthens the findings, but it is observational, meaning it shows an association rather than cause and effect.
Clinical trials are still needed to determine whether improving vitamin levels directly leads to better lung health. Even so, the research provides strong support for maintaining adequate vitamin levels as part of overall asthma care.
If you care about nutrition, please read studies about why vitamin K is so important for older people, and this snack food may harm your heart rhythm.
For more health information, please see recent studies about vitamin that may protect you from type 2 diabetes, and results showing this common chemical in food may harm your blood pressure.
