Dietary marine fatty acids (fish oil) for asthma in adults and children

Supplementation of diet with marine n-3 fatty acids might possibly not improve asthma symptoms, although the evidence is insufficient.

A Cochrane review included 9 studies with a total of 187 subjects; 7 parallel design studies and 2 cross-over studies. Two studies were conducted in children and 7 studies in adults. 8 studies compared fish oil with placebo whilst one compared high dose versus low dose marine n-3 fatty acid supplementation. None of the included studies reported asthma exacerbations, health status or hospital admissions. There was no consistent effect on any of the analysable outcomes: FEV1, peak flow rate, asthma symptoms, asthma medication use or bronchial hyper reactivity. One of the studies performed in children which combined dietary manipulation with fish oil supplementation showed improved peak flow and reduced asthma medication use. There were no adverse events associated with fish oil supplements.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (unclear allocation concealment), by inconsistency (variability in results across studies), and by imprecise results (limited study size for each comparison.)

Ədəbiyyat

1. Woods RK, Thien FC, Abramson MJ. Dietary marine fatty acids (fish oil) for asthma in adults and children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2002;(3):CD001283 [Review content assessed as up-to-date: 18 May 2010].