Does this recent research suggest that diet may prevent asthma, studies have shown that low intake of vitamins A and C are linked with increased risk of developing asthma.
research doc here press.psprings.co.uk/thx/ap...
asthma preventable?: Does this recent... - Asthma Community ...
asthma preventable?
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Dear Woody-som,
I can't seem to access the research document, but I can definitely tell you that vitamins A, E and C can prevent and control asthma.
I have kept my asthma under control for 25 years by taking these vitamins and I know of 120 other people who have had success with them also. Children respond to very low doses of these vitamins, and many of them say that after taking the vitamins for a few years, they find they just don't get asthma any more.
There was a Japanese study done by Mizuno Y, et al., in June, 2006 at Jikei University School of Medicine, in Tokyo, which found that well nourished children with asthma were found to have significantly lower levels of serum vitamin A concentrations than non-asthmatic children. They were also measuring vitamin E concentrations but did not specify what they had found.
Their CONCLUSION: The data suggest that there is a correlation between vitamin A deficiency and the mechanism of asthmatic response.
Kind regards,
Marian.
Marian try this tinyurl.com/czxz76 you do need adobe reader as it's PDF doc.
from what you say below, this new paper has reached a similar conclusion, and the site that I saw it on suggested that asthma could possibly be prevented. This new paper is more a collection of previous research carried out over years, by many sources.
Bah Humbug
This is all very well and good but kinda late for a lot of us.
Its like my Dad attending a diabetic hosp review in his late seventies. Doc said, would you like to try this drug we're trialling to prevent eye problems in diabetes. Dad had had several lots of laser treatments on his eyes, and thought this sounded good. His Doc, still speaking, went on to say, ""Of course its far too late for you, Mr J but you can take it away and read the literature that comes with it"".
I've grown accustomed to ignoring those trials and research until someone can provide me with a wonder drug that takes away my ills there & then and its not something I should have taken in my childhood but couldn't cos it hadn't been around then.
Like vitamin rich foods. However good, the food delivered daily to a 1960's' school kitchen would, having passed the attentions of cook, come out on the diner's side as mash, mush or tough as old boots. Vitamins of any sort effectively exterminated.
Rant over. Sorry.
Thank you for your email Woody-som. Since my grown up children left home I have been having a few problems with my computer! It is wonderful though to see the vitamin A deficiency theory on asthma finally getting some attention.
Granny-mo, I can understand your difficulty believing in research, because there has been some very dodgy sounding results published lately.
However I am wondering why you think that it is too late for you to consider the vitamin approach.
In 1985 when I was collecting asthma histories to try to get some research done on all this, I was contacted by an 80 year old lady who told me she had accidentally discovered the same ‘cure’ as I had for my asthma. This is her story:
An asthmatic from birth, she began taking multi-vitamins in 1941. Some years later she developed a chronic throat problem and persuaded her doctor to prescribe 20,000 i.u. of vitamin A. It worked and she continued with it daily. When she was 78, she inquired of her lady doctor, whether she was taking the correct vitamins for her age. She was told everything was fine but she needed much more vitamin E. She was to gradually increase her E to 750 mg daily.
She did this and to her amazement, her asthma disappeared and she had experienced no asthma symptoms in the previous three years. In 1988, another three years later, she rang me again to say she was still asthma free.
So I really think that age has very little to do with it. That lady doctor did say though that people with long standing vitamin A deficiencies would need to take higher doses than younger people might. (Incidentally I am 66).
Kind regards,
Marian.
I think it is wishfull thinking on my part
Hmmm.... if only it were that simple. I work on the old saying 'If its too good to be true..."" I wish that there was a magic tablet or a magic wand but the reality is that there isn't nor may there be one in my life time. When AUK tell us or RBH then i reckon its safe to give it credence but i have learnt over the years the painful lessons of false hope so will not be devouring vitamins for now, Lois
Marion, your lady was just lucky I'd guess.
Doses greater than 5,000 i.u. Vitamin A leads to a 20% increase in fractures of hips in women. I'm given to understand that should I fall in much the same way now my leg is pinned and screwed, that it would be my femur next time. I don't think I should increase my chances by upgrading my vitamin A intake.
I was really getting at those drugs you have to have been taking for many years but weren't around for you to take. Ditto knowledge on what vitamins to take 'back then'.
My background is scientific and I have worked alongside many research projects. Including one for the World Health Organisation on whether a low protein or high protein breakfast is better. I do know it put a bunch of us off steak, orange juice, cornflakes and milk for life having had them in various combinations for a fortnight.
I am not totaly convinced that it is that simple, but many more studies are now reporting that the RDA of many vitamins is way too low for what we actaully need, and in our modern diet, the trace elements are also missing more. It is true that seriously large doses of certain vitamins can cause side effects, but so do our asthma medications to a certain degree. Perhaps there is some sort of a compromise where we can you alternative treatments, like vitamin supplements/yoga/breathing exercises and traditional medication, and this combination may help those severe asthma lessen there symptoms, and alleviate all ort nearly all for those with less serious asthma. This is something that certainly needs further research, and not dismissed so quickly, just remember a vast number of our current drugs originally came from plants.
The reliable ""Behind the Headlines"" team have produced a report on this study - available here: nhs.uk/news/2009/04April/Pa... . You may need to register (free). If googling the link doesn't work, paste it into your browser.
They conclude:
""...There are a number of reasons – highlighted by the researchers – why the epidemiological evidence for the association between vitamin intake and asthma and wheeze risk is weak. There are therefore many caveats associated with interpreting the evidence from the available observational studies. ...""
In other words ""more research is needed"".
I'm under the impression that in recent years the weight of evidence has been rather going against supplementing with vitamins and minerals, certainly above recommended RDAs. There is quite a lot about this on Ben Goldacre's Bad Science site, and in his book.
I also note that somebody called Marion Shepherd Slee has a website promoting her book about Vitamin A for asthma relief ""the easy way"": <web address removed>
Perhaps I'm just a cynic but I suspect if there were really an ""easy"" way to prevent or treat this often baffling disease, some of the medically qualified people who post here would know about it!
Hi
<contents removed by passing moderator>
Irrelevant post - essentially spam
I couldn't agree more woody-som. Anything that can reduce the amount of steroids people have to take, can only be a good thing.
A previous post said the 80 year old woman whose asthma disappeared was just lucky. Don't forget my case and the other 120 adults and children whose asthma also disappeared. That's an awful lot of lucky people!
Considering the number of asthma sufferers in the world (or even just in Australia), that's really a statistically-insignificant number of people - sorry.
Woody is right, vitamins are obviously very important, and a balance between taking sensible levels of vitamin supplements and ""normal"" medication would seem to be the best bet. For example, taking extra vitamin C can help keep colds at bay, and a lot of asthma sufferers have their symptoms exacerbated by colds. Woody is also right that a vast number of our current drugs originally came from plants. But so do a vast number of poisons.
Let's be realistic here. Vitamins are dirt cheap here in the UK. Supermarkets can provide vitamin supplements that are less than 1p for 10 tablets. If - as you (and your website) suggests - asthma is merely vitamin A deficiency, why is it so prevalent? You will, I suspect, accuse doctors and pharmaceutical companies of being in league with one another to ensure that we all fill ourselves with drugs. What are vitamin tablets if not ""drugs"", insofar as they are synthetic equivalents of something found in nature? Somebody has to make them. Drug companies, in fact. You are, I'm sure, aware that in the UK it is certainly in a doctor's best interest to prescribe the *cheapest* form of treatment available, not the most expensive. This would make vitamin treatment significantly cheaper than any of the medications currently prescribed for asthma. Yet vitamin treatment is not used, primarily because it has been discredited.
Notwithstanding the fact that, as a charity solely created to help asthma sufferers and research asthma treatments, Asthma UK would be completely failing in its duty if it didn't recommend a simple, cheap, effective asthma treatment that anyone could access. Suffice to say, Asthma UK doesn't recommend it, for the same reasons.
That is not to say that doctors won't recommend taking vitamin supplements; what they won't do is recommend taking possibly toxic levels of vitamins. The RDA guidelines are just that - guidelines. But they have to use a ""worst case"" scenario and err on the side of caution with such guidelines; they have failed if they are not safe for the vast majority of people, even if some people require more than the RDA to see the same benefits.
In most developing nations, there is massive vitamin A deficiency amongst most age groups - yet at the same time, there is a very much lower incidence of asthma! How can that be explained?
I'm all for people using ""alternative"" treatments to alleviate any symptoms - if they work. Anecdotal evidence is *not* research, because there may be many other factors which contribute to health improvements which the person reporting the cases may not be privvy to.
Re the asthma 'disappearing'
I do know of one chap who had asthma in childhood and has apparently grown out of it. He's now in his thirties, drinks like a fish and is a very happy individual. LOL
Picking up on one of Peaksteve's good points, I was in rural northern Zambia a few months ago. The people we were visiting help run a rural development and health project. Malnutrition is rife and Vitamin A deficiency is chronic and widespread in that part of the world, but asthma rates are very low. However, asthma rates in Zambian cities are rising, which is probably consistent with the theory that the spread of the westernised lifestyle has something to do with it.
Asthma reversable
Reversed my symptoms six years ago when i switched to a nasal breathing method called buteyko. Theory goes that all asthma is caused by over breathing or hyper ventilation - i remember not having enough air to walk sitting on down wondering why my chest heaved so much. All changed when i discovered and learned buteyko. My nose went from always blocked to always clear.
I find now that if i breathe through my nose and control my breathing that i can maintain a symptom-free life. If i falter and big breathe then my symptoms magically return.... not quite QED but makes a huge difference to breathe clean, filtered (by my nose), moist (does not lose extra moisture like mouth-breathing (breathe on a mirror to check it) but most importantly LESS air rather than the 32 year history of trying to gulp huge breaths in to ""expand"" my lungs!
I think it goes a major way towards a practical solution to gaining control of your breathing so it cannot go out of control on you (attack/ incident/ episode) thus preventing it spiralling out of control.
WHAT??????? how can you say its over breathing of course your going to over breath when having an attack cause you cant get air in and out you have really caused offense cause im sure for a lot of us briittle asthmatics we would love to be able to say its just through over breathing but asthma is life threating for any asthmatic and brittle asthmatic have alot of life threating attacks THINK about what your saying before you put it in a post
the buteyko method may help some people. but every difficult asthma speciailst i ahve come across has completly disregardfed the buteyko method. i have suggested to various cons along the way and they have almost luaghed at me thinking that i would think it a good idea.
i think yes it does help people who hyperventilate and have panic attacks but an asthma attack is not hyperventilation and it is not a panic attack they are very different.
I was speakign to a asthma nurse specialist the other day in just friendly chit chat sport of thing. she was saying the one thing that bugs her about people who tell people they grow out of asthma and can be cured of asthma dont know asthma at all. asthma is a reflex reaction which can be controlled but will never go away compltly once you ahve had it. it was a bit more conveluted what she was saying but i got 3what she meant.
olive
I wish I could breathe through my nose! hay fever etc has bunged me up at the mo, so much to the extent that I was fumbling with nasal canulas and the mask at 4am cos I couldn't get anyt O2 via the canulas!
Buteyko - It may assist a few people with controling their symptoms but the overall principles would not help moderate to severe asthmatics and can be dangerous in some cases with severe / brittle asthmatics.
Incidentally, I had a weird physio last week ( A locum who seemed to upset a few people etc) who has some weird idea about taking in a breath, breathing out a little, topping up, breathing out a little etc etc etc for 5-6 or so breaths. I felt this was very uncomfortable ( and painful) and told him straight away that I didn't like his method. I was at a complete loss as to what his method was but it did strike me that it was a bit like Butyeyko??? To me it felt just like breathing when you have a severe attack and unable to breathe out fully and therefore over inflating??? Another physio the next day was stumped as to his methods too!!
Vitamins - I have always eaten a ballanced diet, fruit & veg wise, and would be very cautious about taking very high doses of vitamins, epecially A which is found in liver. Antarctic explorers ( In Scotts days) got Vit A poisoning which was very unpleasant for them ( eg skin on soles of feet falling off) from eating their huskey dog livers when they ran out of food. Some vitamins are water soluble and excess can be excreted out of the body such as vit C but still cause problems in high doses. Some are fat soluble and these can be more dangerous!
.... just my tupence worth......
Kate
... off worry a large piece of Broccolli!!
asthma reversible?
There are some people who find breathing techniques, including Buteyko, a useful adjunct to their asthma control (as noted in the recent BTS/SIGN guidelines update) but I think it's overstating the case to claim it's a cure for all types of asthma or that all asthma can be explained by a single theory. Something that always strikes me is that many sites promoting this technique make much of the fact that it is - allegedly - part of mainstream asthma treatment in Russia, as if this lends it some extra authority. I recall seeing GINA comparative asthma mortality figures in 2004 and they put Russia very high in a table of fatalities per 100,000 cases despite low prevalence relative to other countries. (Table available here: who.int/entity/gard/news_ev... ) . Various reasons were put forward for Russia's unenviable asthma mortality position - smoking, poverty, lack of access to preventive medications - and I'm not implying that Butyeko is necessarily involved. But equally, given this fact, I'm not sure claiming it's widely used in Russia is that good an idea.
We have a moderator here (Nutty) who has used very closely medically supervised Buteyko to help with her asthma. Conversely, one of our former members ending up on ITU after attempting to use the Buteyko method!
Unfortunately, ""alternative"" remedies are nowhere near as heavily regulated as drugs and doctors are, and some people seem to think that because they're *not* drugs then they must be safe. As ever, discuss things with your GP/asthma nurse/consultant before trying them.
I have this burning urge to post a long string of expletives but will probably and rightly been banned. I know I have the RDA of everything cos I get my food through a tube from a bottle, I can't say I have noticed my asthma is better in fact quite opposite I have been emailing my asthma nurse because my asthma as been worse this past week. People posting these ""wonder"" cures need to understand the impact asthma has on some peoples lives, I cry when I remember the skiing, SCUBA diving up for anything, size 12 politically active mother of 4 wonderful children I was before my asthma spiralled out of control. I have lost friends to asthma don't you think if it was as easy as nose breathing or taking a vitamin Dr's would have told us so.
Before you post your wonder cures remember that many many people on this site at at the far edge of asthma scale, they suffer every day and fight to retain some sort of normality all the way, often frustrating medics who are constantly trying to stop us doing ourselves more damage. Please think before you put us through more mental torture.
bex, you seem to be taking this subject to heart, and i do know that you suffer really badly from reading your posts. Whilst you may not get much help from these research papers, they may point some to a possible reduction, and don't think that because you have the RDA of everything, you'll be fine, before chistmas I saw some research that suggest that the actual level of vitamin C required was between 3000 and 6000mg per day, depending on which study, sex and activity level for the healthy population ,and not the current 60mg.
There is obviously more to asthma than just diet, but we don't know enough yet. Some suggest that it's down to our clean environment, well I grew up in the country next to a farm, and played in the fields and on the farm, how messy is that, but I should have been fine. Mother did smoke, so do i blame her for may asthma? or just bad luck, poor diet, but as an active sporty person I ate a well balanced diet.
Lets hope within our lifetime all this research will eventually lead to a cure, as none of us want to keep taking the medication, or putting up the inconvenience of having asthma, especially those of you who are so seriously ill.
I haven't got much else to add to this, as other people have said it more eloquently. However I will add to what Kate said below regarding vitamins. ""Super dosing"" of vitamins has been looked at and you can't just take the positive effects in isolation. Kate has already mentioned the toxic effects of high doses of Vitamin A, and high doses of this vitamin can be teratogenic (harmful to an unborn baby). It is for this reason that people on the anti-acne drug, Roaccutane, are often asked to sign ""contracts"" before they start treatment promising that they will use reliable contraception and will not get (or get someone else!) pregnant - Roaccutane is a Vitamin A analogue (synthetic copy) and can cause some horrible birth defects. Super-doses of Vitamin C have also been studied (mainly due to its purported anti-cold effects) and showed that at high doses there seemed to be an increased cardiovascular risk.
If it were as straight forwards as taking high dose vitamins I'm sure we'd all be jumping on the bandwaggon. The fact that this idea hasn't really been widely taken up surely says something. Sure, it's an area for further research - but at the moment, there is little evidence.
Now then. Buteyko. It has been show to reduce symptoms and reliever inhaler useage in mild asthmatics. What it does not alter is preventer doseage or objective lung function tests. It may be helpful as an adjunct to preventer medications in milder asthmatics, however, for an awful lot of people (particularly, unfortunately, the people who tend to visit boards like these) it won't be of help and may actually harm - as alluded to by PeakSteve below. As with all things, it is better to be taught these exercises by a qualified physio, and indeed this does occur within the NHS.
CathBear
No offence intended with Buteyko asthma reversable post
Apologies for those of you who feel that the suggestion that buteyko has something to offer asthmatics is scornful or hurtful in anyway.
I have had lifelong asthma and had restricted activity for regular (several times a year) prolonged periods during childhood. This was not life threatening to me in my memory although my parents feel differently about early year incidents.
My message was not meant as a personal affront to anyone and i believe that it should not taken that way. This is surely an open forum and people should not be accosted for their opinion?
For the record, i quoted ""theory goes"" rather than state blindly that it is so. Bottom line, i don't know but am open to the possibility given the huge response my symptoms have had to nasal breathing.
There are methods for unblocking one's nose that have proved very successful for me and others but i can fully understand that for those with very severe asthma that the suggestion that it is down to over-breathing may seem trite. However, I believed that i was not getting enough air when suffering from asthma over the years and was stunned to see my symptoms fall away when i changed to nasal breathing.
I think anyone who has suffered asthma agrees that its a terrible affliction and would love to find something that works. This worked for me. I am happy to share it. I know any of you who are not in a position, for whatever reason, to benefit from it should not begrudge this of anyone who has gained such a benefit.
I agree completely that it should be under medical supervision and that medication should be continued and only adjusted by the prescribing doctor. I am glad to hear that one of the mods has gained some benefit from it in a closely supervised environment - did the poor member who ended up in ITU try it on his/her own or in a similar environment?
Is there any study done regarding mouth breathing and its correlation with asthma? Not all mouth breathers have asthma but most asthmatics mouth breathe from my experience. Is there any recommendation regarding nasal breathing over mouth breathing?
Surely a technique to change your breathing pattern from mouth to nasal under medical supervision with no change to your medication may provide some relief to some asthmatics? The nose does at the very least filter some irritants from the air that gets to the lungs.
Sometimes I feel that people are quick to ridicule nasal breathing as being far too simple to be worthy of comment or in any way help with anyone's breathing in spite of several trials, much anecdotal evidence (although the ITU result mentioned is scary - if not done under medical supervision it is only scary and depends on his/her (thus anecdotal) correct or incorrect application or maintenance of his medication).
My question is ""what if there is something in this theory that is being overlooked because it is too simple?""
yours intending no offence just have had a different experience,
A lucky fellow asthmatic
Some people have reacted with vehemence to your first post, Buteyko'd my asthma. I can understand why, as it did come across as a 'miracle cure' type anecdote which tends to irritate those who have to deal daily with difficult asthma (some of whom have tried various complementary techniques, with little success). I don't think anybody begrudges you your improved health at all but your single experience is an anecdote: my husband also suffered badly from asthma in his childhood and early adulthood, then it remitted when he was in his 30s to the level where he very, very rarely needs Ventolin. He is now in his 50s; he has never used any kind of breathing retraining. That is his particular experience and he (having both science and engineering degrees!) would be very hesitant about generalising it to the wider population with asthma, particulary as other family members have not been so lucky.
I am well aware that there is some encouraging evidence from clinical trials regarding this technique and, as I pointed out, the BTS/SIGN guideline does mention that Buteyko can be used as an adjunct (not a substitute) to medication and is being taught in the NHS by trained respiratory physiotherapists. However, you don't have to google very hard to find people offering this therapy with websites filled with rosy anecdotes but little robust research evidence and who promise freedom from medication . (And I haven't seen any of them mention Russia's asthma mortality league table position.) This is probably why people get annoyed. If, as in your second post, you had pointed out that this should be done only under medical supervision, is not a substitute for preventive medication and, while it benefitted you might not benefit everybody, the reaction might well have been less vehement.
Just a couple of things I'd like to add here. Roaccutane is certainly dangerous for pregnant women but Roaccutane is a drug, not a vitamin. The chemical structure of vitamin A has to be changed in order to turn it into Roaccutane.
As to the argument that children in poor countries, although often deficient in vitamin A, do not suffer much asthma, well I think there could be a logical reason for this. I read an article by a Dr. Summers I think his name was, from the Lassker Institute in America, where he said vitamin A deficient children in India etc. often did not go on to develop blindness because they died in infancy from severe chest infections. Strangely he said he was surprised by this.
It stands to reason then that these children would not go on to develop asthma either.
Sorry it was Dr. Alfred SOMMER and the foundation is the LASKER Foundation in New York.
Marian - what you've done there is classic ""alternative therapist selective quotation""! What I actually posted was:
""In most developing nations, there is massive vitamin A deficiency amongst most age groups - yet at the same time, there is a very much lower incidence of asthma! How can that be explained?""
You've read that as ""children have vitamin A deficiency"". Whilst they certainly do, so do adults. So does everyone, to a lesser or greater extent. Mortality preventing the development of asthma does not explain why those adults who are alive also show a lower incidence of asthma despite being deficient in vitamin A.
Also, you've used the classic ""drugs are bad, alternative is good"" argument with regard to Roaccutane. This drug does not cause birth defects *because it is a drug*, it causes them because it *replicates* the effects of high doses of vitamin A. Thus, taking high doses of vitamin A would replicate the effects of the drug - you can read more in JR Hunt's ""Teratogenicity of high vitamin A intake"" from the New England Journal of Medicine 1996, or in Hartmann, Brørs, Bock, et al's ""Exposure to retinoic acids in non-pregnant women following high vitamin A intake with a liver meal"", published in 2005 in the International journal for vitamin and nutrition research.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/860...
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/160...
Finally, your link to Dr Sommer's article (after removing the extra space that the message board software adds) doesn't work. I can find a couple of blindness-related atricles by Dr Sommer, but using these to suggest that the same would be true of asthma is bad practice - regardless of how logical it may seem - because asthma and blindness are, obviously, not the same. Back in 1995, the same Dr Sommer produced a booklet for the World Health Organisation entitled ""Vitamin A Deficiency and its Consequences"" - tinyurl.com/lasker - which doesn't mention asthma at all.
According to WHO, vitamin A deficiency does indeed increase risk of death for malnourished children - diahorrea and measles (complications of which can include severe chest infection) being the most likely causes. See here: who.int/vaccines/en/vitamin... . Measles is a scourge of the developing world and causes many deaths, including from complications such as pneumonia. So I don't find it that surprising (but terribly sad) that malnourished children who contract measles succumb to chest infections.
I think your conclusion that it's 'logical' to propose that these children could have gone on to develop asthma had they survived is speculative at best. For example, in the part of Zambia I visited, child mortality has decreased considerably in recent years due largely to simple measures such as mosquito net provision, better nutrition targeted on children 0-5 years and better access to immunisiation against diseases including measles, including more reliable refrigeration for the vaccines. There hasn't been, as far as I am aware, an accompanying increase in asthma in that district. Of those who have survived into adulthood, many have chronic vitamin A deficiency but again, in this rural district asthma is rare. As mentioned before, the situation in urbanised areas of African countries is changing and rates are rising.
It would be lovely if asthma could be reduced to one simple cause and cure: everybody on this board would be delighted and relieved. Research is throwing up all kinds of interesting possibilities regarding causes and therapies but I think you will agree that the evidence needs to be robust before therapies are adopted. It is speculative and simplistic to promote your 'asthma as vitamin A deficiency' theory in the absence of such evidence.
Roaccutane is certainly dangerous for pregnant women but Roaccutane is a drug, not a vitamin. The chemical structure of vitamin A has to be changed in order to turn it into Roaccutane.""
Roaccutane is a drug derived directly from Vitamin A after people noticed that using high-dose Vitamin A could help with acne. In fact, Roaccutane has *less* of a side effect profile than high-dose vitamin A.
I simply used this as an example that people may have heard about - it does NOT alter the fact that high-dose Vitamin A DOES cause teratogenicity, and is therefore also dangerous for pregnant women.
The Cochrane respiratory group recently (Jan 2008) reviewed the evidence from Vitamin A supplementation for children up to 7 years for prevention of lower respiratory tract infection. Here is the abstract of their findings which includes the concern that supplementation in non-malnourished children might actually increase incidence of LRTI infection.
cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab0...
Abstract
Background
Vitamin A supplements are effective for preventing diarrhoea. There are theoretical reasons it might also be effective for acute lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), also very common in children, especially in low income countries.
Objectives
To assess the effectiveness and safety of vitamin A for preventing acute LRTIs in children up to seven years of age.
Search strategy
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2007, issue 2) which contains the Acute Respiratory Infection Group's specialised register; MEDLINE (1966 to July 2007); EMBASE (1974 to July 2007); and the Chinese Biomedicine Database (CBM) (1976 to July 2007).
Selection criteria
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the effectiveness of vitamin A in the prevention of acute LRTI in children up to seven years of age.
Data collection and analysis
The review authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Study authors were contacted for additional information.
Main results
Most studies found no significant effect of vitamin A on the incidence of acute LRTI, or prevalence of symptoms of acute LRTI. Vitamin A caused an increased incidence of acute LRTI in one study; an increase in cough and fever; and increased symptoms of cough and rapid breathing in two others. Three reported no differences and no protective effect of vitamin A. Two studies reported that vitamin A significantly reduced the incidence of acute LRTI with children with poor nutritional status or weight, but increased it in normal children.
Authors' conclusions
This unexpected result is outside our current understanding of the use of vitamin A for preventing acute LRTIs. Accordingly, vitamin A should not be given to all children to prevent acute LRTIs. There is evidence for vitamin A supplements to prevent acute LRTIs in children with low serum retinol or those with a poor nutritional status.
This is all very strange. No one seems to be the least bit interested in finding out how much vitamins A, E and C that I take. No one seems to want to know my theory, which is: Asthma is a vitamin A deficiency, but vitamin A must always be taken with vitamin E and some C is usually required as well.
Also, why is it assumed that I must be overdosing? The children I know take very low doses of vitamins A, E and C and it works beautifully.
I must admit I don't quite know exactly why those countries with high vitamin A deficiencies have little asthma, but maybe there is something else in their diet which is helping them.
Really Marian? I don't find it at all strange that people are cautious about your theory in view of the lack of good evidence. I'm sure you can supply anecdotes in favour your theory but anecdotes are not evidence and, at the moment, the weight of the evidence does not seem to support you. Supplementing with Vitamin A is not without risk, as the Cochrane Review I cited suggests - and it did look at different dosing regimes.
I'm having trouble following your logic: Asthma is vitamin A deficiency; people of all ages in rural parts of developing countries are vitamin A deficient but they don't in general have asthma, so it's something else in their diet (why in their diet? why not in their environment?). This suggests your vitamin A theory might have a bit of a big hole in it.
The rise of asthma and allergy in westernised countries is a hot topic in research - indeed if you look on this very site you will find a recent report about research into why rates of asthma and respiratory allergy are lower in Eastern Europe, especially rural areas, than in Western Europe. The study followed over 13,000 children in Belarus. asthma.org.uk/news_media/ne... . There is also a very recent study linking asthma in children in Costa Rica to low vitamin D levels - links to full text of articles here - newswise.com/articles/view/.... Interestingly, the authors do not recommend rushing out and buying Vitamin D supplements: they have discovered an association and very properly call for work to be done to discover whether this implies causation. This is a huge, complex topic and, unfortunately for many of us, it does not seem to have one easy answer, as you are proposing.
I am confused by the suggestion that asthma is a vitamin A deficiency.
Surly if it was solely that then people with asthma would be sorted but we are not. Infact I have never been told anything to do with my vitamin intake and it helping my asthma (other than vit C helping colds etc). i have looked into other methods of treating asthma ie not using pharamcuetical products however on discussion with drs it was thoguht that we best stick to what has been scientifically researched and has evidence it does do some good etc.
I was wondering can you explain how vitamin A would effect the reflex response of the airways tightening when exposed to a trigger??
Olive
new research due to be published next month now says vitamin D linked to asthma.
this research seems to be some of the more specific, and all the data does hold up on this one, but again more research will be needed.
Woody - that's the same report that Claire mentioned yesterday. As you say, they conclude that more research is needed, but it is a proper study so it will be interesting to see what the results of such further studies are.
Just to add to what Peaksteve said: it's worth reading the accompanying editorial ""Vitamin D and Asthma: Time for intervention?"" , accessible via the link I gave (newswise.com/articles/view/... - paste it into your browser if it doesn't work) for an insight into issues surrounding this. But my guess is that such considerations will be ignored by those eager to sell or promote vitamin supplments in advance of good evidence.
sorry, didn't read claires post properly. One question that I would like answered is, if vitamin D has an impact on asthma, and we as humans produce vitamin D from sunlight, what is the time frame for this to take effect, and how long before our sunlight generated supplies diminish, could this then be linked to our poor, cloudy dismal weather, and asthma symptoms, as most asthma suffers, suffer more during the winter.
I'm not qualified to answer those questions Woody but there is another analysis of this Vitamin D study here which makes some interesting points - medpagetoday.com/Pulmonary/... . It points out, inter alia, that any possible causation might run the other way, i.e. severe asthma might somehow lower Vitamin D levels rather than low levels causing asthma. Other interesting points made are that the study location, Costa Rica, is a sunny country but that Vitamin D insufficiency has been found in other sunny locations:
""...The researchers said the findings were especially notable because sun exposure would not be expected to be an issue in equatorial Costa Rica.
But they noted that earlier studies had found high rates of vitamin D insufficiency in other strong-sun locations such as Hawaii, Lebanon, and Australia.
The researchers noted that their results do not demonstrate that low vitamin D is responsible for increased asthma severity, because of the cross-sectional design.
""A plausible alternative explanation for the observed association is that subjects with more severe asthma are likely to spend more time indoors, and therefore have lower vitamin D levels,"" they said. ...""
And while an association has been detected between disease severity in children in Costa Rica and low levels of Vitamin D, this doesn't cast light on the its role in causation:
""...In an accompanying editorial, British researchers led by Graham Devereux, M.D., of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, agreed that such a clinical trial would be worthwhile.
But they added that relatively high doses -- around 2,000 IU/day -- may be needed to adequately test the benefit in asthma and other nonskeletal diseases, which could raise safety concerns.
Dr. Devereux and colleagues also pointed out that, although the current study made a strong case for a relationship between vitamin D and disease severity in established asthma, ""it does not cast any light on the role of vitamin D in the etiology of asthma. ...""
It looks as if we have to wait for these studies to be done before any recommendations about Vitamin D supplementation in asthma can be made.
There has been some interesting and thoughtful debate about this,but I have to go with Homer Simpson on this one,
""Its just a bunch of stuff that happens
Dear Olive,
Vitamin A is a very hard working vitamin . As well as protecting eyesight, it also helps to maintain the adrenal glands, renews the linings of the lungs and the respiratory system and helps to resist infection.
In 'Biochemical Basis of Medicine' by E.D. Wills (Bristol: Wright, 1985) it was demonstrated that rats fed diets deficient in vitamin A were found to have lowered levels of natural cortisone. If this is also true of humans, then people with low levels of vitamin A would have less cortisone which could mean their lungs would not be kept in a balanced state.
Kind regards,
Marian.
Marian, citing rat studies carried out over 20 years ago is not convincing evidence for your asthma-vitamin A deficiency theory. It's important to note that, in the Thorax study cited by woody-som and in the recent Vitamin D study I quoted, neither set of researchers recommended supplementing with vitamins on the back of their observations. This is what the lead researcher on the Thorax paper said, as reported by the BBC:
""...Lead researcher Dr Jo Leonardi-Bee said: ""Our findings indicate that low levels of vitamin C intake and to a lesser extent vitamin A are consistently associated with asthma risk to a degree that, if causal, would be sufficient to be clinically relevant.""
He said it was now important to carry out larger-scale studies to clarify the link and to see if there was a direct cause between vitamin intake and asthma. ...""
(source: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/... )
He did not say: people with asthma should be supplementing with vitamin C and A. The same reported quoted a nutritionist working with the Medical Research Council, who is similarly cautious:
""Glenys Jones, a nutritionist with the Medical Research Council, said: ""The data provided is interesting, but inconclusive.
""There are many factors such as smoking, physical activity and socio-economic status that have not been taken into account.
""Therefore more research is required to investigate a causal relationship."" ...""
These observational studies have identified common factors in populations with asthma but now the work needs to be done to establish if there is a causal relationship. Given that supplementing, particularly with Vitamin A, is not entirely risk-free, the responsible approach seems to me not to advocate supplements in advance of the evidence.
Im sorry if im being difficult but i still dont understand the relevence of this Vitamin A debate to asthma. Can you explain in simple terms and how it actually works not just that it helps the adrenal gland and the lining of the lungs.
Im also not sure of how vitamin A helping the liniing of the lungs and the respiratory system help asthma. asthmatic airways are inflamed etc so vitamin a wouldnt actually help with inflamation and also it would stop the reaction caused when an asthmatic person is in the presence of a trigger.
OLlive
Olive, If I understand the vitamin A debate, it's that if you are deficient in vitamin A you tend to have lowered levels of natural cortisone, which controls the inflammation in the body. As I'm sure you are aware the primary treatment for asthma is corticosteroid, which helps to reduce the inflammation in your lungs, as does the natural substance produced by our bodies, but seems to be linked to vitamin A. No one knows for sure if an increase in vitamin A would increase the bodies ability to produce more cortisone, or if asthma is a result of low intake of vitamin A, or if asthma is responsible for the reduction in cortisone and vitamin A in us.
Or, I should add, if there is *any* provable link between vitamin A levels and asthma. Nothing so far has proved a link, or disproved one. Bear in mind that the cortisone/vitamin A link was proven in rats, not humans, and doesn't appear to have been replicated in humans in the intervening 24 years.
At the moment, the vitamin D research you and ClaireOB reported seems more compelling to me.
Sorry Peaksteve, I do not agree at all with the vitamin D theory. The Costa Rican research sounds quite unbelievable to me. Also, if you take Australia as an example, Queensland which is a hot/ very hot state and whose capital over the last twenty years has been named one of the asthma capitals of the world, has a very high asthma rate. Whereas Tasmania, (heading for the Antarctic) has the lowest asthma rate in Australia.
To Woodysom - That was an excellent explanation of the vitamin A/cortisone connection. Couldn't agree more.
Marian.
For any of you who might be interested in how much vitamins I take, I’ve decided to detail my vitamin doses. I’m afraid this is a long email. A bit of history first. I stumbled accidentally upon this treatment in 1980 when my husband mistakenly gave me the wrong message from his workmate who had been reading a book about vitamins. She later claimed she never said ‘Asthma was a vitamin A deficiency and it had to be taken with vitamin E’ so I don’t know who got it all mixed up, but it worked for me!
I was told by a chemist once that vitamin E doses need to increase with age, It seems to me, vitamin A is much the same although I did have a quite a few years in my fifties where I could actually reduce the dose quite a lot.
Vitamin C is very important and I believe it works well with vitamin A. During 2005, I stopped taking vitamin C and developed one chest infection after the other, culminating in a severe kidney infection. (Because I was still taking good doses of A and E I suffered no asthma during these infections.) Since then I’ve had no chest infections.
My liver, kidney and bone density tests have all come back normal, and in 25 years, I have never had a side-effect from the vitamins.
Age 38 Winter 10,000 to 20,000 i.u. vit.A, 100 mg vit.E per day
Age 43 Winter 30,000 i.u. vit. A, 400 mg vit. E per day
Started taking vitamin C powder for viruses (Calcium ascorbate)
Age 45-51 Winter 60,000 i.u. vit.A, 500 mg vit.E, 3 teasp. vit C powder if necessary
Age 53 Winter 10,000 to 40,000 i.u. vit.A, 500 i.u. natural vit.E, 1 teasp vit.C
Age 58 Winter and Summer 15,000 to 25,000 i.u. vit.A, 500 i.u. vit E,half teasp.vit.C
Age 66 Winter and Summer 50,000i.u. to 60,000 i.u. vit.A, 1,000 i.u. E "" "" ""
I'm rethinking my vitamin D statement earlier because I notice in my notes that at age 58, I was taking halibut liver oil capsules as well as straight vit. A. This meant I would have been getting about 2,400 i.u. vit.D along with the vitamin A from the halibut oil. Maybe the vitamin D helped a bit, but I wasn't taking any vitamin D in earlier times.
Marian.
Marian, I have not had a cold for 3 years now. Maybe that is due to the introduction of maltesers, it was about 3 years ago I started treating myself to a cup of tea and bag of maltesers in the evening.
chocolate is always the best method!!!!
i did like the april fool post that went up about chocolate and tax or something!!! if nly it were true.
olive
Marian, as I have stated quite a few posts down, citing single examples (anecdotes) is unconvincing, however determined you may be to promote your theory. I have a counter anecdote: when I first met my husband, he was in his mid 20s, had frequent asthma symptoms, took regular vitamins A, C, E as there was at the time a lot of hype around about these supplements. A couple of years later, he stopped taking them: no change in symptoms. Some years later, in his late 30s his asthma symptoms all but disappeared, which continues today. He's still not taking any vitamin supplements, nor has he ever (as mentioned before) done any kind of breathing retraining. That is the problem with anecdotes: counter examples can be cited and nobody is much the wiser.
A better approach is to do as the researchers in the recent studies have done: large populations have been studied, and observations have been made about vitamin deficiencies in populations with asthma. However, in both cases, the researchers are careful to point out that observational studies cannot identify a causal relationship between two common factors, merely that the factors co-exist. Very properly, they call now for properly conducted studies to establish (1) if there is a causal relationship and (2) if supplementing is of benefit. In advance of the results of such work, I genuinely cannot see how you can confidently proclaim that asthma can be relieved 'the easy vitamin way'.
Your dismissal of the Costa Rica Vitamin D research and your subsequent rowing back from this position overlooks an important point made by these researchers and other reviewers: if there is a causal relationship, the causation might run the other way e.g. rather than vitamin D deficiency causing asthma, those children with more severe asthma might stay indoors more, so despite living in a sun-strong country they will be deficient in Vitamin D. To labour a point, again, they have not immediately recommended supplmenting with Vitamin D (as you now appear to do) but for research to be done to clarify the relationship and determine if supplements are advisable.
The Costa Rican research sounds quite unbelievable to me""
Well, it would do, since it contradicts what you've decided to be the case. Why let properly conducted research get in the way of what you think, eh? Most of what you've posted seems unbelievable to me, but that's just down to the lack of research that is behind it.
Claire - as ever, an excellent post.
I would *love* vitamin A to be the way for everyone to get their asthma symptoms relieved, really I would. But just because you insist that it is, doesn't make it so.
To each his own Bex, but personally I prefer Jaffas.!! They are orange coloured and we all know vitamin A is an orangey colour!!
Thank you for the kind compliment, Peaksteve. Although Marian Slee insists she has had no side effects, it's worth pointing out that the i.u. dosages she has described exceed considerably the Tolerable Upper Intake levels for retinol, as described in a useful factsheet by the US National Institute of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements, which sets ULs for adults over 19 years at 10,000 i.u. They do state that these apply to healthy populations and list cases where these ULs don't apply:
""...The UL does not apply to malnourished individuals receiving vitamin A either periodically or through fortification programs as a means of preventing vitamin A deficiency. It also does not apply to individuals being treated with vitamin A by medical doctors for diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. ...""
Nothing about asthma, note. Also of interest, given her dismissal of Vitamin D research is that they mention that one of the risks of excess intake of vitamin A, currently being researched, osteoporosis, might apply particularly to populations with lower vitamin D levels.
The NIH/ODA factsheet is worth reading, available here: ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/v...
An earlier post in this thread mentioned jaffas.
Moderation is the key. Excessive consumption of citrus juices can leach calcium from the body system, causing decay of bones and teeth. Although we often don't eat orange peel in significant quantity, it is good to know that citrus peels contain some oils that may interfere with the effects of vitamin A.
- Juicing for Health.
Vitamin D is important for the absorbtion of Calcium especially for us with osteopenia & osteoporosis caused by the steroids. Hence it is precribed for us as Adcal D3 - Calcium and vitamin D tablets combined.
There will be something in the archives on the main AUK website on the role of Vitamin D and asthma....... not sure if it has been mentioned in the thread already.
whats the maximum dose in mg for vitamin A in the UK. I didn't think it was that high, but I've received a copy of the catalogue from simply supplements, and they sell a vitamin A at 15mg per tablet, or 8325iu.
Woody-som, the FSA has a page on Vitamin A here: eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/...
They say give the RDA and recommended maximum in mg :
""...You should be able to get all the vitamin A you need from your daily diet. This is:
0.7 mg a day for men
0.6 mg a day for women
...
What happens if I take too much?
Some research suggests that having more than an average of 1.5mg per day of vitamin A over many years may affect your bones and make them more likely to fracture when you're older.
Older people, particularly women, are already at risk of osteoporosis. This is where bone density reduces and so the risk of fractures increases.
If you eat liver or liver products such as pâté once a week, you are likely to be having, on average, 1.5mg of vitamin A per day.
If you aren't getting enough vitamin D, you might be more at risk of the harmful effects of too much vitamin A. ...""
I think 1.5mg converts to ~5000 i.u., indicating that the UK advised upper limit is much lower than the US one. And bear in mind that upper limits are not recommended daily intakes.
Granny-mo, Sorry I think there has been a mix-up here. Where I come from Jaffas are round chocolates coated with orange coloured candy. I was actually having a little joke with Bex about her Maltesers!!
Woody-som, I can't understand how a 15 mg. vitamin A capsule can equal 8,325 i.u.
According to my books 1 mg of vitamin A equals 3,300 i.u. so 15 mg should equal 49,500 i.u. I would imagine only America would have a vitamin A capsule of that high amount, and I doubt even they would have it. Did you mean 15 mcg but I don't think that would work out properly either?
There is something wrong with those figures, Woody (apart from the fact that they are selling tablets at well above the UK recommended maximum!). There is a conversion tool available from etoolsage.com/index.asp and if you click on medicine/healthcare you will find an i.u. converter. This converts 8325 i.u. of vit A (retinol) to just under 2.5mg. You can run conversions for other forms of vit A but none come out at 15mg
On a side issue, the US has historically had higher RDAs and ULs for vitamins and popping supplements has long been popular there. But there are signs that this is beginning to change, given recent large studies which have yielded disappointing results for supplementing. E.g. earlier this year, Tara Parker-Pope, the widely read health columnist on the New York Times wrote an article ""Vitamin Pills - a false hope?"" which, predictably, drew yelps of protest from the industy. It included this quote from a researcher:
""...“Most antioxidants are also pro-oxidants,†said Dr. Peter H. Gann, professor and director of research in the department of pathology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “In the right context and the right dose, they may be able to cause problems rather than prevent them.â€
Scientists suspect that the benefits of a healthful diet come from eating the whole fruit or vegetable, not just the individual vitamins found in it. “There may not be a single component of broccoli or green leafy vegetables that is responsible for the health benefits,†Dr. Gann said. “Why are we taking a reductionist approach and plucking out one or two chemicals given in isolation?â€...""
It goes on to note that reseach into individual vitamins for specific conditions is continuing and while there are some promising hints, cautions that we need to wait for large scale clinical trial evidence before jumping on the vitamin pill bandwagon.
Edit: url for Tara PP NYT article - nytimes.com/2009/02/17/heal...
I thought the 15mg or 8325iu didn't workout right. Based on marians figures of 20,000, i would need about 6mg, and after seeing those for sale, thought what, did I find the wrong online calculator. Don't know how they came with that figure, but thats whats on the website (link from OP gone), and in the catalogue they claim that 15mg is 100%RDA.
I'll send them an email and enquire.
Just thought I'd pass this on in the interests of alphabetical completeness if nothing else! News release about a new study from Johns Hopkins (US) which has found a link between folate levels (vit B9), due to appear in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
No prizes for guessing what the researchers say:
""...Cautioning that it’s far too soon to recommend folic acid supplements to prevent or treat people with asthma and allergies, the researchers emphasize that more research needs to be done to confirm their results, and to establish safe doses and risks.
""...“Our findings are a clear indication that folic acid may indeed help regulate immune response to allergens, and may reduce allergy and asthma symptoms,†says lead investigator Elizabeth Matsui, M.D. M.H.S., pediatric allergist at Hopkins Children’s. “But we still need to figure out the exact mechanism behind it, and to do so we need studies that follow people receiving treatment with folic acid, before we even consider supplementation with folic acid to treat or prevent allergies and asthma.†...""
I'm wondering how long it will take the supplment industry to jump on this bandwagon!
Hello Claire, thanks for all your excellent posts, you have saved us from buying unecessary vitamins and from our hopes being dashed, thank you, Lois
Clare, if what that doctor said that it is probably the food that works and not a vitamin in isolation is true, how do you explain a lecture I attended in 1999 when a leading doctor from Doctors Without Borders told of his experience when scurvy broke out in an African refugee camp? He said they were forced to buy up the entire world's stock of vitamin C tablets. He did not say they bought the world's stock of oranges.
I want to make clear I am not a naturapath and have never sold a vitamin in my life. I do not even recommend a vitamin brand, as I am currently taking three different brands for my A,C and E. Also my usual diet is so good, my GP once said that people like me should be going into the schools to advise children on diet!
I agree many vitamins need others to support them but a single vitamin can work too eg.
vitamin B12 to cure and prevent pernicious anaemia
vitamin D to treat and prevent rickets
Folic Acid to prevent spina bifida
vitamin A to prevent xerophthalmia (blindness)
vitamin C to cure and prevent scurvy (the biggest killer of all time)
vitamin B3 to cure and prevent pellagra
vitamin B to cure and prevent berri-berri
Most of these illnesses are fatal, so these vitamins on their own, can perform miracles.
Marian
Vitamins do not work on their own.
High doses of vitamins have few legitimate uses and should never be taken without the advice of one's doctor.
Woody-som
Read the original report by the University of Nottingham's School of Community Sciences. That same dept. is researching the effectiveness of using hookworms to reduce the symptoms of allergic rhinitis and asthma.
GM
PS I think this thread should be put to bed.
i agree granny mo!
I have personally heard enough of the cure all vitamin-if only that was the answer or a similar thread on breathing patterns curing asthma by breathing thro your nose etc! If only that too was the answer! It gives false hope to people who are struggling on lots of meds etc and looking for any answer to help with their symptoms! Unfortunatly a lot of these alternative or complementary therapies dont always live up to expectations!
putting topics to bed
if people stopped posting about putting the topic to bed, it might just go off into a deep slumber all on its own.
There is probably some element in all therapies that will help some people (even if very few) in all aspects of asthma. For those that do (even if anecdotal and few) is it surprising that we would wish to share this with other poeple who have the same condition as we have? (although i would offer the 19995 Mater Hospital Brisbane buteyko trial as reason for profound optimism)(like marian with her vitamins or me with my breathing technique).
Just like all asthma medication doesn't fit or suit everyone,the same will be true of potentially beneficial supplements, breathing techniques or other as yet undiscovered treatments techniques or therapies. I do not believe in silver bullets for asthma nor one treatment fits all solutions. Asthma is an as yet little researched condition/disease.
If the condition/disease was fully researched and known then it would be likely that further discoveries of sometimes bizarre (GM's hookworm research post) remedies would come to an end. However, not enough is known about asthma.
Remember, botox originally came from a cerebral palsy treatment (to stop spasms) and they happened to notice the effect on wrinkles. A blood pressure tablet was discovered to increase hair-growth and came back as ro-gain (hair regrower product for baldness) and viagra started off life as for something other than its end use! Side effects end up becoming the main effect.
This is the basis of all trail and error based research which is the fundament of all medicine. So if hookworms results in an outstanding result then it will become the treatment of the future but possibly for some side effect rather than the original research theory.
I agree that complementary treatments like buteyko or alternative treatments should be subject to rigorous medical trial but i think i will answer some of the replies here, many vehement, on a different thread topic rather than pollute the vitamin topic with buteyko discussions. If this causes offence, please do not read it! It may be of genuine interest or help to someone else. Happy to have open discussion and comment on any aspect of it and do not describe it as a universal panacea just a very useful tool to help with breathing.
The trouble for any of us in silencing those that do not have the same opinion as us is that we miss the diversity of opinion that often results in breakthroughs that are fundamentally impossible from discussion among people who all have the same opinion already. If everything is dismissed out of hand then there would not be any further research done full stop. This is not an acceptable solution.
I think the problem is that many people first come here when they're absolutely desperate - their asthma may be currently uncontrolled, and this may be having severely limiting implications for their daily lives, be it in housing, employment, exercise, etc.
My asthma is not as severe as some here and I've finally managed to get a pretty good control over it (medically!), but I know how I felt last year when I had repeated hospital admissions and a severely restricted quality of live - I would have done anything to make it all better.
Similarly, I currently have a separate health condition that is as yet uncontrolled and very disabling - I'm really desperate for all the symptoms to go away so I can get my life back - I haven't been posting here much because I'm not coping with it. I certainly can't think clearly at the moment and it would be very easy if you saw some claim for something that would effectively 'cure' you when you're desperate to try anything and take/use it without potentially considering the implications.
There's also the possibility that some people may think ""well conventional medicine hasn't made me better and this claims it will"" and swap, i.e. stop taking prescribed medications because apparently just one vitamin (or whatever) rather than 10+ meds you are currently on can change everything. I'm not saying everyone would do this, but it's possible and would be very dangerous, hence why I, personally, am concerned about any 'miracle cure'. If there's a possibility of reading it as 'life-changing' desperate people may be willing to try anything 
Buteyko'd - the reason why there has been such a backlash towards Marion rather than towards you is because, after you clarified your original post, you are sensibly pointing out what worked for you in a ""why not give it a try"" kind of way (which is great, and what this board is for) whereas Marion is still detemined to convince us that taking possibly unsafe amounts of vitamin A will cure everyone's asthma. It won't.
Had Marion simply posted telling of her experience in order to share this info with others, and not been disparaging towards the many pieces of research that people posting to this thread have cited which demonstrate a different view to hers, then she would not have received the responses that she has.
Mind you, I am inclined to agree with Granny Mo in that this thread appears to have run its course. I don't think anyone else has anything to add that hasn't already been said.
Marian - citing an example of emergency supplementation in a malnourished refugee population does not support your case for ongoing, high-dose vitamins pills as a 'cure' for asthma. As I have pointed out, WHO recommends VitA supplementation in developing countries where children are malnourised, so nobody is denying interventions with vitamins are ever advisable. You can't extrapolate from this to populations with adequate access to nourishing food; it's just clutching at straws.
Buteyko'd my asthma, nobody is trying to silence you or any other advocate of alternative or complementary approaches, but people are entitled to express their opinions, sometimes vehemently - look, this is the internet! If GrannyMo is fed up of the thread, she is perfectly entitled to express this opinion and she has done so politely.
The argument that promoters of complementary/alternative theories are being silenced (by an unholy conspiracy of Big Pharma and conventional medicine) is old hat and doesn't hold water, in my opinion. It may be uncomfortable when sweeping assertions (e.g. vitamin 'cures' or, one which has been made to me: Buteyko can 'cure' 90% of asthma!) are challenged but if there is really something valid in your case, it will survive such testing. With regard to Buteyko, the fact that it is referred to positively in the latest BTS/Sign guideline and is, along with other breathing exercises being taught by NHS physiotherapists, doesn't suggest to me that there is any conspiracy to 'silence' those who promote it. I have recently read that Coventry University is starting a course for asthma nurses who wish to learn the technique.
There is, actually, quite a bit of research into asthma and allergy though of course more would be most welcome. The picture that is emerging is complicated and there have even been suggestions that asthma should not be seen any longer as a single condition, so not amenable to 'one-size (or indeed, 'cure') - fits -all therapies.
Spot on ClaireOB and Ratty
I agree with both of your comments. My comment on silencing was intended as being a reflexive one and also more a societal reference and applies to business, community and people as much as asthma. It was sloppy (so i went and edited it!) and I in no way feel silenced nor the vibe of silencing here or anywhere else. I do feel the vibe of complete frustration and i echo it too. Asthma distresses me, whether it is my own or someone else's.
I didn't get the chance to read over my comment due to the children going haywire at the time and can see its poorly phrased.
We can only encourage further research into aspects of asthma, it is complex and individual and whilst variety keeps the world interesting it makes it hard to come up with medication to improve people's lives.
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