Supplements, nutrients and anti-acid medications
In a recent review, Venter et al.40 highlighted the potential roles of fatty acid metabolism in biological mechanisms, human epidemiology, and intervention studies. The impact of genetics and the microbial dysbiosis on fatty acid metabolism are discussed briefly. The authors suggest focusing on to the choice of the formats (i.e., food versus supplement) and standardized doses in clinical studies which will make easier to investigate their roles in the prevention and treatment of allergies and asthma. EAACI‘s position paper recommending a diverse diet for the infants and consensus-based definitions, which is a benefit for further studies.41 A study from Korea found that consumption of fast food was related to asthma incidence in adolescents but not in adults, whereas instant noodles had more impact in adults than in adolescents. No relation was found between asthma and the intake of vegetables and fruits, which might be confounded by the generally high intake of healthy food by Koreans as background nutrition.42
Another supplement, which was evaluated as an early prevention strategy for asthma is vitamin D. Vitamin D supplementation remains as a controversial issue, because of several recently published negative studies. Vitamin D supplementation of pregnant mothers did not reduce the incidence of asthma in children at 6 years of age. However, it might provide benefits by reducing the preschool wheezing episodes.43,44 A prospective study with maternal-infant cohort showed that during the 2 and 5 years of observation, there is no association between vitamin D exposure antenatal or after birth and the progression of allergic disease.45 In addition, antenatal supplementation with vitamin D did not prevent the development of asthma or recurrent wheeze. Earlier results by the same group suggested that antenatal vitamin D lowers the risk of the offspring developing asthma by 3 years of age, however, these effects were lost by age 6.44
Tomita et al46 suggested a relationship between the use of acid‐suppressive medications, such as histamine 2 receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors, and the occurrence of adult‐onset asthma.