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Asthma - Management
Weight reduction, diet, and exercise: What advice should I give someone with asthma?

  • Advise overweight people that a healthy diet and regular exercise will help with weight reduction and improve asthma control:
    • Advise people (if possible) to take 30 minutes of exercise to increase their heart rate at least five times weekly. For more information on weight loss, see the CKS topic on Obesity.
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    • Clarification / Additional information
    • Exercise — no specific exercise regimen can be recommended apart from that needed to adopt a healthier lifestyle (30 minutes of exercise to increase heart rate at least five times weekly). Advise people about precautions against exercise-induced asthma. See Managing exercise-induced asthma.
    • Diet — no specific dietary recommendation can be given to people with asthma apart from a balanced diet, or a low-fat diet for people needing to lose weight. Observational studies in both adults and children have consistently shown that a high intake of fresh fruit and vegetables is associated with less asthma and better lung function. No intervention studies have yet been reported.
    Basis for recommendation
    • These recommendations are based on the British Guideline on the Management of Asthma: a national clinical guideline [SIGN and BTS, 2009]:
      • Weight reduction, diet, and exercise: the evidence is limited and based on small numbers of people with asthma. Weight reduction appears to improve asthma control, lung function, and symptoms in obese people. However, no convincing trial evidence shows that any specific diet or specific exercise regimen improves asthma control or symptoms [GINA, 2006; SIGN and BTS, 2009].

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