Consumption of fish may help against asthma - Study
- A study conducted by scientists has shown that eating fish can help prevent asthma
- One of the scientists, Professor Andreas Lopata, from Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine at James Cook University, says about a quarter of a million people die from asthma every year
- The study tested 642 people who worked in a fish processing factory in a small village in South Africa
A study has revealed that consuming fish can help prevent asthma, a disease of the lungs in which the airways become blocked or narrowed, causing breathing difficulty.
This was made known by a scientist from Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine at James Cook University, Professor Andreas Lopata, Science Daily reports.
Legit.ng gathers that Professor Lopata was part of a study which tested 642 people who worked in a fish processing factory in a small village in South Africa.
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He said: "Around 334 million people worldwide have asthma, and about a quarter of a million people die from it every year. In Australia, one in nine have asthma (about 2.7 million), and among Indigenous Australians this rate is almost twice as high.
"Asthma incidence has nearly doubled in the past 30 years and about half of asthma patients do not get any benefit from the drugs available to treat it. So there's a growing interest in non-drug treatment options."
According to Professor Lopata, the current theory is that the dramatic change in diet worldwide is behind the rise of asthma.
He said: "There is an increasing consumption of what is known as the n-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA) found in vegetable oils and a decline in consumption of n-3 PUFA, which is mainly found in marine oils. Crudely, there has been a global move from fresh fish to fast food.
"We found that certain types of n-3 (from marine oils) were significantly associated with a decreased risk of having asthma or asthma-like symptoms by up to 62%, while high n-6 consumption (from vegetable oils) was associated with an increased risk by up to 67%."
Professor Lopata added: "Even if you factor in contaminants such as mercury found in some fish populations, the benefits of fish and seafood intake far more outweighs the potential risks."
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the minister of budget and national planning, Senator Udoma Udoma, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration placed a very high premium on improving health care delivery and social welfare of Nigerians.
Udoma said this in a statement signed in Abuja on Tuesday, March 19, by his special adviser on media and communication, Akpandem James.
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Source: Legit.ng
