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Sunshine vitamin 'may treat asthma' 
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The amount of time asthma patients spend soaking up the sun may have an impact on the illness, researchers have suggested.

A team at King's College London said low levels of vitamin D, which is made by the body in sunlight, was linked to a worsening of symptoms.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22570859

Which is interesting, given my anecdotal experience of the condition. What I do like is a nice sunny (but not too hot) day down at the coast. It seems to do wonders for my breathing - I usually come back feeling like I’ve inhaled far more air than I normally do. This is likely to be down to a number of reasons - clearer air, relaxation, but it seems that being in the sun may be doing me some good. That all said, when it gets very hot, my breathing does tend to suffer just because of humidity and the impact of the heat on pollution levels. Given that my lung capacity is lower than it should be due to scrapes with whooping cough and working in a smoke filled office in the 1980s (though not both at the same time), any improvement I can get is welcome.

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The team is now conducting clinical trials to see if giving the sunshine vitamin to patients could ease their symptoms. They are looking at patients who do not respond to steroids as they produce seven times more interleukin-17 than other patients.

Prof Catherine Hawrylowicz told the BBC: "We think that treating people with vitamin D could make steroid-resistant patients respond to steroids or let those who can control their asthma take less steroids."

She said a culture of covering up in the sun and using sun cream may have increased asthma rates, but "it is a careful message because too much sun is bad for you".


So no gulping down vitamin D tablets yet. I’m on the lowest steroid dose my preventer allows anyway, so if this shows I can improve even more with simple dietary supplements, then I’ll be giving it a go.

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Mon May 20, 2013 8:53 am
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My dad was recently diagnosed with asthma and he would be playing golf five days a week. So he would be in the sun sufficiently already.


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Mon May 20, 2013 9:23 am
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Amnesia10 wrote:
My dad was recently diagnosed with asthma and he would be playing golf five days a week. So he would be in the sun sufficiently already.


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I bet he was wearing clothing when playing golf. ;) The article does say:

Quote:
She said a culture of covering up in the sun and using sun cream may have increased asthma rates


That said, this is not the indicator of a cure or a permanent fix - more an observation that is having wider trials to see if there is any mileage. It may be that in the future, your dad and I will be advised to take vitamin D supplements as part of our regime.

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Mon May 20, 2013 9:29 am
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So you've got a choice -asthma or skin cancer. Joy!


Mon May 20, 2013 9:45 am
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The problem is that we do not get enough vitamin D from the sun in the UK. Just to meet our daily requirements, you need to have around 4 hours of exposure of sunlight to face, arms and neck, and the sun needs to be high in the sky (so basically 11am to 3pm). The weather just isn't conducive to this. Fortification of dairy products was supposed to help.

TBH you would struggle to overdose on vitamin D so there's no harm in trying supplements.

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Mon May 20, 2013 10:02 am
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paulzolo wrote:
Amnesia10 wrote:
My dad was recently diagnosed with asthma and he would be playing golf five days a week. So he would be in the sun sufficiently already.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.


I bet he was wearing clothing when playing golf. ;) The article does say:

Quote:
She said a culture of covering up in the sun and using sun cream may have increased asthma rates


That said, this is not the indicator of a cure or a permanent fix - more an observation that is having wider trials to see if there is any mileage. It may be that in the future, your dad and I will be advised to take vitamin D supplements as part of our regime.

Yes but he does not use sunscreen, so that would not be an issue. The dress code might be a health hazard.


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Mon May 20, 2013 10:29 am
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Amnesia10 wrote:
paulzolo wrote:
Amnesia10 wrote:
My dad was recently diagnosed with asthma and he would be playing golf five days a week. So he would be in the sun sufficiently already.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.


I bet he was wearing clothing when playing golf. ;) The article does say:

Quote:
She said a culture of covering up in the sun and using sun cream may have increased asthma rates


That said, this is not the indicator of a cure or a permanent fix - more an observation that is having wider trials to see if there is any mileage. It may be that in the future, your dad and I will be advised to take vitamin D supplements as part of our regime.

Yes but he does not use sunscreen, so that would not be an issue. The dress code might be a health hazard.


There’s his problem right there :lol:

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Mon May 20, 2013 10:49 am
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paulzolo wrote:
Amnesia10 wrote:
paulzolo wrote:
[quote="Amnesia10"]My dad was recently diagnosed with asthma and he would be playing golf five days a week. So he would be in the sun sufficiently already.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.


I bet he was wearing clothing when playing golf. ;) The article does say:

Quote:
She said a culture of covering up in the sun and using sun cream may have increased asthma rates


That said, this is not the indicator of a cure or a permanent fix - more an observation that is having wider trials to see if there is any mileage. It may be that in the future, your dad and I will be advised to take vitamin D supplements as part of our regime.

Yes but he does not use sunscreen, so that would not be an issue. The dress code might be a health hazard.


There’s his problem right there :lol:[/quote]
I appreciated that when I posted it. :)


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Mon May 20, 2013 3:12 pm
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