Food Concentrates Supplementation to Alleviate Asthma in Children

The prevalence of asthma is increasing in Taiwan and worldwide. This could be related to dietary factors and their interactions with genes and the environment. Ample evidence from cross-sectional and case-control observational studies suggested that consumption level of fruits, vegetables, and potentially vitamins A, C, E from foods have negative association with asthma risk, and positive association with lung function. However, single nutrient supplementation neither improved asthma symptoms and lung function, nor reduced inflammatory mediators. Some studies had shown probiotics could regulate human immunity. A number of trials have suggested that fish oil supplement improves lung function and reduces inflammatory mediator. The potential interactions among multiple components in foods have been neglected in the past. Recently, observational studies on dietary pattern analyses or intervention trials modifying the overall dietary composition have caught tremendous scientific attentions. Therefore, the investigators will design an intervention trial with food-based principle to investigate the the joint effect of several beneficial dietary components on asthma symptoms. For practicality and efficiency, vegetable plus fruit concentrates, fish oil, and probiotic concentrate are considered as supplements to asthmatic children. The investigators hope that the study can provided a direction for dietary modification in asthma children.