Link between obesity and asthma

01 June 2010

A new study, published in the medical journal Allergy confirms a link between obesity and asthma.

Jun Ma of the Palo Alto Medical Research Institute in California analysed 4500 candidates, about a third of whom were overweight and another third were obese.

Twelve percent of the obese individuals had asthma, compared to 6% of the normal weight participants. The likelihood of asthma rose as the BMI of a person increased – the risk of asthma was more than tripled for the most obese individuals compared to normal weight people.

The reason for the link remains unclear. There are suggestions that a system-wide, low-grade inflammation occurs with obesity or that resistance to the hormone insulin, which rises with excess weight, is the reason for the link.

Dr Ma says there is a possibility that insulin may be a link between obesity and asthma, however, there are a host of other potential reasons for the association.

Submit Comment

<< Back