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Review
. 2013 Dec;1(10):813-22.
doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(13)70126-7. Epub 2013 Jul 31.

Diet and asthma: vitamins and methyl donors

Yueh-Ying Han  1 , Josh Blatter  1 , John M Brehm  1 , Erick Forno  1 , Augusto A Litonjua  2 , Juan C Celedón  3
Affiliations
Review

Diet and asthma: vitamins and methyl donors

Yueh-Ying Han et al. Lancet Respir Med. 2013 Dec.

Abstract

Diet changes can partly explain the high burden of asthma in industrialised nations. Findings from experimental studies have stimulated many observational studies of the association between vitamins (A, C, D, and E) or nutrients acting as methyl donors (folate, vitamin B12, and choline) and asthma. However, observational studies are susceptible to several sources of bias; well conducted randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard to establish whether diet has an effect on asthma. Evidence from observational studies and a few RCTs strongly justifies ongoing and future RCTs in three areas: vitamin D for the prevention or treatment of asthma, choline supplementation as adjuvant treatment for asthma, and vitamin E to prevent the detrimental effects of air pollution in patients with asthma. At present, insufficient evidence exists to recommend supplementation with any vitamin or nutrient acting as a methyl donor to prevent or treat asthma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

JCC served as a one-time consultant for Genentech (on an issue unrelated to this manuscript) in 2011. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Potential mechanisms of action of methyl donors and vitamins (A, C, E, and D) on Th1 and Th2 immune responses. BHMT: betaine-homocysteine methyl-transferase, RORγt: retinoic acid-related orphan receptor γt, GATA-3: GATA binding protein 3, T-bet: T-box transcription factor, FOXP3: forkhead box P3, STAT: signal transducer and activator of transcription.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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