Ginger offers new hope to asthma sufferers

Spice added to medicine relaxes airways, study finds. Picture: TSPL

Scientists found that components of the spice interacted with medicines called beta- agonists, which relax the airways. Adding ginger compounds to the drugs increased relaxation of airway smooth muscle (ASM) tissue samples in lab tests.

Lead researcher Dr Elizabeth Townsend, from Columbia University in the United States said: “These compounds may provide additional relief of asthma symptoms when used in combination with beta-agonists,”

Asthma attacks occur when the bronchial tubes that carry air into and out of the lungs tighten up and constrict. By relaxing the airway muscles, beta-agonists help to open up the airways allowing the sufferer to breathe.

Britain has some of the highest rates of asthma in Europe.

There are currently 5.4 million people with asthma in the UK – 1.1 million children (1 in 11) and 4.3 million adults (1 in 12). There were 1,143 deaths from asthma in the UK in 2010 (16 of these were children aged 14 and under).

In Scotland, 368,000 people (1 in 14) receive treatment for asthma. This includes 72,000 children and 296,000 adults.

The findings were yesterday presented at the American Thoracic Society 2013 conference in Philadelphia.

Dr Townsend added: “Asthma has become more prevalent in recent years, but despite an improved understanding of what causes asthma, during the past 40 years few new treatment agents have been approved for targeting asthma symptoms.”

“In our study, we demonstrated that purified components of ginger can work synergistically with beta-agonists to relax ASM.”

Asthma was classified as a rare disease until the mid-1950s, but in recent times more cases have been reported, particularly in developed or industrialised countries.

There have been many theories for the increase including greater recognition of the condition by doctors.

But although asthma has reached epidemic proportions, doctors are still not sure what causes it or why it is increasing at such an alarming rate.

For years, pollution took much of the blame. But children’s eating habits are now the prime suspect.

A recent study claimed modern eating habits may be one of the main causes of the huge rise in asthma that has left one in five children with the disease. The wrong diet, including those with low amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables, can lead to an eightfold increase in the risk of asthma, say researchers.

Professor Anthony Seaton, of the University of Aberdeen, who has been researching diet and asthma with 2,000 pregnant women and their babies said: “I think diet is the factor that has made the biggest contribution to increased asthma in wealthier countries. I can’t see anything else that has changed that could have had this effect.”