Asthma

chasing after something fast—say, a frisky toddler. You’ll soon be gasping for air the way someone with asthma does during an attack. It’s a frightening experience.

The usual setup for an attack combines an allergic (or supersensitive) immune system, an inherited trait, with exposure to environmental allergic triggers such as animal dander, mold spores, and pollen or to environmental irritant triggers such as air pollution, cold air, and cigarette smoke. Other activators can include respiratory infections, colds, laughter, crying, anger, exercise, and stress.

There are two major components of asthma. One is noisy—the wheez­ing, coughing, choking, can’t-catch-your-breath feeling. That’s the part most people call an asthma attack, or bronchospasm and congestion.

The second part of asthma is quiet. It is called inflammation—the part of asthma that is always present but not always noticed. Just as sunburn may not be evident until long after you’ve come in from the sun, airway inflam­mation is not noticeable until the damage has become so extensive that an asthma attack begins.

During an asthma attack, the muscles surrounding the lungs‘ bronchial tubes contract, narrowing airways and making it hard to breathe. People with chronic asthma also have inflammation in their lungs. The membranes lin­ing the inner walls of the air passages become swollen and leaky. And the glands within these walls produce excess mucus. That makes it harder for the lungs to do their job of gas exchange, picking up oxygen from the air and dumping carbon dioxide out of the body.

Asthma is usually treated with drugs that open airways and reduce inflammation as well as by avoiding substances that trigger attacks. For some people, that means finding a new home for a family pet, exchanging the wall- to-wall carpeting for linoleum, or steering clear of cigarette smoke, car and truck exhaust, and chemical fumes.

Dietary counseling for asthma, especially in young children, may include testing for possible problem foods. But it doesn’t often include recommenda­tions for vitamin or mineral supplements, experts say. Nevertheless, some research suggests that certain nutrients may play roles in asthma by reducing airway sensitivity and dampening inflammation.

Note: If you’re feeling well enough to reduce your dosage of asthma medication, do so only under medical supervision, experts warn. Stopping asthma drugs abruptly could lead to problems.