Low in vitamins?

There's another odd story today about allergies and diet.Actually it's about asthma and that really sums up the issue.

The story says that people with asthma are low in vitamins, especially A and C. The implication is that people with asthma are aggravating their problem with poor diet. The medical word used is "causal" and it's used cautiously but it is there.

Now it's difficult to get beneath this finding as it's not original research but a summary of other people's research. That's fine but it's the nature of the link that is a problem. I think there's an insight that can be added to this and it comes from the sheer invisibility of salicylate hypersensitivity. People with this problem, ie Samter's Triad, are said to make up as many as 20 per cent of those with severe asthma.

So if you are SH (let's use an abbrevation for salicylate hypersensitivity) you are on an incredibly restricted diet. You can get round it to some extent by eating lots of fish - but your fruit and vegetables will be predominantly pale green and yellow and leafy. So is it a wonder that vitamin levels are low?

It seems astounding that expert researchers have missed this point! Yes, Dr Jo Leonardi-Bee, the finding is probably 'clinically relevant' but because people with SH need to work hard to put together a healthy diet. If you don't like bananas, you don't like fish or you don't like cabbage, it's going to be really hard work.

PS Found a great link whilst researching this. The disturbing news is that about one third of people with SH develop nasal polyps. What does this mean?

RAS

 PS Here's some examples of this nonsense today from supposedly respectable news organisations:

Eat your greens if you want to avoid asthma - Independent
 Vitamin deficiency asthma 'link' -BBC