Asthma Awareness Month
April 21st, 2009May is Asthma Awareness Month. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, more than 16 million adults and 6 million children in the US are known to have asthma, a chronic lung disease characterized by inflamed and narrowed airways. Many people with asthma suffer with periods of wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing, and chest tightness. Severe asthma attacks may require emergency treatment and can cause death. In fact, it is estimated that there are 5,000 deaths per year related to asthma.
Currently, most options for asthma sufferers involve avoiding triggers in the environment, and quick acting and/or long term medications. Interestingly, an article by K. Ramanujan published at Cornell University (2006) reviewed research conducted at Cornell and Stanford which estimated that 4,000 out of the 5,000 deaths per year related to asthma are actually caused by a specific type of long acting asthma medication. There is obviously a great need for alternatives to asthma medication.
Please view Eng3′s Blog: Asthma Research to read a recent article on oxidative stress related to asthma.