Natural Approaches for Asthma

Some people say it feels like someone is squeezing all the air out of their chests. Others say it feels like they are trying to breathe while underwater.

I want to share with you the symptoms and triggers of asthma, some natural treatments for the disease, and some of the current research in the quest for new and better treatments.

Asthma: Symptoms and Triggers

Although the symptoms can vary according to the person and their triggers for an attack, asthma is a chronic respiratory disease that has been increasing among all ages, genders and racial groups since the 1980s. More than 25 million Americans have this treatable but incurable disease, and, due primarily to hormonal changes and imbalances, it affects more women than men. (1)

Here are some of the common symptoms of asthma.

• wheezing upon inhalation and exhalation

• tightness or spasms in the chest

• dry, hard cough

• shortness of breath

• anxiousness

• Fatigue

• sweating

Standard medical treatments focus on relieving these symptoms and range from quick-relief inhalers to long-term medications. These remedies are designed to open up the airways, reduce inflammation and mucus, and help treat infections that may result. 

Doctors work with individual patients to develop a plan that takes into consideration the dietary and environmental factors that may trigger an attack. 

Here are some of the more common triggers for an asthma attack.

• cold, dry air (especially after exercise)

• irritants such as chemical fumes, smoke, gases, or dust

• airborne substances, such as pollen or mold spores

• pet dander

• insect droppings

Asthma and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is especially worrying for people with asthma. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), people with moderate to severe asthma may be at a higher risk of getting very sick with COVID-19.

The coronavirus can affect the respiratory tract, possibly causing an asthma attack. In severe cases, these patients could develop pneumonia or experience acute respiratory failure.

The CDC recommends that people with asthma be careful to take the recommended precautions to avoid contracting COVID-19, including washing your hands frequently, keeping at least six feet away from people who don’t live in your household, and wearing a face covering. (2, 3)

Asthma and Lifestyle

Experts believe that the rise in asthma cases is connected with modern lifestyle changes in terms of diet and activity. They suggest that obesity may be a contributing factor to the increase in asthma. With all the recent turmoil in the world caused by weather, political, and civil events, it is also important to know that researchers believe stress is posing more of a health risk than ever before. Since stress can cause our breathing to change even if we don’t have asthma, it should come as no surprise that stress can be a trigger of the disease. (4)

However, there is some good news. Research is showing promising results when natural products are used along with conventional medical treatments to fight asthma symptoms. (5, 6)

Now I want to share with you two natural approaches for asthma treatment -- fish oil and magnesium. Both are found naturally in foods and are readily available in supplement form.

Omega-3s for Asthma Treatment

What Are Omega-3s? 

Fish oil, which comes from the tissues of fatty fish -- such as salmon, sardines, anchovies, white fish, and herring -- is one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids. You may already know that omega-3s are beneficial for heart health, but they also help boost your body’s immune system. (7)

Our bodies are able to produce most of the fats we need, but that’s not true for omega-3s.

How Does Fish Oil Affect Asthma? 

A study by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that omega-3s contained in fish oil can lower the body’s production of IgE (the antibodies that cause allergic reactions and symptoms in people with mild asthma). (8)

Another study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that women who took fish oil pills during the last trimester of pregnancy lowered their children's chance of developing asthma by about one third. 

And a recent study of 135 asthmatic children published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found that omega-3 fatty acids in foods may reduce symptoms of childhood asthma. (9, 10)

Fish oil consumption helps strengthen your body’s cellular membranes and has other benefits beyond boosting your immune system and helping prevent heart disease. Studies show that it can help decrease symptoms of joint pain, arthritis, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), hypertension, and eczema. Fish oil intake has also been associated with weight loss and increased energy.  (11, 12)

How Should You Get Enough Omega-3? 

As mentioned, your body cannot produce omega-3 fatty acids. Fortunately, you can boost your supply by eating more cold-water fatty fish or by taking fish oil as a concentrated source. 

When taking fish oil, however, it’s important to get it from a trusted source. 

You can learn more about my research here, but, for a quick answer, I suggest taking one teaspoon per day of our Omega Concentrate for regular health maintenance or two teaspoons if you are having an asthma flare-up or are otherwise feeling sick. As always, check with your doctor before adding any new supplement to your diet.

Magnesium as a Natural Asthma Treatment

Like fish oil, magnesium helps boost the body’s immunity, and it also lowers inflammation in asthma patients. (13)

What Is Magnesium? 

Magnesium is a mineral that is found naturally in grains, nuts, green vegetables, and dairy products. In addition to asthma, magnesium deficiency has a role in diseases like migraines, depression, and epilepsy. 

What Depletes Magnesium?

The mineral is often lost in the cooking and processing of foods. Poor soil quality is another factor in magnesium not being found in vegetables and grains (and the meat of the animals that eat them) as much as it once was.

We also can deplete our body’s magnesium supply through the consumption of:

• caffeine

• sugar

• processed foods

• alcohol

• medications, including birth control pills, diuretics, insulin, hypertension medicines, and certain antibiotics

How Does Magnesium Affect Asthma?

Some studies have shown that magnesium has a dual role as an anti-inflammatory and as a bronchodilator in asthma patients. A bronchodilator relaxes the lungs' muscles and expands the airways (bronchi), allowing more air to flow into the lungs and making breathing easier. (14) (15)

A 2013 British study of 508 children who had severe asthma responded well to magnesium sulfate in combination with their standard treatments. A 2014 survey of adults with severe asthma had similar results. (16, 17)

In addition to its anti-inflammatory properties, magnesium helps the body absorb Vitamin D, and it may help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. (18)

How Should You Get Enough Magnesium?

Dietary sources of magnesium include leafy green vegetables, kelp, sea vegetables, nuts, beans, seeds, cocoa, certain ancient grains, and nettle are good choices. However, it is hard to increase your body’s level of the mineral solely through food, since more than half of the mineral leaves our bodies through our waste.

Since it’s nearly impossible to get enough magnesium through diet alone, I’ve sourced the most highly absorbable magnesium I could find so that I could offer you a solution! 

Enter our Chelated Magnesium Powder. This powdered form absorbs well and is effective on acute headaches and chronic leg cramps. It also works as a sleep aid! I usually take 400 mg each day, and you may take up to 600 mg a day in acute cases. Please check with your doctor first.

Other Natural Asthma Treatments

Now that you know more about the benefits of fish oil and magnesium for asthma, let’s look at two of my other natural recommendations.

Steam Breathing

Did your mother or grandmother ever ask you to lean over a steaming pan of water when you had a cold? For centuries, people with breathing difficulties have used steam to help ease breathing difficulties. 

Warm, moist air helps loosen mucus in the nose, throat, and lungs and relieve inflamed, swollen blood vessels in your nasal passages.

I use this personal inhaler-vaporizer filled with plain water or with a half-teaspoon silver added to plain water. It is easy to use, and it offers warm, soothing, and relaxing relief. Please note that, although I love essential oils, they are too harsh in this device.

Essential Oils for Asthma

I prefer to use essential oils like eucalyptus, peppermint, and arborvitae in a diffuser to make breathing easier. Another idea is to place a drop or two on the palm of your hand and breathe in the scent that way.

You also can treat asthma with essential oils topically.

Simply mix the essential oil with a carrier like olive oil, sweet almond oil, or jojoba oil and then massage the mixture into the chest or the soles of the feet. 

Ongoing Asthma Research

Research continues to unravel the mystery of asthma and how not just to better treat it but cure it. For example, scientists are examining the connection between a TH1 and TH2 imbalance in the body and the onset of asthma.

Th1 and Th2 (called t-helper cells) are essential to a healthy immune system. They are types of white blood cells that recognize and help fight off foreign pathogens. Th1 cells usually handle viruses and certain bacteria, while Th2 deal with toxins, allergens, and other forms of bacteria.

When the Th1 cells are overactive, they can suppress the work of the Th2 cells (and vice versa), causing inflammation. Since allergens are known to trigger asthma, researchers are examining the connection between imbalanced T-helper cells and the disease. (19)

Studies now show that at least 150 human genes appear to play a role in asthma. New approaches, such as bioinformatics and systems biology, are offering tools that may be critical for understanding the body’s immune interactions that lead to allergic asthma. (20)

Studies also are demonstrating the relationship between hormonal imbalances and asthma.

Women find that their menstrual cycle and its hormonal shifts either worsen or improve their asthma symptoms. Here are some other findings that relate to asthma and hormones.

• Women who have irregular periods may have worse asthma symptoms than women who have regular periods.

• Pregnancy may increase or decrease the risk of having a severe asthma attack.

• Similarly, there appears to be a connection between menopause and asthma. The decreasing hormone levels that accompany menopause may worsen asthma symptoms or even cause some women to develop the disease. Other women, however, report that their asthma symptoms improve after menopause. (21)

Another significant breakthrough in asthma research -- and one in which I have a deep personal interest -- is mold toxicity and its relationship with asthma.

I suffered from asthma symptoms for years before I discovered my own toxic mold exposure in early 2016. As I explained in an earlier blog, not all mold is poisonous, but many of us are living or working in buildings where toxic mold is growing without even realizing it. Mold thrives in damp surroundings. 

According to the Federal Facilities Council, 43 percent of U.S. buildings have current water damage, and 85 percent have past water damage. Therefore, these buildings may be harboring harmful molds such as Cladosporium, Penicillium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, and Stachybotrys chartarum, which is known as toxic black mold. (22, 23)

When these biotoxins are not cleared by the body’s immune system, they can be essentially recirculated by the liver. Asthma symptoms, as well as headaches, foggy thinking, insomnia, weight gain, and fatigue, can result.

For more information on how to know if you have mold in your home or workplace, how to remove it, and begin mold healing, please download my step-by-step guide.

Asthma: a Growing Concern

Asthma is the reason for 9.8 million doctor’s office visits and 1.8 million emergency department visits each year in the U.S., according to the CDC. And more than 339 million people are living with asthma throughout the world. Asthma is the most common chronic disease among the world’s children. (24, 25)

As researchers throughout the world seek to better understand this disease, I encourage you to consider taking fish oil and magnesium as natural supplements and remedies to ease your symptoms.

Explore Our Essentials Kit

I redeveloped asthma a couple of years ago post toxic-mold exposure and probably thanks to perimenopause too. Honestly, it wasn’t another thing I wanted to have to manage!

Luckily, after doing research, I found that a few key nutrients that I already want to take daily are key for my asthma management. I just need to take a little more fish oil and chelated magnesium during my asthma season.

Since we are now in COVID season, I do some extra precautions to not get sick as an asthma sufferer—I use a couple of topical treatments for the nose and throat. These remedies are also great for kids with asthma as no pills are required!

These two products are called ACS Silver Nasal Spray and Biocidin TS throat spray and they are two of our most popular products in our shop.

They can be added to our Essentials Kit for daily protection. You can also save 10% on this kit as a subscription. 

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Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP, is trained in functional health coaching and has worked with thousands of women over her career since 2004. She is the founder of Women’s Wellness Collaborative llc and HormoneDetoxShop.com.

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