Breathe & Flow

Nutrients improve lung function and circulatory health

DHA improves survival in lung disease

For many reasons, the lungs can scar, stiffen, and become fibrous, making breathing difficult, a condition called interstitial lung disease (ILD). In this study, doctors followed the cases of 6,573 people hospitalized with ILD over a 12-year period, and separately analyzed CT scans of lung abnormalities in 10,193 participants in three other studies.

Overall, higher levels of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA reduced chances for lung abnormalities, and for hospitalization and death due to ILD. Doctors said, “The take-home message is the severity of an inflammatory disease—this time in the lung—is inversely related to blood omega-3 levels. Having higher circulating omega-3 levels offers significant protection, which is particularly timely given the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Reference: American Journal of Epidemiology; August, 2020, kwaa168

Tocotrienol decreases aspirin resistance

When blood vessels are injured, platelets attach to each other, forming a clot at the site to stop the bleeding. Too few platelets can cause bleeding; too many can lead to stroke. Aspirin inhibits clotting, reducing chances for recurrent stroke, but some people become resistant.

In this study, 150 people who’d had a stroke, or transient ischemic attack (mini-stroke), in the past six months, took aspirin alone, the blood thinner clopidogrel alone, these two together plus a placebo, or plus 800 mg, or plus 400 mg of tocotrienol per day.

After one year, the placebo group taking aspirin with clopidogrel had a 40 percent rate of aspirin resistance compared to 25 percent for the 800 mg tocotrienol group, and 9 percent for the 400 mg tocotrienol group.

Reference: FASEB Journal; July, 2020, 32686874