(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Adding fish oil to the diet may help reduce the symptoms of exercise-induced asthma (EIA).

A new study from Indiana University in Bloomington reveals fish oil helps reduce narrowing of the patients' airways, allowing them to use less asthma medication. According to researchers, by reducing medication consumption patients can lower side effects.

"There have been remarkable advances in asthma therapy over the last 10 years. However, these medications are not without real and potential side effects," says Timothy Mickleborough, an exercise physiologist and assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at IU Bloomington. "Alternative therapies for EIA, or therapies that reduce the dose requirement of traditional medications, would be of benefit to the asthmatic and potentially reduce the public health burden of the disease."

Researchers examined 16 adults with mild-to-moderate persistent asthma who were considered recreationally active. They found their post-exercise lung function improved 64 percent and their use of emergency inhalers decreased 31 percent when they added fish oil to their diet for three weeks. The study also revealed cells and markers responsible for airway inflammation were reduced in the sputum of EIA patients taking the fish oil.

Eighty-percent of asthma patients have EIA. The condition is also found in about 10 percent of elite athletes and up to 10 percent of the general population without asthma.

SOURCE: CHEST, published online Jan. 9, 2006