Research objectives

Several characteristics of a "Western" diet, including low magnesium and low vitamin C intake, have been proposed to be risk factors for the occurrence and severity of asthma. If so then these effects could be extremely important in public health terms, since the relative ease, affordability and generaliseability of dietary intervention could translate even very small effects at a personal level into substantial effects in terms of primary and secondary prevention across the general population. This parallel group, randomised placebo controlled clinical trial is designed to determine whether magnesium or vitamin C supplementation can yield improvements in clinical control, quality of life and use of health care resources, and reductions in requirement for inhaled steroids, in typical patients with asthma drawn from general practice populations. The trial involves simple interventions, which, if successful, could easily be applied on a much broader scale to reduce the severity of asthma in the general population.

For further information contact

Professor John Britton
Professor of Respiratory Medicine
University of Nottingham
Division of Respiratory Medicine
City Hospital
Nottingham, NG5 1PB

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