Antioxidants and Allergy, Asthma

The western diet is becoming more popular around the world even though it is characterized by a reduction of fresh fruits and vegetables with an increase of processed foods. As pulmonary and systemic oxidative stress increase allergic inflammation, dietary or supplemental antioxidants have been proposed to counteract the incidence and morbidity of allergic disease.

Studies of variable quality suggest associations of low dietary intake of antioxidants and increased asthma and allergy. High levels of antioxidants are found in the Mediterranean diet which is associated with a decrease in asthma and allergic disease suggesting high levels of antioxidants in the diet are beneficial. Antioxidant supplementation may be protective under certain conditions where vulnerable populations have a deficiency in dietary antioxidants and/or are exposed to environmental oxidants, as summarized in a study from the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Blog on May 2014.