Evaluation of the influence of folic acid on the asthmatic on feeding

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of folic acid food sources on asthma’s symptoms. 59-participants were interviewed, over 18 years old, from the southern Brazil. An adapted questionnaire consisting of a nutritional anamnesis, with added questions of asthma symptoms history, the stage of life in which the disease developed, and the modified Borg Scale was applied. The data analysis was performed with Statistica program, GraphPad Prism 7.0, Avanutri and Microsoft Excel 2010 program. Of the 59 interviewed, the majority was adults (83%), women (72%) and lived in Paraná (47%). In terms of breathing status, 22% of the respondents reported having adequate breathing, 22% mild dyspnea, 45.7% moderate dyspnea and only 10.3% severe dyspnea, besides 33% of individuals were diagnosed with asthma in adulthood. About the Borg modified scale, 84% had frequent disease symptoms, 55.9% had sporadic crises, 62.7% were using bronchodilators, 74.5% had nocturnal symptoms and 61% felt negative interference in daily activities. Regarding the daily consumption of folic acid, none of the participants reached the daily consumption recommendations. Furthermore, it was not found a correlation between the consumption of folic acid and the asthma symptoms. From the results of this study, it’s not possible to affirm whether folic acid have some influence on the pathology of asthma, since a larger number of participants would be needed to found more conclusive answers.