Giving just 0.2 g of vitamin C every day to an asthmatic child increases lung capacity by 37 per cent, researchers from Tanta University in Egypt have found. The effect was greater in younger children-usually those between seven and eight years old; lung capacity improved by just 21 per cent in children aged up to 10 years, they found.
The vitamin also works better in children whose asthma is mild. It had the smallest effect on older children whose asthma was severe (Clinical and Translational Allergy, 2011; 1: 9; doi:10.1186/2045-7022-1-9).
WDDTY 22 no 7, October 2011
