Allergology International (Jan 1997)

A Pilot Study: Effects of Dietary Supplementation with α-Linolenic Acid-Enriched Perilla Seed Oil on Bronchial Asthma

  • Kozo Ashida,
  • Fumihiro Mitsunobu,
  • Takashi Mifune,
  • Yasuhiro Hosaki,
  • Satoshi Yokota,
  • Hirofumi Tsugeno,
  • Yoshiro Tanizaki

DOI
https://doi.org/10.2332/allergolint.46.181
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 46, no. 3
pp. 181 – 185

Abstract

Read online

N-3 fatty acids, such as fish oil, have been reported to have some beneficial effects in patients with bronchial asthma. The effects of dietary supplementation with perilla seed oil rich in a-linolenic acid (α-LNA), parent n-3 fatty acid, were studied in five patients with asthma. The symptoms of asthma and mean peak flow rates (PFR) both early in the morning and in the evening were improved 2 weeks after dietary supplementation and the increases in PFR were significant (P<0.05). The generation of leukotriene B4 (LTB4) by peripheral leukocytes stimulated with the Ca2+ ionophore A23187 was significantly suppressed from 77.6 to 41.6 ng/5Xl06 cells by dietary supplementation (P<0.05). The generation of leukotriene C4 (LTC4) by leukocytes was also significantly suppressed from 64.0 to 38.8 ng/5x106 cells after supplementation with perilla seed oil (P<0.05). These results suggest that dietary supplementation with perilla seed oil is beneficial for the treatment of asthma.

Keywords