Changes in respiratory function may be more significant in obese asthmatics, according to new research from the University of Otago in New Zealand that was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
After researchers triggered asthma-like episodes in their 30 female subjects, they found "increases in functional residual capacity and decreases in inspiratory capacity were significantly greater in obese participants," the study says.
This means that "obese individuals lose the ability to inhale as deeply or exhale as fully as normal weight individuals," lead author D. Robin Taylor, M.D. said in Health Day story on this study.
Though this study was small, it certainly gives asthmatics a reason to stay slim.
Jennifer Moore for SUGAR SHOCK! Blog