Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Of the 247 study participants, those who took cineole (a eucalyptus component) experienced a 55% improvement in ability to inhale; a 50% improvement in Quality of Life scores and a 42% increase in total air breathed (forced vital capacity).
Asthma is “a major public health problem of increasing concern in the United States”, affecting more than 20 million Americans, including 6.1 million children (1). Asthma is the third leading cause of hospitalization for those younger than 15 years of age, costing $3.2 billion and accounting for 14 million lost school days each year (2).
While research shows having adequate vitamin D in the blood as a way to help with lung health (3), another study (4) suggests that a cineole, a component of eucalyptus, may also benefit lung health for those with asthma. The study involved 247 subjects (99 men, 148 women) aged 18 to 65 who were diagnosed with asthma. They were given either 200 mg of cineole (126 subjects) or placebo (121 subjects) 3 times per day for 6 months and were instructed to maintain their asthma medication.
After 6 months, those in the cineole group experienced “significantly more improvements” in lung function compared to the placebo group. Specifically, they had:
- A 55% greater improvement in the ability to exhale (called “Forced Expiratory Volume, 0.31 versus 0.20 improvement, p = 0.0398)
- A 50% greater improvement in their quality of life using the Asthma Quality of Life questionnaire (5) (5.2 vs.2.6, p = 0.0475)
- A % lower rating of nocturnal asthma, indicating lower severity (6) (3.10 vs.5.22, p = 0.0325)
- 41.9% greater increase in total air breathed (“forced vital capacity”, 8.8% vs.6.2% increase, p = 0.022)
When suggesting the mechanisms by which cineole elicited these benefits to lung health, the researchers pointed to studies showing cineole to have very potent anti-inflammatory properties, with the dosage used in this study having the anti-inflammatory capacity equal to 2.8 milligrams prednisolone, a strong prescription anti-inflammatory (7).
For the researchers, “Concomitant therapy using cineole can lead to notable improvement in lung function and health.” And as there was no difference between the two groups regarding side effects, and cineole has a “relatively low treatment cost” (though the exact cost of administering cineole was not disclosed), the researchers further concluded that “Cineole may provide a useful treatment option for asthma, which may be viewed as complementing in the established guidelines for asthma therapy.”
Source: Worth, Heinrich, and Uwe Dethlefsen. “Patients with asthma benefit from concomitant therapy with cineole: a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.” Journal of Asthma 49.8 (2012): 849-853.
© 2009 Worth et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0),
Click here to read the full text study.
Posted November 2, 2015.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his website at www.PitchingDoc.com.
References:
- “Asthma” posted on the American Lung Association Website
- “Asthma’s Impact on Children and Adolescents” posted on the CDC website
- Confino-Cohen R. Vitamin D, asthma prevalence and asthma exacerbations: a large adult population-based study. Allergy 2014 Dec;69(12):1673-80. doi: 10.1111/all.12508. Epub 2014 Oct 3
- Worth H. Patients with asthma benefit from concomitant therapy with cineole: a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. J Asthma 2012 Oct;49(8):849-53. doi: 10.3109/02770903.2012.717657
- Juniper EF, Buist S, Cox FM, Ferrie PJ, King DR. Validation of a standardised version of the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ). Chest 1995; 115:1265–1270
- Miedinger D, Prashant NC, Stolz D, Leimenstoll B, Tamm M, Fiechter R, Marks GB, Leuppi JD. Reliability and validity of a German asthma quality of life questionnaire. Swiss Med Wkly 2006; 136:89–95
- Juergens UR, Dethlefsen U, Steinkamp A, Gillissen A, Repges R, Vetter H. Anti-inflammatory activity of 1.8-cineole (Eucalyptole) in bronchial asthmaL a double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Respir Med 2003; 97:250–256.
