Vitamins Might Be Key To Asthma Control In Children, Adults

WEDNESDAY, July 1, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Vitamin A might help children who are struggling with asthma, a new study says.

Higher levels of vitamin A in the bloodstream are linked to better lung function in both kids and adults with asthma, researchers reported June 30 in the journal Thorax.

The study also looked into vitamin D, but found that the nutrient only benefits adults with asthma.

“This study demonstrates that higher plasma vitamin A is associated with better lung function in children and adults with asthma, while vitamin D shows similar benefits in adults, including slower biological aging,” wrote the research team led by senior investigator Michael McGeachie, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Vitamin A and D both play a role in lung development, primarily through influencing how genes affect the body, researchers said in background notes.

Vitamin A deficiency is more common in people with asthma, and is linked to overreactive airways, researchers said. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to poorer lung function, particularly in people with asthma.

Vitamin A is found in a wide variety of vegetables, including carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach, as well as in eggs, milk and fish. Vitamin D is typically produced by the body through sun exposure, but it also can be obtained through food or supplements.

To clarify the role of these vitamins in asthma, researchers analyzed data for 1,165 children and 1,041 adults participating in two separate studies.

Results showed that kids and adults with asthma had better lung function if they had higher vitamin A levels.

Adults with asthma also benefited from higher vitamin D levels, and showed signs of slower biological aging.

Further, the team linked vitamins A and D to 248 different genes involved with controlling inflammation and lung function.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to integrate vitamin A and D levels with lung function and epigenetic markers — microRNA expression and DNA methylation — in both children and adults with asthma,” the researchers wrote.

These results indicate that diet might be one means of helping control asthma, researchers said.

“Our findings emphasize that epigenetic mechanisms play a key role in mediating the effects of vitamins on lung function in individuals with asthma, pointing to potential targets for personalized nutrition and therapeutic strategies in asthma care,” the team concluded.

An accompanying editorial argued that “while these findings open a novel line of investigation linking vitamin D, biological aging and lung health, there is a need for further studies to clarify causality.”

“Overall, advancing our understanding of how nutritional exposures impact gene regulation may open new avenues for managing asthma across the lifespan,” concluded the editorial co-written by Geneviève Mailhot, a professor of nutrition at the University of Montreal in Canada.

More information

The Mayo Clinic has diet tips for people with asthma.

SOURCES: BMJ Group, news release, June 30, 2026; Thorax, June 30, 2026