A year or so ago I went to a seminar in which they talked about using butter to relieve asthma symptoms. I thought the information was kind of cool. We use butter and I've noticed that when my dd would eat some that her asthma seemed to go away.
But I've never tested it out.

So her asthma kicks up Friday and Saturday along with a stomach bug. I can not get her to eat anything much less butter. And I am giving her breathing treatments or using her inhaler about every 3 to 4 hours. Finally on Sunday morning I get her to eat a piece of toast with a teaspoon of butter on it. Do you know that I have not given her another breathing treatment since about an hour after her buttered toast?

So I decide to Google it. There is quite a bit of research about it. The lady at the seminar said a teaspoon of real butter a day would do the trick. And it can't be cooked. Like put the butter on the toast. Not put the butter on the bread and then bake it. Heat breaks the chains of the fatty acids that do the the work or something.

Just thought some of you folks with asthma in the family might find that useful.

By Trina~moderator on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 11:50 am:

I've never heard of this. Both my kids have asthma. We take and chart their peak flow readings daily, follow the Action Plans provided by our Asthma/Allergy specialist, and have been able to nip attacks in the bud.

By Hol on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 11:58 am:

WOW!! Both of my older kids had bad asthma as children. I wish I had known about this. I would have liked to have seen for myself how well it works. We got pretty desperate sometimes.

By Kaye on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 01:09 pm:

Hmmm I will be reading up on this a little. We do weekly peak flows, and are mostly off meds, but when he flares it can be really hard to turn him around.

By Imamommyx4 on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 03:50 pm:

Well, the best I can figure is that unless there is a dairy allergy present or some type of dairy intolerance, what can it hurt to try?

I Googled Asthma and butter and there were all kinds of studies. I wish I could find that seminar literature. I was telling the school nurse about the butter thing and she'd never heard of that before either. I had never heard of it before that seminar. And only half-heartedly bought into until Sunday. Now, I'm thinking maybe I should be giving her a little butter every day.

By Kym on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 08:55 pm:

I'm up for trying it, we cannot get a handle on our allergies this season, we had way more rain than normal and grass/molds/weeds are HIGH, and my and my 3 boys are suffering, we'll give it a go! And I'll post some results.

By Breann on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 10:03 pm:

Interesting. Is it "real" butter that you use? Not margarine or anything like that, right?

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 12:14 pm:

Interesting...we use Smart Balance. Would that work?

By Imamommyx4 on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 08:01 pm:

At the seminar she said real butter. Margarine and the other spreads are not appropriate. And the literature that I have googled have all said 'butter'. We use Land of Lakes salted butter. And the butter shouldn't be cooked. Just spread cold butter on toast or a bagel. DD will eat it right off the spoon. She loves it.

Don't give up your asthma meds too quick. I wouldn't let my albuterol nebs run out for any amount of butter. But it sure stopped her albuterol treatments cold on Sunday. I had given her a treatment about every 3 to 4 hours on Friday and Saturday and 1 during the night. I gave her 1 at about 8 am on Sunday and then she said she was hungry. I asked if she'd eat some toast and butter. And I haven't given her another treatment since. I have been trying to get a little butter in her every day.

By Imamommyx4 on Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 12:03 am:

I was reading through some of the studies. And one study actually says that margarine will make asthma symptoms worse. Apparently the fatty acids in real butter have a natural anti-inflammatory effect.

Anyway, I hope this piece of info helps somebody. That's my lecture series for the year.