The two researchers of the study are Dr. Lisa Wood (lecturer in biomedical sciences and pharmacy, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, New Lambton, Australia) and Dr. Thomas M. Leath (assistant professor of pediatrics, department of allergy and immunology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station, Texas, and division director, allergy and immunology, Scott & White Healthcare, Round Rock, Texas).

Dr. Wood presented the results of the study on Sunday, May 16, 2010, at the American Thoracic Society International Conference (ATS 2010 International Conference), which was held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Wood stated in the May 16, 2010 Bloomberg/Business Week article High-Fat Meal May Trigger Asthma that: "This is the first study to look at the effects of a high-fat challenge on airway inflammation.'

And, 'Our preliminary results demonstrate that at four hours after the consumption of the food challenges, subjects who consumed the high-fat meal had an increase in airway inflammation. They also had an impaired response to [asthma medication]."

The researchers studied 46 adults with asthma. Thirty of them were not obese, and sixteen of them were obese.

The non-obese participants were randomly given either a high-fat meal or a low-fat meal. The obese participants were each given a high-fat meal.

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The high-fat meal consisted of hamburgers and hash browns from a fast-food joint. The Bloomberg/Business Week article reports that the high-fat meal consisted of about 1,000 calories and 60 grams of fat.

One gram of fat contains nine calories (statistics). So, the meal had 540 calories consisting of fat, just over 50% of the meal was fat.

According to the American Heart Association, as reported by the article, an average meal should contain no more than 25% to 35% of its calories from fat. So, this meal is classified as a high-fat meal.

On the other hand, the low-fat meal contained low-fat yogurt, which had 200 calories and had 13% fat.

The scientists found that the high-fat meal increased inflammation of the airways and reduced the function of the lungs.

Dr. Wood adds, "If these results can be confirmed by further research, this suggests that strategies aimed at reducing dietary fat intake may be useful in managing asthma.' [Bloomberg/Business Week]

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The Bloomberg/Business Week article states, 'The researchers found that markers of airway inflammation increased significantly among those who ate the high-fat meal.'

And, 'They also found that lung function was affected as well. And people who were given the high-fat meal who then used their asthma inhaler medication saw just a 1 percent improvement in their lung function. Those on the low-fat meal saw a 4.5 percent increase in their lung function after using their medication.'

In addition, 'Wood said the researchers don't know exactly why the body seems to respond to a high-fat meal this way, but said the immune system might be recognizing saturated fat as an invading pathogen, which prompts inflammation.'

Please read the Bloomberg/Business Week article in more detail to learn more about this research in fat and its effect on the lungs.