If you're wondering how to cure asthma, and your carrying extra fat around your waist, a new study appearing as an online report in the journal Thorax finds that both of the conditions may be linked.
Obesity is a known risk factor for asthma, especially in women, but to this point no one had looked at the effect of weight at the waistline and asthma.
Based on data out of the California Teachers Study that included over 88,000 women, the team saw the same association between obesity and increased incidence of asthma that's been found in earlier studies.
The surprise came in the association between increased incidence of asthma and a larger waist circumference - greater than 88 centimeters in the subjects, even if they were of normal weight.
Women with a waistline of 35 inches or higher, even if their BMI was below 25 (the start of the overweight category) were a third more likely to have asthma.
This suggests that fat in this area may contribute to asthma independently of how much overall weight you're carrying.
Researchers can't explain why this association exists, but there is no shortage of theories.
Extra fat in the belly area may be involved in restricting and inflaming airways.
Visceral fat is also known to release inflammatory molecules on a regular basis.
It may be that fat in this area gives the lungs less room, pushing up on the diaphragm.
There was a study earlier this year that found that those with larger waistlines had poorer lung function than those with smaller waistlines.
Fat in the belly area, known medically as visceral fat, has been found to be more biologically active and linked to heart disease and diabetes, as well as high blood pressure, sleep apnea, some cancers and degenerative diseases like arthritis and spondylosis.
The unexpected finding came as an offshoot to a study that was looking at factors that might be tied to breast cancer in women.
The subjects were female teachers from California who completed a one-time survey.
As part of this work, a detailed collection of data exists on the subjects, things such as waistline measurements, body weight at age 18 and asthma risk factors like smoking.
Since subjects weren't followed over time, the link between bigger waistlines and asthma can't yet be assumed as fact.
Asthma is a chronic inflammation of the bronchial tubes that causes swelling as well as narrowing of these airways, and can leave almost 15 million Americans, 5.
4 million in the UK and another 1 million Canadians gasping for breath.
If bronchial tubes are continually inflamed, they can become overly sensitive to allergens or irritants in the environment.
Doctors know each person with asthma reacts differently to triggers, and will respond differently to medications.
The findings of such a large study offer a worrisome warning about abdominal fat, the fat between the internal organs and torso.
Not only does it look unsightly, but fat in this area now appears to be some of the most troublesome weight you can carry.
Visceral fat is known to release inflammatory molecules on a regular basis.
This type of fat has already been shown to increase your risk of conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, some cancers and degenerative diseases like arthritis and spondylosis.
Of course visceral fat is harder to get rid of than the subcutaneous fat (the fat just under the skin) and the intramuscular fat (found in skeletal muscles).
And while there's no quick fix to being rid what you've got, it can be done.
So, the answer to both how to cure asthma, and how to reduce waistline seem to be the same according to this study.
A diet rich in unprocessed, natural foods, with appropriate calorie intake, as well as an exercise program will do the trick.