A recently conducted study indicates that an athlete runs lower risk of exercise-induced asthma when he sweats more. "The same mechanism that makes you sweat controls airway secretion," Dr. Warren Lockette, head of the clinical investigation explained at Naval Medical Center in San Diego. The report was published in Chest (September).

The study can be considered as a step forward of research findings ( published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology) that obese asthma patients, are likely to have 'worse control and quality of life' than non-obese asthma patients.

Lockette's team conducted the work,of examining many factors and parameters of 56 athletes suspected to suffer exercise-induced asthma. Lockette carried out analysis on the secretion rates of the subject’s sweat, saliva and tears. This included  measuring air movement in the lungs (forced expiratory volume or FEV), before and after administering methacholine that constricts airways in asthma patients.

"The same thing that controls how well you sweat controls how well you control airway secretion," Lockette said. He added, "If you are sweating through your skin, you have sweaty airways, meaning you are putting out a lot of fluid, which keeps airways from getting dry. The dryness triggers the asthma."

However,Dr. Warren Lockette pointed out that the new finding does not prove that  tendency towards sweating helps in abstaining active people from exercise-induced asthma.