Fat accumulates in the lungs of overweight, obese people: Study

Washington: A recent study found that fat accumulates in the airway walls within the lungs causing wheezing and asthma in overweight or obese people.
Scientists already know that people who are overweight or obese are more likely to suffer from wheezing and asthma, but the reasons for this have not been completely explained.
The new study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, suggests that this fatty tissue alters the structure of people’s airways and it could be one reason behind the increased risk of asthma.
“Our research team studies the structure of the airways within our lungs and how these are altered in people with respiratory disease,” said the study’s author John Elliot, a senior research officer at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth, Western Australia.
“Looking at samples of lung, we spotted fatty tissue that had built up in the airway walls. We wanted to see if this accumulation was correlated with body weight,” added Elliot.
The researchers examined post-mortem samples of the lung that had been donated for research and stored in the Airway Tissue Biobank. They studied samples from 52 people, including 15 who had no reported asthma, 21 who had asthma but died of other causes and 16 who died of asthma.