Research appearing in the December issue of the journal Chest, indicates that a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can have anti-inflammatory effects and improve the exercise capacity for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

According to the brief, Japanese researchers followed 32 patients with COPD for 2 years using both an omega-3 acid rich diet and a control, observing that dyspnea scores and exercise capacity significantly improved and inflammatory mediators significantly decreased for patients in the treatment group.