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 two 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.