It has been noted by doctors for many years that overweight and obese children and adults have a greater chance of suffering from asthma but the actualy reason for this phenomenon was never known. Recently however a group of Australian researchers have finally come across evidence that can really show how and why these obese people actually are more likely to experience the shortness of breath that is characterised by asthma.

All over the world both asthma and obesity are on the increase and have been rising for the last twenty years and scientists have been observing that obese or overweight children or adults have a 3 times greater chance of also being asthma suffers.

The evidence uncovered by researchers at the Garvan Institute located in Sydney have shown that the reason may be something to do with a protein that has been seen to be active with both obesity and with asthma. Just over 10 years ago a specific fatty acid-binding protein called aP2 was shown to be binding fat tissue in suffers of both obesity and diabetes and now it seems that this same aP2 protein is also evident in the lungs. The aP2 protein was noted to be the cause of the inflammation of the lung and thus the cause of the asthma.

The researchers had previously thought that the aP2 protein was something that was to be noted solely in fat tissue to that the discovery that it was in the lungs was surprising and also unexpected. The discovery that it can exist in the lungs is important and relevant because it shows the connection between obesity and asthma that was unknown before.

The connection as to why exactly the aP2 protein appears in the lungs in obese people is not actually known but it is thought that the likelihood is that the fat level in the body could be the reason for the aP2 in the lungs. The research could be very relevant in discovering a treatment for the that would be a cure for asthma in obese people and for normal weight people too and the scientists are already researching the possibilities of commercial funding and sponsorship for more work on the aP2 protein.