No abstract

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world by which more than 300 million people are affected. In conventional medicine for asthma treatment, more emphasis is on drug therapy, which has complications and contraindications as well as high costs, so we are investigating to identify the effect of camel's milk on the symptoms of patients with asthma. Objective: To examine the effects of camel milk in comparison with standard medicinal therapy on asthma patients. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 46 patients with asthma. The study was conducted in Ghaem Hospital lung clinic in Mashhad, Iran, from May 2016 to November 2017. The participants were randomly divided into control and intervention groups (n, 23 per group) and were assessed both pretreatment and post treatment (before, and three months after treatment). Patients with asthma based on clinical and spirometric criteria were included in the study and divided into two groups of control and intervention. Twenty-three patients with asthma were entered into each group. The control group received routine treatments (steroid and β-agonist inhalation) and the intervention group, which received the usual treatments, plus pasteurized camel milk. Camel milk was administered two times a day (8 am and 8 pm 250 ml without additives). Data were collected using a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) questionnaire score and spirometry. The results were analyzed and compared in SPSS version 11.5, using paired t-test, Chi-Square test, and independent sample t-test. The significance level was set at 0.05.