Dietary supplementation with soybean lecithin increases pulmonary PAF bioactivity in asthmatic rats.

The prevalence of asthma has risen over the last few decades, and some studies correlate this with the greater consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Dietary PUFAs are known to increase the susceptibility of biological structures to lipid peroxidation, a process by which platelet-activating factor (PAF)-like lipids can be generated. These lipids functionally mimic the bioactivity of PAF, a potent proinflammatory mediator that exerts several deleterious effects on asthma.