There is no cure yet for asthma. However, inhaled medications can control the disease, unlike home remedies that offer symptomatic relief at best.

By Tej Kumar

A Telugu video posted on YouTube claims that if you drink onion juice with honey every day for a month, you can get rid of asthma. The video has more than a hundred thousand views, but there’s no scientific evidence to support the claim.

Asthma affected an estimated 262 million people in 2019 and caused 461000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A chronic lung condition that causes occasional breathing difficulties, most asthma-related deaths occur in low- and lower-middle income countries, where under-diagnosis and under-treatment are the challenge.

While there’s no cure yet for asthma, inhaled medications can control the disease and allow people with asthma to lead a normal, active life. Often, avoiding asthma triggers (they vary from person to person) can help reduce the symptoms. Some home remedies, like drinking onion and honey juice, can at best offer symptomatic relief from the cough, wheezing and shortness of breath.

Dr Nikhil Modi, consultant – respiratory and critical care medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, cautions against blindly believing in home remedies propagated on social media. “There is no scientific evidence to prove that such mixtures work against asthma. These may give symptomatic relief from cold and cough, but they can’t cure asthma. In fact, such false claims can lead to preventable deaths, in cases where patients don’t seek timely care,” he says.