A study conducted by National Jewish Health has found out that steroids (glucocorticoids), the chief controller drug for asthma, are 40 percent less effective in obese patients of asthma than in those of normal weight. Studies have concluded that obesity increases the risk and intensity of asthma. Steroids are meant to raise the level of a molecule known as MAP kinase phosphatase-1. But the blood cells of obese people respond less efficiently to dexamethasone.