Although doctors and nutritionists have been recommending dietary changes to improve heart health for years, less attention has been given to the link between nutrition and lung disease. But clinical trials are determining that what you eat may help you breathe better and even help prevent or treat lung diseases such as asthma or lung cancer.
Significance
During a normal day, you'll breathe nearly 25,000 times, inhaling more than 10,000 liters of air as your lungs exchange oxygen with the carbon dioxide from your blood, a process that keeps you alive and healthy. Unfortunately, diseases of the lung are very common and estimated to include several dozen to over a hundred, depending upon whether they're classified as individual diseases or groups of diseases with similar features. The American Lung Association estimates that 12.1 million Americans have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more people die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer.
Recommended Foods
The European Lung Foundation and the American College of Chest Physicians emphasize that it's important you consume the right nutrients to prevent damage and potentially protect your lungs from oxidative stress. They specifically recommend foods with antioxidants such as vitamin C, found in citrus fruits, broccoli and green pepper; vitamin E, contained in grains, vegetable oil and nuts; vitamin A, also known as beta-carotene, found in spinach and orange fruits and vegetables; and selenium, contained in grains and animal products. Other helpful nutrients include the magnesium in nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains, and omega-3 fatty acids in walnuts, flaxseed and salmon.
Foods to Avoid
Salt may increase the risk for asthma or increase symptoms if you have asthma. Excessive consumption of saturated fats, found in butter, lard and red meat, as well as omega-6 fatty acids, found in corn oil, sunflower oil and fried foods, may both have a role in the development of allergies and asthma. Food additives such as tartrazine, monosodium glutamate and sulphites may also contribute to lung problems, according to the European Lung Foundation.
Expert Insight
Research conducted at Kansas State University by Richard Baybutt found that laboratory animals fed a diet low in vitamin A foods developed emphysema. Research published in 2005 in the "European Journal of Clinical Nutrition" found that vitamin C and selenium can lower your risk of lung disease, but elevated levels of copper are associated with an increased risk. A 2007 study published in "Chest," the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, reported that teenagers who have low dietary intakes of fruit, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids are at greater risk of having asthma. The Department of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery in the Czech Republic linked consumption of black tea, wine and apples to a decreased risk for lung disease. Various other studies have associated a Mediterranean diet, filled with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish, with a decreased risk of emphysema and bronchitis.
Warning
You shouldn't ignore symptoms of lung disease and try to treat them through diet alone. The most common signs of lung disorders are cough, shortness of breath and wheezing. Less commonly, you may experience a blockage in the airways resulting in a gasping sound when breathing; coughing up blood; a bluish discoloration of your skin due to a lack of oxygen in the blood; chest pain; or finger clubbing, which is a condition where the tips of the fingers are broadened and the nails are shiny and abnormally curved.
