Eating healthy helps you breathe better: fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fish would be ideal to prevent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Supports a recent study published in the British Medical Journal, for which have been sifted the eating habits of more than 120 000 men and women followed for more than a decade: the researchers collected questionnaires every two years on the diet of the participants, then have examined whether there was a correlation between food choices and the development of COPD.
All credit to the antioxidants contained in vegetables
The verdict seems positive: while taking into account other factors that influence the likelihood of being left with the "shortness of breath" (such as body weight, age and smoking habits), a healthy diet would reduce by one third the risk getting sick. According to the authors would be about, at least in part, of the antioxidants contained in the plant. "The lung is a very rich in oxygen and therefore is in state pro-oxidants - the authors write -. Antioxidants which abound fruits and vegetables outweigh the situation, the more contrasting the negative effect of some toxic substances (one above all: cigarette smoking, the main accused for COPD, ed) and could therefore hinder the loss of lung function over time. "
If the base there was the level of general inflammation then the diet would count even more
The conditional is necessary because it is the first time you refer a relationship between nutrition and prevention of COPD, explains Lorenzo Corbetta, professor of pulmonary medicine at the University of Florence: "It is interesting results, but to be confirmed. That said, there is a theory that chronic lung disease is nothing more than the manifestation of "localized" to the lung of a generalized inflammatory disease: Patients with COPD often also suffer from heart failure, hypertension or other diseases that do not depend on the respiratory problem and that would be so different faces of the same coin, and the foundation of all there would be the high level of inflammation. In such a context the lifestyle matters a lot: smoking or an unhealthy diet can worsen inflammation, contributing to the onset of respiratory diseases and not just. "
Therefore it is likely that they are right when American researchers recommend limiting the consumption of foods such as sugary drinks, refined grains, red meat and sausages to prevent lung disease, basically inviting to follow the Mediterranean diet.
Those who already suffer from COPD instead should not fall too much weight
Unlike the case of patients who already suffer from COPD. "The disease is more severe in people who are underweight - explains Corbetta -. In these subjects, it is advisable to associate therapies a good exercise program and a high-calorie diet, especially rich in protein: serve to strengthen the respiratory muscles and the proteins do not have to come from meat, those are fine soy or legumes”. Even the American Lung Association has recently developed a "food plan" for those suffering from respiratory diseases: in addition to focus on proteins, to be taken twice a day, so the mono and polyunsaturated fats of olive oil and fruit dried (their metabolism produces less carbon dioxide than that of carbohydrates and facilitates breathing); to limit simple sugars instead of sweets and foods that cause bloating and intestinal gas, because they can make breathing more difficult. Better to do 4:00 to 6:00 small meals a day, to leave the diaphragm more free to move and allow the lungs to fill better; Finally, it may be appropriate to drink between meals to not feel too full and so able to eat enough.