Asthma diet: more fruit, less discomfort

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Asthmatics who consume plenty of fruit, vegetables and whole grain products usually have better control of their asthma symptoms.A lot of meat, sugar and salt, on the other hand, make the symptoms worse. In fact, eating a good quality diet could even lower the risk of someone developing asthma in the first place.

“So far there have been no clear dietary recommendations for asthmatics,” says Roland Andrianasolo from the Université Paris 13 Nord. To close this information gap, the scientist and his colleagues evaluated the data from around 35,000 French people.

Over a period of one year, participants recorded all types of asthma symptoms such as bouts of shortness of breath, coughing attacks, wheezing, and chest tightness.

Participants who had already been diagnosed with asthma also answered a questionnaire describing the occurrence of symptoms, the use of emergency bronchodilator medication, and restrictions on their activities due to the symptoms of asthma.

In addition, 24-hour nutritional records were regularly collected from all participants. On this basis, the scientists divided the test subjects into three groups with regard to their nutritional quality.

Every fourth person has asthma symptoms

A total of 28 percent of women and 25 percent of men observed at least one of the typical asthma symptoms in the study period of twelve months. For men who ate healthier, this probability was 28 percent lower. For the particularly healthy women, the risk was still 20 percent lower.

Good against asthma: fruits, vegetables, fiber

Participants who had been diagnosed with asthma before the start of the study also benefited from fruit, vegetables and fiber. For men, the risk of poorly controlled asthma was 60 percent lower. Poorly adjusted means that, for example, sudden severe breathlessness attacks can occur. For women who followed a healthy diet, the risk was still 20 percent lower.

"The results suggest that a healthy diet could both prevent the onset of asthma and improve existing asthma," the researchers write.

Antioxidants against free radicals

"Fruits, vegetables and fiber contain a lot of antioxidants," explains study leader Andrianasolo. Antioxidants are substances that scavenge aggressive oxygen molecules in the body called free radicals. The aggressive molecules arise during metabolic processes, but also through the influence of toxins or UV rays. Free radicals cause oxidative stress in the body and provoke inflammatory reactions. And these in turn prepare the ground for asthma and its symptoms.

“Conversely, a diet with a lot of meat, salt and sugar promotes inflammatory processes. That is why it can promote asthma, ”says the scientist. Further studies are still needed to clarify the exact relationship between diet and asthma. However, the study underlines the influence diet can play in asthma management and asthma prevention.

Which antioxidants are in which foods?

Antioxidants come in very different forms. They include vitamins, minerals, but also so-called secondary plant substances. Here are the most important ones in the overview:

Vitamin C: citrus fruits, broccoli, peppers, currants, sea buckthorn, kiwi,

Vitamin E: nuts, almonds, wheat germ oil, rye

Vitamin B2: milk, whole grain products, broccoli

Zinc: liver, sunflower seeds, wheat bran, hard cheese

Selenium: wheat bran, legumes, fish, cheese, liver

Carotenoids: tomatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, peppers, broccoli, peas, fennel, beans, apricots, melon

Flavonoids: apples, pears, tomatoes, berries, grapes, cherries, plums, onions, kale, chickpeas, eggplant, green tea

Phenolic acids: coffee, tea, whole grain products, nuts, grapes, berries, dark beer

Sulphides: garlic, onions, leeks, chives, wild garlic

Phytoestrogens: cereals, legumes, flax seeds

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