Can eating a plant-based diet alleviate or prevent asthma?
08 April, 2020
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition that influences the airways and may cause wheezing and difficulty breathing.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 7.7% of folks in america had asthma in 2018, and 3,441 persons died consequently of the problem.
Among the recognized triggers of asthmatic symptoms is contact with an allergen or irritant, such as pollen or tobacco smoke, vigorous exercise, and emotional stress.
Doctors believe obesity is a risk factor for the condition. A systematic overview of evidence in Annals of the American Thoracic Society in 2019 discovered that persons with obesity and asthma can improve their asthma-related symptoms by losing weight.
Plant-based foods
However, a new review of asthma and diet now appearing in Nutrition Reviews goes further.
The authors conclude a plant-based diet can decrease the risk of developing the condition and improve symptom control, while milk products increase risk and exacerbate symptoms.
One of the authors, Dr. Hana Kahleova of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, says:
“This groundbreaking research implies that filling our plates with plant-based foods - and avoiding milk products and other high fat foods - can be a powerful tool for stopping and managing asthma.”
The authors have reviewed a variety of studies that have viewed associations between asthma and the intake of fruit and veggies, dairy, eggs, and saturated fat.
A report from 1985, for instance, put 35 patients with asthma on a vegan diet for 1 year.
The authors of the study reported significant improvements in vital capacity - a measure of the maximum volume of air an individual can exhale from their lungs - and other clinical measures. However, there is no control group for comparison.
This absence of a control means the study did not account for the placebo effect or the opportunity that some people’s symptoms would have improved anyway without the change in diet.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
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