recommendations, especially for people at
risk of developing respiratory diseases such
as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or
COPD.
For the study, the research team assessed diet
and lung function of more than 650 adults in
2002, and then repeated lung function tests on
the same group of participants 10 years later.
Participants from three European countries
- Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom
- completed questionnaires assessing their
diets and overall nutritional intake. They
also underwent spirometry, a procedure
that measures the capacity of lungs to take
in oxygen.
The test collects two standard measurements
of lung function: Forced Exhaled Volume in
one second (FEV1), which measures how much
air a person can expel from their lungs in
one second; and Forced Vital Capacity (FVC),
the total amount of air a person can inhale in
six seconds. The study controlled for factors
such as age, height, sex, body mass index (an
indicator of obesity), socio-economic status,
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
physical activity and total energy intake.
Among former smokers, the diet-lung-function
connection was even more striking. Ex-
smokers who ate a diet high in tomatoes and
fruits such as apples had around 80 ml slower
decline over the 10-year period. This suggests
that nutrients in their diets are helping to
repair damage done by smoking.
“Lung function starts to decline at around age
30 at variable speed depending on the general
and specific health of individuals,” explains
Garcia-Larsen “Our study suggests that
eating more fruits on a regular basis can help
attenuate the decline as people age, and might
even help repair damage caused by smoking.
Diet could become one way of combating
rising diagnosis of COPD around the world.”
“Dietary antioxidants and 10-year lung
function decline in adults from the ECRHS
survey” was written by Vanessa Garcia-Larsen,
James F. Potts, Ernst Omenaas, Joachim
Heinrich, Cecilie Svanes, Judith Garcia-
Aymerich, Peter G. Burney, and Deborah
L. Jarvis
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