How vegetables can help you breathe easy

TAKE a deep breath. Now imagine what it would feel like not to be able to breathe. Ireland’s fourth biggest killer, lung disease, claims the lives of 5,500 people every year — and it’s largely preventable. The three types of lung disease that kill most people are lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.

Lung cancer is the No.1 cancer killer. Most of the 1,800-plus lung cancer deaths every year are the direct result of smoking. But a healthy diet may help mitigate the DNA-damaging effects of tobacco smoke, as well as perhaps helping prevent lung cancer from spreading.

COPD kills 1,500 here annually, either from damage to the walls of tiny air sacs in the lungs (emphysema) or from inflamed and thickened airways plugged with thick mucus (chronic bronchitis).

Though there is no cure for the permanent lung scarring that COPD causes, a diet rich in fruit and vegetables may help slow the progression of the disease and improve lung function for sufferers.

Finally, asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases among children, yet it may be largely preventable with a healthier diet.

LUNG CANCER

LUNG cancer is diagnosed 2,270 times each year in Ireland. According to cancer specialists, smoking contributes to up to 86% of all lung cancer deaths.

Non-smokers have a 25% higher risk of developing lung cancer if they are exposed regularly to cigarette smoke.

If you’re a smoker, stop. Now. Please. The benefits of quitting are immediate and within a year your smoking-related risk of coronary heart disease becomes half that of current smokers. But simple dietary changes may help, too. Tobacco smoke contains chemicals that weaken the body’s immune system, making it more susceptible to disease and handicapping its ability to destroy cancer cells.

But the smoke can also damage cell DNA, increasing the chance of cancer cells forming and flourishing in the first place.

Researchers took a group of longtime smokers and asked some to eat a single stalk of broccoli a day.

Compared with the others, the broccoli-eating ones suffered 41% fewer DNA mutations in their bloodstream over ten days — and it seems the broccoli wasn’t just helping their livers work better, but making them more resilient at a subcellular level.

The benefits of cruciferous (broccoli family) veg may not end there. While breast cancer is the most common internal cancer among women, lung cancer is their No.1 killer, mostly because of how it spreads to other parts of the body.

Compounds in broccoli may have the potential to suppress this spread. In a 2010 study, scientists laid a layer of human lung cancer cells in a petri dish and cleared a swathe down the middle.

Within 24 hours the cells had crept back together and within 30 hours, the gap had closed fully.

But when the scientists dripped cruciferous vegetable compounds on the cells, cancer creep was stunted.

FEAR OF FRYING

ABOUT a quarter of lung cancer cases occur in people who have never smoked. One cause may be another potential carcinogen: fumes from frying.

When any fat is heated to frying temperatures, toxic volatile chemicals that can cause genetic mutations are released into the air.

But a study of women in China found that smokers who stir-fried meat every day had nearly three times the odds of lung cancer compared with smokers who stirfried non-meat foods.

This is thought to be due to a group of carcinogens that are formed when muscle tissue is subjected to high temperatures.

What about that enticing aroma of sizzling bacon?

The fumes produced by frying bacon contain carcinogens called nitrosamines. Though all meat may release potentially carcinogenic fumes, processed meat such as bacon may be the worst.

A study found bacon fumes cause four times more DNA mutations than the fumes from beef burgers fried at similar temperatures. If you must fry, use a barbecue. Studies

show that the number of particles deposited into the lungs increases tenfold when frying indoors as opposed to outdoors.

OFF YOUR CHEST

CHRONIC obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema, makes it difficult to breathe and gets worse over time.

In addition to shortness of breath, COPD can cause severe coughing, excess mucus production, wheezing and chest tightness.

Smoking is the leading cause of COPD and there is no cure, but a healthy diet may help to prevent it or stop it getting worse.

Data going back 50 years show that a high intake of fruit and vegetables aids good lung function. Just one extra serving of fruit each day may mean a 24% lower risk of dying from COPD.

On the other hand, a twin pair of studies from Columbia and Harvard Universities found that consumption of cured meat such as bacon, ham, sausage and salami may increase the risk of COPD.

This is thought to be due to the nitrite preservatives in meat.

In 2010, more than 100 COPD patients were split into two groups — half were told to boost their fruit and veg consumption, while the others remained on their normal diet. Over the next three years, the second group became progressively worse, as expected.

In contrast, disease progression was halted in the group consuming more fruit and veggies. Their lung function even improved a little.

The researchers suggested this could be due to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of the fruit and veg, along with a reduced consumption of meat, which is thought to act as a pro-oxidant.

TACKLE ASTHMA

ASTHMA usually emerges during childhood — and a study of more than one million children in nearly 100 countries recently demonstrated asthma rates vary dramatically around the world.

Adolescents living in areas where more starchy foods, grains, vegetables and nuts were eaten were much less likely to exhibit chronic symptoms. Those eating two or more servings of vegetables a day appeared to be only half as likely to suffer from allergic asthma.

A study of more than 100,000 adults in India found that those who consumed meat daily, or even occasionally, were more likely to suffer from asthma than those who excluded meat and eggs from their diets altogether.

Researchers tried removing fruits and vegetables from asthma patients’ diets to see what would happen. Within two weeks, their symptoms worsened.

When, in contrast, they increased fruit and vegetable consumption to seven servings a day, the subjects’ exacerbation rate halved.

If it’s the antioxidants, why not just take a supplement? After all, popping a pill is easier than eating an apple. The reason is simple: it doesn’t seem to work.

Researchers in Sweden decided to test out a plant-based diet on a group of 35 severe asthmatics who weren’t getting better despite the best medical therapies.

Of the 24 patients who stuck with the plant-based diet, 70% improved considerably after four months and 90% improved within a year. So there’s no doubt — it’s definitely worth giving a plant-based diet a try.