Asthma: Can Diet Help?

Asthma is a chronic, potentially serious respiratory condition. An asthma attack, which can last for minutes or days, makes breathing difficult, and may cause wheezing and coughing, along with a sense of tightness in the chest due to the swelling of inflamed bronchial passages.

Some experts divide asthma into two broad groups: extrinsic and intrinsic. The vast majority of cases are extrinsic. This form of asthma tends to run in families along with other allergic conditions such as eczemadefine and hay fever, and appear first in childhood. Symptoms may be produced by a variety of triggers, such as anxiety, physical stress, infection, environmental pollution, pollen, dust mites and animal hair. Food allergies may also prompt attacks or make them worse, especially among children who have eczema.

Intrinsic asthma appears to begin in adult life; external factors do not cause it, but they can trigger attacks. However, many health professionals now believe that there is little difference between the two types, and that all asthma may in fact be extrinsic.

Potential Triggers

Because an allergy is a highly individual condition, it is not possible to give a definitive list of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. Those who suspect that foods are triggering their asthmatic attacks should keep a food diary and seek expert medical health.

Common foods that may trigger asthma in susceptible individuals, however, include;

• Cow’s milk
• Wheat and other cereals
• Yeast and foods containing mould, such as bread and blue cheeses.
• Nuts, especially peanuts
• Fish and eggs. These can produce the most immediate and dangerous reactions.
• Foods containing the additives benzoates (E210-19), sulphites (E220-8) or gallates (E310-12).
• Food colorings E102 (tartrazine, yellow), E104 (quinoline yellow) and E110 (sunset yellow) may also trigger asthma.

Helpful Foods

Foods containing the B vitamins, for example leafy green vegetables and pulses, may help asthmatics whose attacks are provoked by stress.

Antioxidantsdefine-

• which include vitamin A from foods such as liver;
• beta carotene from brightly coloured fruits and vegetables such as apricots, carrots, red and yellow peppers, and dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach;
• vitamin C from citrus fruits;
• vitamin E from soya beans and olive oil

These all help in strengthening the lungs’ defenses by mopping up free radicals. These potentially harmful substances are generated as part of an asthmatic’s inflammatory response to air pollution or allergens.

Magnesium, found in green vegetables, sunflower seeds and dried figs, may also help by relaxing the airways.