Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: asthma and + asthma + food  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/5/2008)

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Food and asthma

  As a member of a family that's plagued by asthma (my mum, brother, sister and nephews all suffer from it), I always welcome new studies and theories about how the incidence and impact of this debilitating disease can be reduced.

And our family's not alone: one in seven children in the UK is now afflicted by asthma, while the number of children under five who have developed asthma and wheezing has nearly doubled over the past decade or so.

Hereditary and allergic tendencies apart, with such statistics making it clear that modern life is exacerbating breathing problems, maybe it's time to take a closer look at the influence that food and diet has on asthma.

The worrying rise in the number of children whose lives are being blighted by asthma has prompted researchers to focus on the relationship between nutrition and asthma in children in particular.

Professor Anthony Seaton, of the University of Aberdeen, recently ascertained that children whose diet was lacking in vegetables, fibre, milk, vitamin E and essential minerals had an increased risk of developing a breathing-related illness, a finding that other scientists generally support, although further research is called for.

As for me, both my common sense and clinical experience tell me that building more fruit and vegetables into a balanced diet will boost the immune systems of all children, asthmatic or not, helping them to ward off colds and other respiratory illnesses.

Broadening the picture to include adult, as well as young, asthmatics, steroids can wreak nutritional havoc on the body because they leech calcium from the bones, the concern being that a deficiency of this mineral can result in brittle bones and ultimately osteoporosis.

Anyone who has to take steroids should therefore try to redress this depletion by eating plenty of calcium-rich foods every day and should also give certain foods and habits, such as smoking - as unbelievable as it may sound, some asthmatics do smoke - a wide berth. Being as active as possible (subject to your doctor1s advice) will strengthen your bones, too.

The richest nutritional source of calcium comes in the form of dairy products, including skimmed, sheep and goats' milk products, while the cheese-making process raises the calcium content even higher.

Asthma-sufferers should aim to consume a little more than the recommended calcium intake for non-asthmatic people (800mg), which, translated into practical measures, equates to either 500ml (just under a pint) of milk, a couple of small pots of yoghurt or 75g of cheese a day for children, and 850ml of milk, 500g (a large pot) of yoghurt or 125g of cheese for adults.

This may sound a lot, but won't seem so daunting if you think in terms of having cereal with yoghurt or milk for breakfast, a yoghurt after lunch and an evening meal that includes cheese or a milkshake or yoghurt.

If you're averse to dairy products, alternative calcium sources are green, leafy vegetables, such as curly kale, spinach, watercress and broccoli (which children notoriously hate, so disguise them by puréeing them). Other calcium-providers include okra, tofu, dried figs and apricots, tinned fish with soft, edible bones (think sardines, pilchards, salmon and mackerel), sesame seeds, almonds and white bread.

Because non-dairy calcium-containing foods contain substances that confine some of the calcium to the gut, if you're on steroids, it's important to seek a dietician's specialist advice on how to ensure that your non-dairy calcium intake is sufficiently high to counteract the steroids' negative effects. It may be that taking a supplement is the only answer.

If it is to build and maintain strong bones, calcium needs vitamin D to help it in its work, a vitamin that the body manufactures mainly as a response to sunlight, which is why children should be encouraged to spend plenty of time outside (but remember to protect their vulnerable skins with sunscreen during the summer months).

And because adult skins are less efficient metabolisers of vitamin D, the deficit should be made up by eating lots of vitamin D-packed foods, such as oily fish and eggs.

Finally, because caffeine interferes with the body1s ability to absorb calcium, I'd advise you to keep your consumption of tea, coffee, chocolate and colas to a minimum.

Having a lunch of cheese on toast washed down with a chocolate milkshake, for example, or a breakfast of yoghurt mixed with blackberries followed by a cup of coffee, nullifies the calcium-bestowing qualities of the dairy produce because the caffeine within the chocolate and coffee confines the calcium to the gut. The upshot is that asthmatics should only drink cola, coffee or tea between meals.

Returning to our nation's children, the sooner they all start enjoying a well-balanced diet that includes fresh vegetables and dairy products, the rosier the future will look for both their bones and lungs.

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Recipe: BAKED APPLES STUFFED WITH PINE KERNALS

Serves 6

6 large baking apples, such as Bramleys
4 tablespoons pine kernels
3 tablespoons walnut pieces
4 tablespoons figs chopped
75 g/3 oz sultanas
2 tablespoons runny honey
475 ml/16 fl oz apple juice

Preheat the oven to 180°/350°/gas mark 4. Core the apples with an apple-corer and remove the pips. Taking each apple in turn, cut a line around it circumference about two-thirds of the way up, just deep enough to cut through the skin, to stop the apple from bursting during cooking. Arrange the apples in a ceramic baking dish.

Blend the pine kernels, walnut pieces, figs(saving a few chopped whole pieces for decoration), sultanas and honey in a food processor until the mixture is smooth. Using a teaspoon, pack this mixture into each of the apple cavities, allowing a little to pop out of the top. Arrange the remaining figs pieces on top of each apple.

Pour the apple juice over the apples, cover the dish and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for a further 20 minutes, or until the apples are fluffy.

Jane Clarke(BSc SRD), sees patients at her Nutritional Consultancy; 29 Frith Street, London, W1V 5TL, Tel 020 7437 3767.