Healthy diet linked with better lung function in COPD patients

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/ats-hdl051214.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 21-May-2014
Contact: Nathaniel Dunford
Healthy diet linked with better lung function in COPD patients

ATS 2014, SAN DIEGO – Sure, everyone knows a healthy diet provides lots of health benefits for patients with respiratory diseases, but now a new study has shown a direct link between eating fish, fruit and dairy products and improved lung function among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Conducted by researchers in the U.S. and Europe, the study specifically looked at COPD patients' lung function within 24 hours of eating grapefruit, bananas, fish and cheese.

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What they found was that people who reported recently consuming fish, grapefruit, bananas or cheese had showed improvement in lung function, less emphysema, improved six-minute walk scores, improved SGRQ scores, and a decrease in certain inflammatory markers associated with poor lung function including white blood cells and C-reactive protein.

"This study demonstrates the nearly immediate effects a healthy diet can have on lung function in in a large and well-characterized population of COPD patients," Hanson said. "It also demonstrates the potential need for dietary and nutritional counseling in patients who have COPD."

Based on these results and the results of other studies indicating a link between COPD and diet, the role of diet as a possible modifiable risk factor in COPD warrants continued investigation, she added.