Intake of fruits and vegetables decreases risk of lung disease, says study
Posted on: 27/Feb/2017 5:48:06 PM
A study published in the journal Thorax says that high daily intake of fruits such as apples and pears as well as green leafy vegetables may lower the risk of developing chronic lung disease in smokers. The study was conducted by researchers at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
The respiratory health of more than 44,000 men aged between 45 and 79 for 13 years up to the end of the year 2012 was tracked by the researchers. Sample was taken from men who had been born between 1918 and 1952 in Sweden, asking them about how often they consumed 96 different food items in 1997, at the start of the study. The participants were asked how many cigarettes they smoked daily, on average, between the ages of 15-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, and 51-60. They were also quizzed about other important factors, such as educational attainment, weight, height, physical activity and inactivity levels and how much, and how often, they consumed alcohol.
Say the researchers, Nearly 63 per cent had smoked at some point, around 24 per cent were current smokers and nearly 38 per cent had never smoked. Those eating five or more daily servings were 35 per cent less likely to develop lung disease than those eating two or fewer daily servings. Each additional daily serving was associated with a four to eight per cent lower risk. As oxidative tissue stress and inflammation may be involved in COPD development, and smoking is a potent trigger of these processes, the antioxidants abundant in fruit and vegetables may curb their impact.
