Asthma and diet link

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Eating a poor-quality diet high in fat, refined sugar and processed foods can worsen asthma symptoms, a study has shown.

Man eating hamburger

University of Newcastle nutritional biochemist Associate Professor Lisa Wood and her colleagues made the finding after studying the diets of 99 people with asthma and 61 healthy people.

The researchers scored the study participants' diets based on their potential to either cause inflammation, linked to overactivity in the immune system, or protect against it.

Inflammatory foods include those high in saturated fat and refined sugar, while anti-inflammatory foods include fruit and vegetables and those high in soluble fibre such as oat bran and lentils.

A/Prof Wood presented at the annual meeting of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) this week.

Contact

  • Sheena Martin
  • Phone: +61 2 4921 5577

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