Dietary Taboos For Asthma Patients: Stay Away From Allergenic, High-salt, And Cold And Irritating Foods

For asthma patients, dietary management is an important part of daily control of the condition.

While many sick people are taking medication according to regulations, they often tend to ignore the seemingly ordinary foods on the dinner table, and these foods may secretly cause or aggravate airway reactions.

In clinical practice, it is not uncommon for asthma attacks to occur due to improper diet, especially for those with allergies or airway hyperresponsiveness. They must be alert to the potential risks posed by food.

Understanding scientific dietary taboos can not only help reduce the frequency of attacks, but also improve the overall quality of life.

Be wary of “invisible” allergens

After the human body ingests specific proteins in such foods, the immune system may mistakenly judge them as threats and release many inflammatory mediators such as histamine, which will directly cause edema in the airway mucosa and cause spasm of bronchial smooth muscles.

Some patients are allergic to casein in milk, and some patients are allergic to ovalbumin in eggs. Even a small amount of intake may cause coughing, chest tightness, and even wheezing.

Because everyone's allergens are not the same, blindly following dietary restrictions may lead to malnutrition. Therefore, it is recommended to prepare a food record book to record in detail the types of food eaten every day, the cooking methods, and the subsequent reactions of the body.

If you experience skin itching, hives, or shortness of breath within a few minutes to two hours after eating a certain food, you must highly suspect that it is related to that food.

During the acute attack stage of asthma, regardless of whether there is a definite history of allergies in the past, it is necessary to strictly avoid those known and high-risk foods that can trigger allergies, so as to provide a smooth recovery environment for the airways.

Control intake of high-salt foods

Many people don't know, High salt diet It is closely related to the level of asthma control.

Once the human body consumes excessive amounts of sodium ions, the hyperresponsiveness of the airways increases, indicating that the airways are more susceptible to excessive contraction when exposed to minor stimuli such as cold air and pungent odors.

Research conducted in recent years has found that a high-salt environment may increase the secretion of Th2 cytokines in the body, and this cytokine is one of the key factors that promote the development of airway inflammation.

For those patients with asthma, it is a relatively ideal goal to control the specific amount of salt intake within 5 grams per day.

These 5 grams are not only the salt added when cooking, but also include the sodium content in soy sauce, the sodium content in oyster sauce, the sodium content in chicken essence, and the sodium content in many condiments.

In order to buy food, you can develop the habit of checking the nutritional label and give priority to products with a sodium content of less than 30% of the nutrient reference value.

When cooking, use more onions, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, and natural spices such as herbs to replace salt and soy sauce to enhance the flavor. This approach can not only satisfy the taste buds, but also reduce the burden on the airway.

Stay away from raw, cold and spicy foods

In addition to the ingredients of food, the temperature and properties of food can also irritate the airways.

In the digestive tract, when cold food such as ice-cold drinks, ice cream, and sashimi enters, it will trigger reflex contraction of the airways through nerve reflexes. Especially for patients who are sensitive to cold stimulation, just drinking a sip of ice water may induce a violent cough.

Spicy foods such as peppers, peppercorns, mustard, etc. will directly irritate the throat, and will also irritate the airway mucosa, which will cause blood vessels to dilate, increase secretions, and ultimately aggravate the mucosal congestion and edema.

In addition, alcoholic drinks can cause blood vessels to dilate and make the airway mucosa more swollen, and alcohol metabolites may interfere with the therapeutic effect of some antiasthmatic drugs.

To reduce these unnecessary stimuli, it is recommended to maintain the temperature of food within the range of 40 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius. This temperature range is close to the body temperature, mild and will not cause irritation.

In terms of the choice of cooking methods, steaming, boiling, stewing, and braising are often used to make the food soft and easy to digest.

You can try to avoid high-temperature cooking methods such as frying and barbecue. These methods will not only produce oily smoke and cause irritation, but also increase the harmful substances in the food.

The key to the daily diet of asthma patients is balance and regularity.

When avoiding the above-mentioned taboo foods, you need to ensure that you have adequate intake of high-quality protein. Fish is a good choice, skinless poultry is a good choice, and tofu is also a good choice.

Eating citrus fruits that are rich in vitamin C and eating dark green vegetables can help with antioxidants and reduce inflammation.

When cooking, the available oils include olive oil, camellia seed oil, etc. These oils are rich in unsaturated fatty acids. You should also pay attention to turning on the range hood when cooking to reduce the amount of oil smoke inhaled, thereby reducing the inhalation of oil smoke.

Form the habit of eating on time and in the right amount, and maintain a 70% full state with each meal to prevent overeating from interfering with the movement of the diaphragm and increasing the burden on breathing.

When in the period of attack, you can adjust to eating small amounts frequently and choose semi-liquid or liquid foods such as porridge and soup to reduce the body's energy consumption.

The most important thing is to record the correlation between diet and symptoms, regularly review lung function, and dynamically adjust the diet plan according to the doctor's guidance. Only in this way can diet become a powerful tool to assist in controlling asthma.