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Overview
Asthma is a medical condition in which the airway is easily inflamed, swelling to greatly restrict the asthma sufferer's ability to breathe. The National Institutes of Health estimates that over 22 million Americans suffer from asthma, 6 million of those children. Asthma has many triggers but no cure. There are treatments in the form of prescribed medications that can ease the inflammation and restore breathing. However, these medications come with side effects, especially in children. Fortunately, there are certain foods that can help asthma, preventing or easing the symptoms of an attack.
Asthma-Friendly Foods
An asthma attack can come on quickly. When this happens, a rescue inhaler is used to regain the ability to breathe. Another way to calm an attack, if the sufferer can eat safely, is by ingesting specific foods, like caffeinated, spicy and other foods that reduce inflammation.
Spicy Foods
Spicy foods, including foods with a lot of chili peppers and jalapeno peppers, make it easier for people to breath by thinning the mucus and opening the airways. Spicy foods work because they activate the nerves by making the throat, lungs and mouth release watery fluids.
Good Caffeine
Foods that contain caffeine stimulate the respiratory system. Coffee is the best known caffeine treatment. Because caffeine affects the body instantly, it is wise to administer it to an asthmatic in the early stages of an attack. However, do so only if the person can ingest food without choking.
Anti-inflammatories
Anti-inflammatory foods work by controlling the inflammation of the airways. Other examples of these types of food are onions, foods with vitamin c and fatty fish. Fatty fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids. Foods like green leafy vegetables, may also help because they contain B vitamins, another known anti-inflammatory.
Whole wheat products have the added benefit of reducing inflammation, because most contain choline and betaine. These two chemicals also found in beets, egg yolks, soybeans and spinach among other things, work best to prevent an asthma attack. Choline and betaine are absorbed into the body through food, so their effects are not instant like caffeine and spicy foods. They should be a daily part of an asthmatic's diet.
Foods that Hurt
It is also known that certain allergic reactions to foods can cause asthma attacks. Asthma sufferers should get tested for food allergies to ensure that these allergies aren't triggering the attacks and also to determine if there are any allergies to any of the foods known to help attacks. Administration of such foods to an asthmatic in the throes of an attack can be fatal.
