The lungs are an important organ of our human body. Many people underestimate the importance of keeping their lungs healthy and usually regret their carelessness.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the need to protect your lungs has become an important matter to pay attention to. There are many ways to protect and improve your lungs’ healthiness: through exercises and many types of functional food. People often forget that regular food can also help improve your lungs’ function and health as well. Today, Illume will introduce to you some foods that help improve your lung function.
Beets and Beet greens
Nitrates are chemical that supports blood vessel relaxation, blood pressure reduction, and oxygen uptake optimization. Beets and beet greens are full of this chemical. Beetroots have supplements that can improve lung function for people who suffer from lung conditions for example: COPD, a lung disease that causes lungs to have high blood pressure. Furthermore, beet greens are full of magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, and carotenoid antioxidants- nutrients that are beneficial for your lung healthiness.
Pepper
Vitamin C is a nutrient that serves as an effective antioxidant for your body and is considered important for people who smoke. Many people may be surprised that peppers are one of the natural sources of vitamin C. Many studies pointed out that smokers who have a high intake of vitamin C have better lung function than smokers who don’t or have low vitamin C intake. One medium-sized sweet red pepper gives your lungs 119-gram of vitamin C which is 169% more than the recommended vitamin C intake.
Apples
Lung promotion can be improved by eating apples on a daily basis. Many researches proved that apple consumption is related to slower lung function decline for people who used to smoke. Furthermore, if you consume more than five apples weekly, your lung function will be improved and the risk of your lungs developing COPD will be greatly decreased. The high concentration of antioxidants in apples also lowers the risk of asthma and lung cancer.
Turmeric
Tumeric is considered as a way to promote overall health thanks to its potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Tumeric also contains curcumin, a component that is particularly helpful in lung function support. Smokers who had a high curcumin intake also have greater lung function than those whose curcumin intake is lower.
Tomato and tomato-related products
Lycopene, a type of carotenoid antioxidant that many people associate with when referring to lung health improvement. Tomato and tomato-related products are among the sources of lycopene. People who suffer from asthma can reduce airway inflammation by consuming tomato products, COPD patient can improve their lung function by consuming tomato products. Ex-smokers also experience a slower decline in lung function thanks to the intake of tomato and tomato-related products.
Green tea
Green tea, a simple and common beverage yet it provide impressive effects on your health. Green tea is filled with Epigallocatechin gallate also known as EGCG, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that help prevent fibrosis and tissue scarring. Pulmonary fibrosis is a disease that causes lung function decline which can be treated using EGCG. Patients with pulmonary fibrosis have reduced markers of fibrosis after 2 weeks of being treated with EGCG.