HHS HealthBeat (October 16, 2007)

Apples and asthma

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

An apple a day can’t keep asthma away. But research indicates that teenagers who eat apples and other good things have less risk of lung problems such as asthma.

Jane Burns at the Harvard School of Public Health found that in data on 12^th graders in 12 communities in the United States and Canada. Her study in the journal Chest was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Burns says kids with healthy eating habits, including foods with vitamins and cell-protecting antioxidants, had lungs that were in better shape.

``Definitely, we seem to see an effect from fruit and omega-3, which you can get from different vegetable oils and also from fish.’’  (10 seconds)

And fruit is good, smoking is bad. Burns also says teenagers who ate poorly and smoked tended to have even worse-off lungs.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May, 26 2008