Burgers Bring Bad Breathing

I may be suffering with a broken foot this summer, but I’m been enduring asthma since I was 10 years old. A recent study found maybe, those burgers I loved as a kid that gave me the ailment. An article posted last week on HealthDay News discussed a new study from Ulm University in Germany that found children who ate three or more hamburgers a week were more likely to have asthma and wheeze. In contrast, eating a Mediterranean diet of fruit, vegetables and fish reduced the chances of difficult breathing.

I know it’s shocking—eating better helps health, even lung health—but I don’t like that the bad choices of my youth are affecting the way I breathe today. Sigh, I should have listened to my mother who told me to eat more veggies.

The HealthDay News article quoted lead researcher Dr. Gabriele Nagel who said following the Mediterranean diet may provide “partial protection” against asthma. (As a side note, he called soda, “fizzy drinks;” I just love cultural differences!) Of course, my former love of Beefy Nachos Supremes and Barq’s Root Beer may not have “caused” by asthma, but I’m sure it didn’t help.

HealthDay News said the study was published in the June 3 issue of Thorax, but I couldn’t find the abstract. Regardless, for the study, researchers collected diet and asthma data on about 50,000 children from 20 rich and poor countries. Almost 30,000 of the children in the study were also tested for allergies.

The results showed diet didn’t affect allergies, but had a big influence on asthma and wheezing HealthDay News said children in both rich and poorer countries who ate a lot of fruit had lower rates of wheezing. Fish seemed to protect children in rich countries, and green vegetables protected children in poorer countries. The researchers noted the antioxidants, vitamins, biologically active agents and omega-3s found in the Mediterranean diet probably have a lot to do with the reduced incidence of asthma.

However, children who ate more burgers, especially those in rich countries, had a higher lifetime prevalence of asthma. You hear that? “Lifetime.” I sure did myself wrong.

The article did note the burgers may only be a marker for a lifestyle that could increase the chance for asthma, as researchers did not find meat in general increased the risk of wheeze.

OK, so I can’t change the past, but maybe, if I eat better as an adult, I can eliminate my asthma. Well, not according to pulmonologist Dr. Michael Light, a professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who was quoted in the article. He said, “This doesn't mean if you change your diet today you are going to cure your asthma.” Dangit!