What Alcoholic Drinks Are More Likely To Trigger Asthma Symptoms
For some people, symptoms are triggered when they drink any kind of alcohol others tell us that its only certain alcoholic drinks that cause a problem.
Alcoholic drinks most likely to trigger your asthma symptoms are wine , beer, and cider.
This is because they often contain high levels of sulphites or histamine.
Aafa Explains: Will Coffee Or Caffeinated Drinks Help My Asthma
This post discusses claims that caffeine can be used to treat asthma symptoms. It is part of our AAFA Explains series looking at complementary and alternative medicine aimed at asthma and allergies. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America wants to guide you as you decide between choices that may be likely safe or potentially unsafe.
What is asthma?Asthma is a chronic disease that causes your airways to become inflamed, making it hard to breathe. There is no cure for asthma. The best way to manage asthma is to avoid triggers, take prescribed medicine to prevent symptoms, and be prepared to treat asthma episodes if they occur.
Common symptoms of asthma are coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing and chest tightness. Asthma may lead to a medical emergency. It is important to know the signs of a severe asthma attack, and know how to treat it if it occurs.
What is caffeine?Caffeine is an ingredient found in coffee, tea, cola drinks and cocoa and in over 60 plants. Drinks that contain caffeine are called caffeinated or energy drinks.
Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system. It can temporarily make you feel more awake, energetic and focused.
What does science tell us about caffeinated drinks and asthma?Clinical studies have shown that caffeine is a weak bronchodilator, improving lung function for two to four hours after it is consumed. However, it is not as strong or fast acting as rescue bronchodilators like albuterol.
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Worst Foods For Asthma
SALT: Salt is considered to be one of the worst foods for asthma. It has been demonstrated that more salt in the diet, the worse the respiratory function of asthmatics and the higher the incidence of asthma attacks. A low-salt/sodium diet alleviates asthma and reduces the need for anti-asthmatic medication.
ADDITIVES: Additives make it on the list of foods asthmatics should avoid because many of them can cause allergic reactions, as well as asthmatic crises. For example, monosodium glutamate sulfites sodium nitrite and nitrate artificial colorings, in general, are all very dangerous for asthmatics, particularly E 102 , and E 110 .
WINE: Various asthma-causing additives, such as sulfites, are usually added to the wine.
BEER: Beer is one of the many asthma food triggers because of the brewers yeast and various other additives used in its production.
FISH: Fish is another one of the worst foods for asthma because if it is not fresh or improperly stored, it contains histamine, which provokes all allergic reactions.
SHELLFISH: Shellfish are a frequent cause of allergic reactions that can initiate or aggravate asthma attacks.
CURED CHEESES: Another of the worst foods for asthma, cured cheeses contain histamine, which provokes allergies and asthma. Cheeses prepared with molds, such as blue cheese, are even more dangerous.
BREWERS YEAST: Brewers yeast can cause allergy and provoke asthma attacks.
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What Does Coffee Consist Of
Caffeine is the main player involved when it comes to coffee and asthma. Coffee is just the most popular form of caffeine, as well as the most concentrated other than your typical energy drinks or workout supplements.
Caffeine is a stimulant called trimethylxanthine and is naturally occurring. It has a variety of uses, including stimulating the brain and the heart. This is why you may feel your mind racing or your heart beating faster than usual if you have one too many cups of coffee.
Caffeine is also known as a diuretic, meaning it causes frequent urination. This can be used for flushing fluids out of the body.
You may have heard people say that coffee is more addicting than cocaine. Well, this is because caffeine shares a lot of traits with cocaine, heroin, and other amphetamines. This, by no means, is stating that coffee is bad. There have been plenty of studies done that have found that caffeine can be very beneficial.
How Does It Work
The exact pathophysiology or mechanism is not exactly known but may lessen allergic responses by decreasing IgE levels, or through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Further, ginger may have direct activity on smooth airway muscles as studies have demonstrated ginger, in both human and animal models, to have broncho relaxation properties. Finally, ginger has also been shown in animal models to protect against hyper-responsive airways in a methacholine challenge.
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Water Counteracts Histamine Overactivity
The simple solution to this specific scenario is to increase water intake so that the tissues in the lungs and bronchials become hydrated. When properly hydrated, the body will not try to conserve water by increasing histamine production.
Adrenaline is the natural antidote to excess histamine production.
Dr. Jans Jordan discovered that after drinking 8 to 16 ounces of tap water, the adrenaline producing nerve systems are stimulated for more than 90 minutes.
Thus, drinking 8 to 16 ounces of water is the most effective way to immediately counteract histamine over-activity.
What Makes Asthma Medications Work
There are two main types of asthma medications, which are long-term asthma control medications and quick-relief medications.
The long-term medications are typically taken once or twice day-to-day. The purpose of these is to prevent the muscles around the airways from becoming inflamed.
Quick-relief medication, or rescue inhalers, are medications that are inhaled and start working right away. They help open up the airways after theyve become constricted. This type of asthma medication is typically used on an as-needed basis. They are often used for exercise-induced asthma.
These inhaled asthma medications go directly into the lungs, which is where the problem lies. Once the medication is inhaled, it begins to relax the muscles and open up the airways. This allows more air to pass through into the lungs.
Corticosteroids are common drugs found in asthma medications. This is an anti-inflammatory agent. Meaning, it works by reducing the swelling in the airways.
Bronchodilators, another common form of asthma medication, work in a similar way. The primary function of bronchodilators is to relax the muscles in the lungs. This allows the airways to expand, allowing for increased airflow and easier breathing.
Theophylline is a popular bronchodilator used to treat asthma. It is often prescribed to either prevent or treat wheezing and chest pain associated with asthma and chronic bronchitis.
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Avoid The Triggers You Can Control
Be aware of your usual triggers that might coincide with hot weather cigarette smoke, bushfires and pollen in particular. Air pollution and ozone levels can trigger asthma symptoms in some people with asthma.
Keep an eye on the weather alerts for high pollution or high ozone days. On days of high pollution or ozone, or when there is bushfire smoke, try to stay indoors with the doors and windows closed. Also try to do as little outdoor activity as possible, especially later in the day. If your asthma symptoms do start, act promptly to stop it turning into an asthma attack.
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Coffee And Asthma The Risks
As with just about anything, consuming too much of one thing can cause unwanted side effects. There is one main concern with coffee and asthma.
If you have a condition known as gastroesophageal reflux disease , then coffee may aggregate this condition. GERD can cause asthma symptoms to become worse if you have both asthma and GERD. So, if this is the case for you, it may be a good idea to avoid coffee altogether.
Apart from this, coffee can cause other side effects, especially when consumed in large quantities. The first, being anxiety and rapid heart rate. Caffeinated coffee will cause your body to release adrenal, the hormone responsible for the fight or flight response. This can cause some people to feel anxious or stressed.
Since coffee is most known for giving people energy, it can also keep you from falling asleep when you need it. The half-life of caffeine in the human body is about 4-6 hours. For example, if you drink 100mg of caffeine at 8:00 a.m, youll have about 50mg still left in your body between 12:00-2:00. So, if your consuming coffee late in the day around 5:00 p.m, you may find it difficult to fall asleep at the appropriate time.
Coffee can cause frequent urination, which can lead to dehydration if you are not drinking enough water. If you notice that you are having trouble controlling your bladder or are having to urinate more than usual, you may want to cut back on the caffeine intake.
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Role Of Water In Controlling Asthma
Millions of people around the world are suffering from Asthma. Many of them are constantly making attempts to free their homes from harmful air pollutants and are still not able to find any solution for healing asthma. But have you ever wondered that the water supplied to your home can be a major cause of worsening your asthma problem?
Chlorine, a very common chemical, which is added to water to kill bacteria in drinking water could even worsen the asthma problem in children. The fumes of chlorine in shower and pools can bring asthma attack. People suffering from asthma are very sensitive to the gases produced when chlorine sanitizes bacteria in sweat or urine. These gases can even cause irritation in the lungs of the people suffering from asthma. The presence of chlorine in water can cause many problems from bronchitis to asthma. Other chemicals present in drinking water also affect the asthma patients.
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Why Is Alcohol A Trigger For Some People
Some people are sensitive to substances contained in alcohol which are known to trigger asthma symptoms. These are called histamines and sulphites.
- Histamine is a natural food and drink chemical. Its the same substance thats released in your body when you have an allergic reaction.
- Sulphites are used in a range of foods and drinks as preservatives. Theyre produced naturally when beer, wine, and cider are made, and more may be added to wine to stop it continuing to ferment in the bottle.
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The Effect Of Caffeine In People With Asthma
Caffeine is found in coffee, tea, cola drinks and cocoa. Caffeine is a drug that is very similar to theophylline. Theophylline is a bronchodilator drug that is taken to open up the airways in the lungs and therefore relieve the symptoms of asthma, such as wheezing, coughing and breathlessness. Scientists are interested in finding out whether caffeine has the same effect on the lungs as theophylline.
There are two major reasons why it is important to know if caffeine is a bronchodilator. The first is because it may be beneficial for asthmatics to take caffeine in order to relieve the symptoms of asthma. The second is because consuming caffeine may affect the results of important tests that determine how bad someone’s asthma is.
If caffeine acts as a bronchodilator and widens the airways, then a patient who has consumed caffeine before taking the test would show a better result in a lung function test than they would have if they had not consumed any caffeine. The potential problem with this is that if the test results are better than expected doctors may prescribe a lower dose or a weaker drug than is really necessary, which can lead to problems with asthma management.
This review carefully examines all the available high-quality clinical trials on caffeine in asthma. This review was conducted to discover if people should avoid consuming caffeine before taking lung function tests.
Top 10 Herbs To Get Rid Of Asthma
Do you know what asthma is or have you ever seen anyone who has been diagnosed as asthmatic? There are lot of questions that come into mind regarding asthma. Asthma has dreadful effects on human beings. People of all age groups are affected by this disease.
Asthma is a respiratory disease caused by the narrowing, swelling and inflammation of airways. Symptoms associated with asthma are difficulty in breathing, congestion in chest, coughing and wheezing.
There are various factors which trigger the asthma problems like common cold, air pollution such as smoke, heavy emotional stress and preservatives added in beverages and foods. There are some medicines such as ibuprofen, naproxen and aspirin that can also cause asthma.
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Best Foods To Reduce Asthma Symptoms
Brightly colored foods are rich in antioxidants and vitamins that reduce respiratory issues by promoting healthy mucous membranes in the airways leading to your lungs.
Many people with asthma are vitamin A deficient. Studies show that increased intake of vitamin A rich foods such as orange vegetables, tomatoes, leafy greens, and berries could reduce breathing issues.
The antimicrobial properties of onion, garlic, and mustard seeds help fight infections, strengthen immunity, and reduce inflammation.
Magnesium rich foods such as nuts, beans, seeds, and greens as well as antioxidant-rich cruciferous vegetables have been linked to promoting healthy sinuses.
Cultured dairy and raw milk are rich in probiotics that help strengthen the immune system and prevent allergic reactions.
Top 10 Herbs For Treating Asthma
Asthma is a respiratory disorder characterized by episodic constrictions and inflammation of the bronchial tubes. It can be acute or chronic, and both children and adults can have this problem.
Some 26 million Americans suffer from asthma, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Asthma attacks occur when there is an obstruction in the flow of air in the lungs. Common triggers are allergies, air pollution, cold air, humidity, respiratory infections, strong emotions, stress, physical activity, sulfites and preservatives in food, and certain medications.
The exact cause of this disorder is not known, but a number of factors increase your chance of developing asthma, such as genetics, an existing allergic condition, obesity and excessive smoking.
Common symptoms of asthma include wheezing , coughing, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing. The severity of symptoms ranges from minor to serious and even life threatening.
You can control the symptoms with lifestyle changes, dietary changes, medicines as well as herbs. In fact, many herbs can help treat and prevent asthma attacks.
Here are the top 10 herbs for treating asthma.
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Hot Liquids For Asthma
Hot or warm liquids like tea may feel soothing, especially when dealing with asthma-related symptoms such as a sore or dry throat, mucus, or cough. However, there isn’t much research or studies conducted specifically on the effects of hot liquids and asthma. That doesn’t mean that drinking tea or hot liquids is not helpful, it just means that there currently isn’t science to back it. Please note – beverages that are too hot can actually cause esophageal spasms, so be mindful that your hot beverage is at a safe drinking temperature.7
/8home Remedies For Treating Asthma Naturally
Are you looking for some natural home remedies to keep asthma at bay? Asthma can be a life threatening condition. It is a lung disease that causes difficult breathing. It is triggered by infections, emotions, weather conditions, pollution and certain medications. Common symptoms include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness. You will be surprised to know some ingredients in your kitchen can help you keep those asthma attacks at bay.For example, honey is one the oldest natural remedies to treat asthma.Before going to bed, swallow one teaspoon of honey with a pinch of cinnamon powder. It will help in removing phlegm from the throat and allow you to sleep better. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon in a glass of water and add some sugar according to your taste. Drink this regularly to reduce asthma attacks.Drinking coffee is the easiest and the most effective way to treat asthma. A hot cup of coffee helps in relaxing and clearing the airways and helps to breathe easily.Boil 3-4 cloves of garlic in half a cup of milk. Allow it to cool at room temperature and then drink it. It helps in clearing congestion in the lungs during the early stages of asthma. Here is the list of natural remedies that you can use to get relief from asthma and its symptoms.
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Fight Inflammation With Oregano Tea
You know me always on the look out for new, natural ways to treat my asthma and my health in general. So when I started reading about people using oregano tea to improve their lung health and treat asthma, I was intrigued.
Turns out, studies also show that oregano is anti-inflammatory . And since asthma is all about an inflammation of the airways and lungs, I thought adding oregano tea to my arsenal just made sense.
I went with this organic oregano tea for Buddha Teas . Cant lie I was a little apprehensive to try this I like the flavor of oregano when cooking, but I was worried it would be too much all by itself.
Turns out I love it, and its definitely one of my go-tos. Sometimes my wife Emma says it smells like pizza but its so worth it!
Drink Recipes For Fighting Asthma
Are you on the lookout for ideas for smoothies, juices and other drinks that can help prevent and relieve asthma symptoms? If so, you have come to the right place. In this section of HealWithFood.org’sNutrition Guide to Fighting Asthma you will find drink recipes that call for foods rich in nutrients that can help ease symptoms in asthmatic individuals. So get your Vitamix out, and start blending!
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