Diet taboos for bronchitis and asthma

Identify the categories that can trigger your own allergic reactions, highly irritating and high histamine foods during the attack period, and high-fat, high-sugar, heavy-drinking foods that can easily aggravate phlegm and dampness. All taboos should be prioritized based on your own allergen testing and actual body reaction adjustments. There is no one-size-fits-all standard.

I have been doing health education in the respiratory department for almost 3 years, and the most common question I encounter is "Doctor, can I never touch seafood/mango/spicy food in my life?" ”Some parents actually refused to let their 12-year-old asthmatic child touch it because they heard others say that mangoes are "hairy things". As a result, they took their children to check for allergens and found that they were not allergic to mangoes at all. Instead, they were mildly allergic to the ordinary milk they drank every day. After drinking it for more than half a year, they continued to cough and suffered a lot. Speaking of which, we have to mention the often-talked-about "hair-raising" controversy. In traditional Chinese medicine, hair-raising foods mostly refer to foods that are likely to induce old diseases, aggravate heat syndrome, and cause phlegm and dampness. Modern medicine pays more attention to clear allergen detection. In fact, there is no conflict between the two. It is just that Chinese medicine prefers the differentiated response of individual physiques, while modern medicine prefers quantifiable immune indicators. It can be used as a reference. There is no need to stick to one theory.

Many people are confused about whether they can eat spicy food. There is currently no unified conclusion in the academic community: some studies believe that a small amount of capsaicin can reduce airway hyperresponsiveness, and there are also clinical data showing that spicy food is a common trigger of acute attacks. I once met an old man from Chongqing who had suffered from asthma for more than 20 years. He had eaten mildly spicy home-cooked food all his life, and had never had an attack caused by spicy food. Until the last time his son took him to eat spicy butter hot pot, and he ate two tablespoons of spicy oil. He coughed and couldn't breathe that night and went to the emergency room. To put it bluntly, as long as you don’t feel uncomfortable after eating it, it’s okay to eat a small amount of mildly spicy food during the stable period. However, during the attack period, or for people who are prone to coughing after eating spicy food, they should still avoid it if they can. Oh, by the way, the cold stimulus is more likely to be tripped up than spicy food. I picked up a 19-year-old boy in the dog days of last year. After playing basketball, he was sweating and drank a large glass of iced milk tea. He squatted on the roadside and gasped after just two steps. His blood oxygen dropped when the 120 was delivered. It was almost 10 o'clock - the airways of asthmatic patients are inherently more delicate than ordinary people. The stimulation of sudden cold is like giving a cat to a cat that is already having a hairy hair.

Another type of trigger that is easily overlooked is high histamine foods, such as cooked seafood that has been stored for two or three days, cured fish and bacon that have been pickled for more than half a month, bean curd, and natto that have been fermented for too long. The free histamine in these foods can induce an inflammatory response in the airways, causing the already sensitive airway smooth muscles to contract, which can easily induce coughing and wheezing. Of course, not all fermented foods cannot be eaten. I have seen many patients make sugar-free yogurt at home, and eating it can regulate their immunity. However, fermented drinks bought from outside are added with a lot of preservatives and flavors, and they are prone to coughing after drinking them. Pay attention to this distinction.

There is also a common misunderstanding that asthma patients should take more supplements. Many family members will stew ginseng, cordyceps, and donkey-hide gelatin for patients. There was an aunt in her 60s who heard from neighbors that cordyceps nourished the lungs. She stewed two sticks a day and ate them. After half a month of eating, the phlegm increased and she could not sleep all night due to coughing. When I checked, it was found that she has a phlegm-damp constitution, and greasy and heavy supplements could not be transported and dissipated after eating. They were blocked in the airway, but aggravated the symptoms. Especially during the attack period, it is enough to eat as light a diet as possible to facilitate digestion. If you really want to take supplements, you have to wait until it is stable. See a professional doctor to identify your constitution before adjusting. Don't take supplements by yourself.

When I educate patients, I usually ask them to keep a food diary for two or three months. What special things they ate on that day, and whether they had any coughing, chest tightness, or wheezing afterward. Writing this down is much more effective than a cookie-cutter taboo list found online. After all, you should follow your own body when it comes to eating. You may eat something that is okay when others touch it, and you may not react at all to something that others avoid. There is no need to set so many rigid rules for yourself. Pay more attention to your body's signals, which is better than anything else.