Abstract
Educational aims
To introduce dietary factors and nutrients linked to lung function and diseases.
To describe host and environmental factors affecting pulmonary and systemic nutritional status.
To present epidemiological evidence of the association between nutrition and respiratory health.
To discuss nutritional counselling and vitamin supplementation.
Summary Several lung diseases have been associated with oxidative stress. Consequently, dietary factors and nutrients with a potentially protective role in the oxidative process and inflammatory response have been implicated in the genesis or evolution of these diseases. Antioxidant vitamins and other nutrients have also been related to several components of the immune response. This paper briefly reviews the epidemiological evidence of an association between diet and lung health, focusing on the nutrients most frequently studied.
- ©ERS 2005
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