Meat, refined starches, and sodium could impact chronic lung disease- study

16/11/05 A new study finds that eating mostly meat, refined starches, and sodium may increase the likelihood of developing chronic respiratory symptoms, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Researchers found that individuals whose diets are rich in meat, refined starches and sodium are 1.43 times more likely to report new onset of persistent coughs with phlegm than those who consume a diet high in fruit and soy.

The results appearing online in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine analyzed data to assess the usual dietary intake of 52,325 participants. Although the study was conducted within a Singaporean population, the dietary patterns are reflective of U.S. eating patterns. The study population consisted of men and women of Chinese ethnicity ranging in ages from 45 to 74 at enrollment.

Dr. Mimi Yu, of the University of Minnesota, founder of the Singapore Chinese Cohort, developed and validated a 165-item quantitative food frequency questionnaire in this population. The participants were presented with a list of 147 food items and 18 beverages and asked about the frequency of consumption of each item over a one-year period. For this paper, researchers used these data to analyze dietary patterns of the population, rather than simply looking at individual foods or nutrients as is usually done.

The meat-dim sum pattern contained 31 food items, predominantly pork, chicken, fish, noodle dishes, and preserved foods, as well as 11 snack items. The vegetable-fruit-soy pattern contained 32 foods, including 23 vegetables, 4 fruit items and five soyfood items.

The meat dim sum pattern was positively associated with new onset cough with phlegm after adjusting for age, gender, smoking, education and other factors. No individual food item could account for the 1.4 fold increase in risk of cough with phlegm from this dietary pattern.

The researchers explain that there are similarities between the newly identified Chinese patterns and U.S. dietary patterns. Two primary U.S. patterns have been consistently described in the research literature. The “Western” pattern, characterized by red and processed meats, sweets and desserts, French fries, refined grains, has many similarities to the Chinese meat-dim sum diet; and the “prudent” pattern, characterized by fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, poultry and whole grains, resembles the vegetable-fruit-soy diet.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore, the University of Minnesota, the University of California at Davis, and Fox-Chase Cancer Center collaborated with NIEHS on this study.

NIEHS, a component of the National Institutes of Health, supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/516149/