Vegetables And Fruits May Save A Smoker From Lung Diseases

February 23, 2017

Smoking contributes to more than 480,000 deaths annually; 278,544 men and 201,773 deaths among women, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States. Smoking is not a mere bad habit but a social hazard. The habit of smoking is not just harmful for the smoker itself but passive smoke is known to be equally harmful for a non-smoker as well. Smoking is the primary risk factor for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is set to become the third leading cause of death worldwide, according to World Health Organization. COPD is a respiratory condition that narrows the airways, which include bronchitis and emphysema.

veggiesSmoking leads to the deposition of a tar-like residue inside the lungs causing blockages which also has adverse effects on rest of the body functions, resulting in the premature death of a person who smokes regularly. Even when a smoker quits, the damage caused to lungs is irreversible and may increase the risk of lung related diseases in future But here's some good news for you - according to a new research, having a diet rich in vegetables and fruits may lower the risk of lung diseases in a smoker.

The research concludes that consuming five or more daily servings of diet rich in fruit such as apples or pears and green leafy vegetables may significantly lower the risk of developing chronic lung disease in both former and current smokers. The research which was published online in the journal Thorax, found that people who ate five or more portions of fruit and vegetables every day were, respectively, 40 per cent and 34 per cent, less likely to develop COPD. Every time an additional serving of fruit or vegetables was consumed it lead to a four per cent lower risk of COPD in former smokers and an eight per cent lower risk in current smokers. For the study, the team tracked the respiratory health of more than 44,000 Swedish men born between 1918 and 1952 and aged between 45 and 79 for 13 years up to the end of 2012.

Professor Joanna Kaluza, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland said, "As oxidative tissue stress and inflammation may be involved in COPD development, and smoking is a potent trigger of these processes, the antioxidants abundant in fruit and vegetables may curb their impact, suggest the researchers." In contrast, those who ate less than two daily portions were, respectively, 13.5 times more likely to develop COPD for a current smoker and six times more for a non-smoker, found the research.

Professor Kaluza added, while apples, pears, green leafy vegetables and peppers seemed to exert the strongest influence and depress the risk, no such associations were found of eating berry fruits, bananas, citrus fruits, cruciferous and root vegetables, tomatoes, onions, garlic or green peas.

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News Network
February 26,2020

New York, Feb 26:  A new wearable sensor that works in conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI) technology could help doctors remotely detect critical changes in heart failure patients days before a health crisis occurs, says a study.

The researchers said the system could eventually help avert up to one in three heart failure readmissions in the weeks following initial discharge from the hospital and help patients sustain a better quality of life.

"This study shows that we can accurately predict the likelihood of hospitalisation for heart failure deterioration well before doctors and patients know that something is wrong," says the study's lead author Josef Stehlik from University of Utah in the US.

"Being able to readily detect changes in the heart sufficiently early will allow physicians to initiate prompt interventions that could prevent rehospitalisation and stave off worsening heart failure," Stehlik added.

According to the researchers, even if patients survive, they have poor functional capacity, poor exercise tolerance and low quality of life after hospitalisations.

"This patch, this new diagnostic tool, could potentially help us prevent hospitalizations and decline in patient status," Stehlik said.

For the findings, published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure, the researchers followed 100 heart failure patients, average age 68, who were diagnosed and treated at four veterans administration (VA) hospitals in Utah, Texas, California, and Florida.

After discharge, participants wore an adhesive sensor patch on their chests 24 hours a day for up to three months.

The sensor monitored continuous electrocardiogram (ECG) and motion of each subject.

This information was transmitted from the sensor via Bluetooth to a smartphone and then passed on to an analytics platform, developed by PhysIQ, on a secure server, which derived heart rate, heart rhythm, respiratory rate, walking, sleep, body posture and other normal activities.

Using artificial intelligence, the analytics established a normal baseline for each patient. When the data deviated from normal, the platform generated an indication that the patient's heart failure was getting worse.

Overall, the system accurately predicted the impending need for hospitalization more than 80 per cent of the time.

On average, this prediction occurred 10.4 days before a readmission took place (median 6.5 days), the study said.

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Agencies
July 2,2020

London, Jul 2: The World Health Organisation says smoking is linked to a higher risk of severe illness and death from the coronavirus in hospitalised patients, although it was unable to specify exactly how much greater those risks might be.

In a scientific brief published this week, the U.N. health agency reviewed 34 published studies on the association between smoking and Covid-19, including the probability of infection, hospitalisation, severity of disease and death.

WHO noted that smokers represent up to 18% of hospitalised coronavirus patients and that there appeared to be a significant link between whether or not patients smoked and the severity of disease they suffered, the type of hospital interventions required and patients' risk of dying.

In April, French researchers released a small study suggesting smokers were at less risk of catching Covid-19 and planned to test nicotine patches on patients and health workers — but their findings were questioned by many scientists at the time who cited the lack of definitive data.

WHO says "the available evidence suggests that smoking is associated with increased severity of disease and death in hospitalized Covid-19 patients. It recommends that smokers quit.

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Agencies
April 15,2020

Dear parents, if you want your children to have proper sleep, read this carefully. Joining a growing list of studies that tell parents to shun devices at bed-time, researchers say that children who use devices and decide what time they go to sleep, achieve less sleep and feel more sleepier the following day than their peers.

The study of children in this age-group (aged 11 to 13 years), published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, found most (72 per cent) of the 163 students interviewed by University of Otago researchers achieved recommended guidelines of an average 9 to 11 hours sleep nightly over one week.

"But that also means that almost one in four students did not achieve sleep within these guidelines, which highlights an area for improvement," said study researcher Kate Ford.

However, consistent with previous research in 15 to 17-year-old New Zealanders, the study results show less sleep on the nights where devices are used in the hour before bed.

According to the researchers, students who used devices before going to sleep were also more likely to report that they felt sleepy the following morning. Watching television before bed had no significant effect on sleep length.

There were also some interesting observations over the weekends where students went to bed later but woke later achieving similar sleep length to the school days, the researchers said.

A small group of students (six per cent) who reported less than seven hours of sleep, including a small number reporting not sleeping at all, according to the study,

Therefore, while the average across the week of 72 per cent of students reporting adequate sleep is reassuring, it is far from the goal of every child achieving sleep within the recommended guidelines," Ford said.

Dr Paul Kelly, head of the Sleep Health Service at Canterbury District Health Board, supervised the study and explained that the foundations for good health are based on proper nutrition, regular exercise and good sleep quality.

Sleep quality is often overlooked as a contributory factor to poor health.

"The study findings suggest the need for parental guidance around bedtimings and moderation of the use and availability of electronic devices before bed," Kelly said.

"Respect and protect your sleep, as good daytime functioning is reliant on adequate sleep," Kelly added.

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