UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Pollution and respiratory disease: can diet or supplements help? A review

Whyand, T; Hurst, JR; Beckles, M; Caplin, ME; (2018) Pollution and respiratory disease: can diet or supplements help? A review. Respiratory Research , 19 (1) , Article 79. 10.1186/s12931-018-0785-0. Green open access

[thumbnail of Hurst_Pollution and respiratory disease. Can diet or supplements help. A review_VoR.pdf]
Preview
Text
Hurst_Pollution and respiratory disease. Can diet or supplements help. A review_VoR.pdf - Published Version

Download (614kB) | Preview

Abstract

Pollution is known to cause and exacerbate a number of chronic respiratory diseases. The World Health Organisation has placed air pollution as the world’s largest environmental health risk factor. There has been recent publicity about the role for diet and anti-oxidants in mitigating the effects of pollution, and this review assesses the evidence for alterations in diet, including vitamin supplementation in abrogating the effects of pollution on asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases. We found evidence to suggest that carotenoids, vitamin D and vitamin E help protect against pollution damage which can trigger asthma, COPD and lung cancer initiation. Vitamin C, curcumin, choline and omega-3 fatty acids may also play a role. The Mediterranean diet appears to be of benefit in patients with airways disease and there appears to be a beneficial effect in smokers however there is no direct evidence regarding protecting against air pollution. More studies investigating the effects of nutrition on rapidly rising air pollution are urgently required. However it is very difficult to design such studies due to the confounding factors of diet, obesity, co-morbid illness, medication and environmental exposure.

Type: Article
Title: Pollution and respiratory disease: can diet or supplements help? A review
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1186/s12931-018-0785-0
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-018-0785-0
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Pollution, Diet, Lungs, Supplements, Asthma, COPD, Smoke, Particulates, Vitamins, Omega-3, Curcumin
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine > Respiratory Medicine
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10049528
Downloads since deposit
82Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item