Adams Media - Food Remedies--Asthma: The most important information you need to improve your health

Today, the terms nutraceutical, meaning a nutrient-rich food or food component, and functional food, describing a food that has nutrients added to it to increase health benefit, are used widely in the food and nutrition industry. As research continues to identify the specific components of foods responsible for health, the drive increases to isolate these nutrients, add them to other commonly eaten, less-nutritious packaged foods (thus making functional foods), and create supplements and pills. This often results in a marketing campaign promising a miracle cure for what ails you.

The problem is that an isolated nutrient is often less effective than a nutrient that comes from real food. There are issues with an isolated nutrient being absorbed after digestion, dangers of toxicity when high doses of a vitamin or mineral are consumed, and risks of unhealthy interactions with high doses of other nutrients. These risks of overconsumption are not often an issue when obtaining nutrients through whole, complex foods. Healthy foods give you a balanced supply of nutrients when you eat a varied diet.

Nutritional science continues to uncover links between nutrients and health, but there seems to be little or no benefit when the nutrient is in the form of a supplement. For example, recent research has linked adequate vitamin D levels to brain health and reducing risk of dementia. Yet researchers did not find the same outcome in a group that used vitamin D supplements instead of food, and recommended that people increase their intake of food rich in vitamin D rather than add supplements to their diet.

While vitamins and minerals are known to protect against disease, they are best consumed in their natural form in food. Food is the original source of healing nutrients. So if it is known that vitamins and minerals protect against disease, yet supplements arent the answer, what is the answer? Food. Food is the original source of healing nutrients.

If youd like to learn more about food remedies, check out The Everything Guide to Food Remedies , available in print (978-1-4405-1100-4 and eBook (978-1-4405-1157-8) formats.

Asthma is a condition that affects the passages that carry air into and out of the lungs. These bronchial tubes, or airways, are sensitive to external substances that enter during breathing. The airways get inflamed and swollen; when they react to these particles the muscles tighten, which narrows the passage for air flow. As a result, less air moves into and out of the lungs, causing coughing and wheezing.