Medical expert of the article
New publications
Named products that help stop the attack of asthma
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Almost all asthmatics know products that should be avoided, because they can provoke an attack of the disease, but recently American scientists have determined that there are substances that can exert a reverse effect. Researchers from US universities (Massachusetts) reported that products with a bitter taste can prevent an attack of bronchial asthma.
Read also: Coping an attack of bronchial asthma
This effect is due to the fact that during the consumption of bitter foods stimulates the taste buds in the respiratory tract, which relaxes the smooth muscles and stabilizes the intake of air. In addition, such natural bitter products as, for example, bitter melon or Thai cabbage can cause the expansion of cells in the respiratory tract and ease the onset of asthma.
Pharmacists from the United States believe that this discovery will help in the development of new medicines for asthmatics. New generations of drugs created with the influence of bitter products will have a more persistent impact and a minimal amount of adverse side effects. The influence that bitter food has on the person's airways, in modern medicine is called bronchodilation, that is, the expansion of the respiratory tract.
During studies on the effects of food with a certain taste on human health, scientists have found that taste buds can be found not only in the language, as previously stated, but also in the pharyngeal cells and smooth muscle tissues of the respiratory tract. In the course of evolution, the taste receptors in humans "learned" to react to unpleasant bitterness, thereby alerting the body of the possible danger in the form of a spoiled or poisonous product caught on the tongue. Some time ago, physicians believed that such taste buds in humans can only be on the surface of the tongue, but recent studies have shown that even the surface of the respiratory system organs can be covered with receptors that recognize taste.
With the use of bitter foods (it does not matter if the bitter taste is natural or created artificially), the cells of the respiratory organs (smooth muscles) relax under the influence of bitter taste. Thus, if this process (respiratory tract relaxation) occurs in a person suffering from an asthma attack, the attack is weakened. Attacks of bronchial asthma are associated with frequent contractions of smooth muscle cells on the surface of the respiratory tract and relaxation of muscles with the help of bitter taste of foods can alleviate the condition of the patient. Already, pharmacists say that new anti-asthmatic drugs will be developed taking into account the body's reaction to bitter food. The absence of a possible adverse side effect will be an indisputable plus of new generation drugs.
Recall that among products that can aggravate an asthma attack, physicians allocate alcoholic and carbonated drinks, fast food products and canned foods with high salicylic acid content.