Emphysema is a debilitating form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in which air spaces in the lung become abnormally enlarged. Patients have difficulty with breathing, especially going up stairs or with exertion, early in the disease. However as the lung condition progresses, walking across a room can become difficult, leading many patients to require portable oxygen tanks. Smoking is a major contributor to developing emphysema. Preliminary research in animals may bring hope as an article published in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology highlights.
Researchers have discoveredd that giving tomato juice to mice following exposure to cigarette smoke completely prevented development of emphysema when compared to a control group. Tomato juice contains the phytochemcial, lycopene, which also reduces the risk of prostate cancer, so this compound may be partially responsible for the effect seen in this study. However, dietary measures like increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables, espeically tomato products is the best approach. Lead researcher Kuniaki Seyama explained, "Using our mouse model for smoke-induced emphysema, we wanted to intervene in the accumulation process by changing daily lifestyle, especially eating habits."
Their next step is to conduct a study to determine what effect tomato juice may have in human subjects.
Posted by Kristopher Foster on May 4, 2006 03:37 PM
