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Every
minute, usually unconsciously, we breathe in and out between
ten and fifteen times. We move enough air through our lungs
to blow up several thousand balloons every day. In this way
the body extracts the oxygen it needs from the air and discharges
waste carbon dioxide from the blood. The vital job of delivering
oxygen fuel to the body and removing carbon dioxide waste involves
a close partnership between the respiratory and circulatory
systems. The actual point of contact between the two lies deep
within the lungs, where airways and tiny blood vessels meet.
Air entering the nose and mouth travels down past the larynx
(voice box), into the trachea (windpipe), through branching
tubes called the bronchi and bronchioles, and into the lungs.
There the airways further branch out into millions of thin-walled
sacs called alveoli. Here, inhaled air comes in close contact
with webs of surrounding capillaries, allowing blood to exchange
carbon dioxide for oxygen through diffusion. This oxygenated
blood travels through the body via an elaborate network of interconnected
vessels. Driving the system is the heart - a muscular, double-sided
pump whose rhythmic contractions propel blood into the lungs
and, through the aorta, to the rest of the body. Arteries continually
carry blood away from the heart, and veins return spent blood
back to begin the cycle anew.
Oxygen is so vital to life as it provides the fuel for all the
body's functions. The respiratory system also eliminates
toxic waste, regulates temperature and ensures the stability
of the blood's acid-alkaline balance.
Respiratory problems can be divided into three categories:
infections of the upper and lower
respiratory tracts, such as the common
cold, sinusitis, pneumonia, and tuberculosis.
Chronic obstructive lung diseases, such
as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.
and occupational/environmental-related
lung conditions, such as hypersensitivity to work-site substances
and air-pollution, or inhalation of particulate foreign matter,
such as asbestos, fibers, coal dust, and stone dust (which
causes silicosis).
Chronic obstructive diseases have multiple causes. The chronic
inflammation of lung tissue that is characteristic of asthma,
for example, can be brought on by pollen, irritants, or exercise.
The destruction of lung tissue that results from emphysema may
be caused by a hereditary enzyme deficiency as well as excessive
smoking.
Prevention of Respiratory Disease
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, respiratory
diseases provided one of the main exit scenarios for both old
and young alike. People frequently died of pneumonia, tuberculosis,
and influenza, all of which have been largely conquered. The
respiratory system has been a site of major advances and success
stories in modern medical science, and is now a battleground
of diseases that are very bothersome, but usually not fatal.
So, what do we need to be concerned about, then? Smokers are
exposing themselves to the few lethal diseases that do attack
the lungs: emphysema, which so weakens the lungs that they can
no longer oxygenate the blood, and lung cancer. We are still
relatively helpless in the face of allergies, but we are discovering
more useful therapies. Asthma, often set off by allergies, is
another problem. Worse, we are discovering new strains of old
diseases, such as TB, that are resistant to the antibiotics
in common use, and can be only be treated by combinations of
several extremely expensive synthetic drugs. (It is vital to
curb the use of antibiotics, as overuse of these miracle drugs
has caused many strains to become resistant to treatment)
Unless you are struck by a fast moving and lethal disease you
may not be aware of any potential lung damage due to the body's
natural reserve system. Smokers, for example, may not notice
any physical changes until they lose 50% of their lung capacity.
Similarly, only extreme exposure to environmental toxins (such
as asbestos) produces readily apparent changes in pulmonary
and respiratory function.
Conscientious nonsmokers should take note that a
poor diet can also produce lung disease. A recently published
study shows that a diet high in saturated fats correlates with
a higher risk
of lung cancer among women who do not smoke, either actively
or passively. (High levels of saturated fat in the diet correlate
with other types of cancer as well.)
Respiratory Health Tips
There are other nutritional aspects to healthy lungs. Following
is a list of supplements that support healthy epithelial tissue
(which includes the tissue of the mouth, throat and skin):
Vitamin
C: 1000 milligrams per day
Vitamin E: 800 International Units per
day
Mixed carotenoids: 25,000 International
Units per day
Vitamin
A (retinol): 25,000 International Units per day
Selenium: 100 micrograms twice daily
Zinc: 30 milligrams twice daily
Folic
Acid: 1 milligram twice daily
Magnesium: 500 milligrams
Vitamin
B Complex
Essential Fatty Acids: Omega- 3 (fish oils)
Omega-6 (flaxseed oil, borage oil, black currant seed oil)
1000-2900 milligrams each.
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Respiratory Infections
The idea of the respiratory tree explains
the similarity of many respiratory diseases to one another.
We can visualize the respiratory system as and upside-down
tree, with its roots as the sinuses, the trunk as the trachea
or windpipe, the two main branches as the bronchi of the lungs,
and the many smaller internal branches as the bronchioles
of the lungs. These small internal branches bear the 'leaves'
or alveoli, which are little air sacs where oxygen diffuses
into the blood and carbon dioxide diffuses out. In the normal
adult, the total surface area of the lungs is huge: some 50
to 100 square meters, or about the floor area of a 25-foot
by 30-foot room. The surface tissue of the air passages and
the lungs is all physically connected, from the sinuses to
the bronchi to the inner lining of the lungs. Bacteria and
viruses can easily travel from one part of the tree to another,
spreading infection. Gravity can pull a postnasal drip of
infectious material into the lungs, causing bronchial infection
or pneumonia. Colds,
flus, sinusitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia are thus interrelated
and often intercausal. A chronic mucous congestion can create
the perfect trap and incubation environment for bacterial
growth. The congestion keeps the mucous membranes inflamed,
thereby reducing the local immune response. This explains
how someone can have chronic sinusitis and asthma at the same
time, both of which have allergic, infectious, and inflammatory
components. The two most common respiratory infections are
sinusitis and bronchitis.
Why Can't We Cure the Common Cold?
The common
cold and flu are still on the frontiers of medicine, right
up there with some of the more serious illnesses. While there's
not a lot of funding for research into the common cold, incredible
sums of money are spent on developing and advertising cold
remedies, many of which are of limited or no value. In fact,
some conventional treatments may have long-term debilitating
effects. Decongestants, whether oral or spray, can actually
prolong the course of a viral infection by drying out these
membranes.
Finally, our attitude toward antibiotics and respiratory infections
is shifting. Over and over again, statistical analyses of
various treatments and therapies show that conservative management,
or simply doing nothing, correlates with a long-term health
outcome that's as good as or better than more invasive treatments.
Antibiotic therapy runs the risk of creating yeast
infections, diarrhea,
rashes, allergic problems, and increasing resistance to antibiotics.
For instance, simple bed rest can be a powerful tool against
all kinds of respiratory infections and can sometimes give
better results, without lingering side effects, than other
medical treatments.
Asthma
Asthma has been around for a long time. Therefore, with the
inexorable march of medical progress we should be steadily
advancing toward eradication of the disease, right? Wrong.
The number of North Americans with asthma increased 60% over
the years 1983 to 1993. The asthma death rate has increased
from less than 2000 per year in the United States in 1978
to more than 4500 per year in 1993. The cost of treating asthma
patients in the United States was estimated to be $6.42 billion
in 1990. This trend is increasing world-wide, with statistics
showing that asthma is getting worse precisely in those countries
that should have the best medical care: Canada, the United
States, Australia and New Zealand.
While air pollution and chemical exposure play a major role
in asthma, we can't conclude that the increase in asthma problems
is due simply to deteriorating air quality. Some argue that
smoking is responsible for our worsening asthma statistics.
But here, too, research indicates that the number of smokers
is declining overall, despite still-high smoking levels among
teenagers and young women.
The increase in asthma statistics has remained a curious puzzle
without apparent cause - until recently. Research scientists
now think they have an answer to the mystery, and that answer
strikes directly at the heart of modern medicine and the type
of therapies doctors commonly choose. The mainstay of asthma
therapy is the use of inhaled bronchodilator medications which
are designed to open constricted lung tubules. Indeed, most
people with asthma welcome the temporary relief these inhalers
give.
People with asthma, however, know the side effects of bronchodilator
use. Puffing again and again on their inhalers to obtain relief,
they note rapid heartbeat, tremor, and anxiety. Parents of
children with asthma often claim that their children exhibit
hyperactivity and decreased attention span. The intriguing
answer to the riddle of increased asthma incidence and death
may lie in a recent article in The Lancet, Britain's most
respected medical journal. The authors of this study looked
at eighty-nine persons with moderate asthma and compared the
use of bronchodilators in people who used inhalers only for
the relief of symptoms, versus those who used the inhalers
routinely. Surprisingly, the less frequently the medication
was used, the better the asthma symptoms were controlled.
The fact is that the medical profession, by its own admission,
is facing a crisis in the management of asthma. While mainstream
medicine continues to try out new pharmaceutical agents, perhaps
with new unpredictable side effects, it is worth surveying
the wide assortment of alternative therapies that may show
promise in the treatment of asthma.
A Look to the Future
The prognosis for respiratory health continues to look brighter
as we project current trends into the twenty-first century.
Lung cancer and emphysema rates will go down as smoking eventually
dies away as a social custom. With that culprit greatly eliminated,
we can expect to increase our awareness of the multiple causative
factors in sinus and lung problems and to reduce the occupational
and environmental hazards that can cause respiratory problems.
We are also shifting from a drug-based approach to a green
approach, or ecological approach, to treating allergies and
asthma. As evidence emerges showing the crossovers between
food and respiratory reactions, we will make advances through
diet modification. We will continue to discover and improve
on nutritional, herbal and other therapies that use the body's
own metabolic and cleansing processes, rather than powerful
drugs, to correct and ease
respiratory problems.
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