Dr Alice Roberts - Don't die young

Did anybody watch this tonight? It was really good. It was all the how the lungs function. Shown abit about asthma. Really enjoyed it!

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Heya

I saw it, and thought it was amazing with some really interesting info.

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Yeah I watched it too - thought it was really good but I wish she'd done more on the asthma bit - there was a lot more about smoking & thats something you can choose to do or not in the first place.

Made me think though - the poor lady who smoked a lot & had cancer had really black lungs.... if you have asthma are lungs still be nice & pink or would they be permanently damaged as well?.... just wondering as we react to allergens ie the body doesnt like them if it is like when the body has to deal with the chemical poisons in cigarettes? Anyway hope not I just wondered if you could see from the outside of our lungs that we are asthmatic if you know what I mean?

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I missed this - was is primarily about smoking and lung disease?

Reassuringly asthmatic lungs are still pink! - unless of course you are mad enough to be an asthmatic smoker...

The black/grey colour is due to carbon and tar deposition in the lungs. Seen a few post-mortem smoker's lungs - they look horrific.

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If you missed it and are interested, apparently the episode on lungs is being shown again on BBC2 in England (but not in Scotland, Wales or NI apparently) this Friday at 7pm.

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I didn't see it, but my mum told me about it on the phone this morning. I'll be interested to watch it on Friday if I remember.

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If you're based in Scotland, Wales or NI and want to see it on Friday - and if you have Sky - you can access all of the different local BBC variations from your set-top box. They're in the 900s somewhere!

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Thanks CathBear - good to know they're still pink & not all gross - ew not that i have ever smoked but I sure never will now! They should pictures of that on posters it would put a lot of people off smoking! I have a friend who is my age 28 & she smokes 20-30 a day - she sounds worse than I do sometimes with her coughing & spluttering sure its down to the cigarettes as otherwise shes healthy.

The prog was about how the lungs worked & she showed just how big they were etc if you opened them out like a sheet, where they were in the body that kind of stuff. There was a free diver with immense breath holding capabilities, a cancer patient & then a smoker - they used the cancer patient to put the other person off smoking. It was the dr herself who had asthma. They were talking about cells & free radicals but I didnt really get that bit. Anyway its worth a look if you get chance on Friday - being a dr - I guess you know the sciency part as much as she does but its interesting to see.