Community

[emmo]

Has anyone read anything about a gluten free diet helping asthma/copd patients

breathe better? Any links on this please

[pollyjj]

Hi emmo, I have not tried this yet but my daughter has been on about it for a while now, might give it a go.

If you find anything let us know.

polly xx

[Hidden]

It's never that straight forward .. Gluten is what our bodies use to make mucus .. Mucus if apost encapsulate bacteria so you can easily cough it up so you don't get colonised.

I guess if your making lot of mucus you must have lot of infections after all don't need full blow infection to make mucus ... I have noticed when I take antibiots regular I don't really suffer from mucus Unless I have infection trying it on.

Where as when I was not on maintenance antibiotics I was mucus production factory

[emmo in reply to Hidden]

Interesting, I make hardly any mucus so if the gluten free

idea is to help that then it would be wasted on me! but I shall

keep looking into this. Thanks for your reply.

[knitter]

Hi, just to say I tried a gluten free diet for a while....special bread, cereal and even free from fish fingers amongst other things to see if it would help my migraines. I am afraid it didn't help, neither did my chest get any better.

But others might find it works for them. My friend tried a dairy free diet, but she still had a productive cough.

I find I can eat bread from a baker but not shop bought sliced loaves, otherwise I get indigestion.

[emmo in reply to knitter]

Hi knitter, thanks for your reply. I also find that processed bread

sticks in my throat something awful and use instead spelt bread from my local bakery.

[Ergendl]

My late husband Bob who had COPD and asthma, found that bleached white flour and products made with it, exacerbated his lung problems. We found out by accident when we stayed on Rhodes in the early 90s and he got better. The white flour there at that time was yellowish in colour. I brought some home and baked with it, and he was fine. As soon as I did the same recipes with standard flour bought in the UK, he had a flare up. He seemed to be okay with Allinson's wholemeal flour as it lived up to its advert "now't taken out" - most wholemeal flour is a mix of white flour and extracted bran mixed together at the end of the milling and bleaching process, but Allinson's didn't separate the two automatically and packaged the wholemeal straight from the milling. Bob was also okay with oats and oatmeal - all as long as he wasn't having a flare up.

[emmo in reply to Ergendl]

Yes I can understand that 'refined' flours would not be as good for us, oats and oatmeal do not have any gluten I know so it looks

like they are a good option. Thanks for your reply.

[monkey65]

I've been gluten free for about three years. Originally I started because of thyroid problems, but I am absolutely convinced it has helped with my asthma and bronchiectasis, particularly the mucus production, which may be because as Dennis says gluten is part of the mucus production thing. (not so sure about COPD). I've halved my Seretide dose over this period, and I rarely cough at all. I'd been meaning to post on this for a while to see if anyone else had found it beneficial. I've not really been able to find any links or information on the web though except the full on 'cranks' who think gluten is the root of all evil and every illness.

In terms of practical tips, being gluten free is not too hard these days. Most restaurants have gluten free choices and you can find products even in small supermarkets. I don't buy the bread or cakes, these are very expensive and cakes are not hard to make gluten free. I do buy the Newbarn Bakehouse wraps, which are very versatile, and Tescos own brand is the only pasta which tastes like 'proper' pasta.

Incidentally, I did also try try dairy free, but this made no difference to me.

Feel free to PM me if you want to.

Monkey

[emmo]

Thanks Monkey, it seems it is one of these things we hear from other people's

experience but no hard facts. I think it is going to be worth trying out for

myself.