Deadly Lung Condition Can Be Slowed by This Superfood

Adding salmon, and other omega-3 fatty acid rich foods, to a diet can help people dealing with pulmonary fibrosis improve their lung function.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a debilitating condition that causes scarring in the lungs that can make it extremely difficult to breathe. It is a progressive disease that gets worse over time, however, new research suggests that changes to a person’s diet could offer hope for slowing its progression.

For the study, published in the journal Chest, experts examined the cases of 300 people with pulmonary fibrosis. Researchers used the participants’ blood work to determine how much omega-3 fatty acids they consumed on a regular basis and compared the lung function between them.

Through this, experts observed a link between higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and lung function. Those who had the highest levels had lungs more able to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen and were less likely to require a lung transplant. This finding was consistent regardless of whether participants had a history of cardiovascular disease or smoking.

Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats, or “healthy fats.” These fatty acids are found in fish, nuts, oysters, soybeans and other foods. They are also linked to better brain health, lower rates of heart disease and an overall longer life.

If the study’s findings are confirmed in larger trials, the use of omega-3 fatty acids could be a game changer for the hundreds of thousands of patients suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, the authors suggest.

"Similar to other chronic diseases, we hope to determine whether nutrition-related interventions can have a positive impact on pulmonary fibrosis," the authors wrote.

However, the experts were not able to determine the exact mechanism by which omega-3 fatty acids improved outcomes in their study. Another unknown is whether specific omega-3 fatty acids are more beneficial than others. The authors acknowledge that these questions must be answered before their utility in slowing the progression of pulmonary fibrosis can be confirmed.