Is There A Natural "Cure" For COPD?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, commonly abbreviated COPD, is a condition of chronic narrowing of the air passages in the lungs.

Because many people do not seek medical help until their symptoms are advanced, the disease is probably under-reported, but experts estimate that about 5% of European adults, 10% of North American adults, and over 20% of people in South Africa and heavily industrialized regions of East Asia have some degree of the disease.

What Are the Symptoms of COPD?

COPD manifests itself as wheezing, shortness of breath, and phlegm that just won't go away. The inability to really catch one's breath becomes profoundly debilitating, and simple infections of the lungs and upper respiratory system become life-threatening. Anything that can add even a little breathing capacity, a little lung power makes life easier, and a surprising source of lung power for non-smokers and former smokers who have COPD turns out to be coffee.

What Is the Evidence That Coffee Makes the Symptoms of COPD Better?

Back in the 1980's, researchers identified 15,792 men and women in North Carolina, Mississippi, Minnesota, and Maryland who agreed to have measurements of their forced vital capacity (how much they could breathe in) and forced expiratory volume (how much they could breathe out). The study excluded anyone who already had a diagnosis of asthma, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema, anyone who was on an extreme diet (consuming less than 500 or more than 3500 calories a day), and anyone whose lung capacity tests suggested that there was already some kind of lung problem.

There were so few people of Asian or Hispanic heritage volunteering for the study that the researchers felt that data would not be reliable, so in the end the researchers only followed 10,568 men and women who were white or African-American. Both smokers and non-smokers were included in the study. And because the researchers ran so many tests, the data were not analyzed for nearly 20 years. But this is what the analysis eventually revealed:

• Never-smokers who never drank any coffee, on average, could breathe in 2.90 liters of air and breathe out 3.76 liters of air in 1 second. Never-smokers who drank 4 or more cups of coffee a day, on average, could breathe in 2.94 liters of air and breathe out 3.82 liters of air in 1 second.

• Former smokers tended to be better breathing shape than never-smokers. Former smokers who never drank any coffee, on average, could breathe in 3.17 liters of air in 1 second and breathe out 4.21 liters of air in 1 second. Former smokers who drank 4 or more cups a day could, on average, breathe in 3.28 liters of air in 1 second and breathe out 4.35 liters of air in one second

• But people who were still smoking fared more poorly. For current smokers who reported drinking no coffee at all, the figures were 2.84 and 3.85. For current smokers who reported drinking 4 cups of coffee a day or more, the figures were 3.83 and 3.86.

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What these numbers mean is that if you didn't smoke, or you used to smoke, drinking coffee could help you breathe about half a cup of more air with every breath. But if you smoke now, coffee didn't improve your breathing capacity at all. (There were across-the-board improvements in lung capacity at 1, 2, and 3 cups a day for non-smokers and current smokers, but no such improvements for former smokers.) What does all this mean?

Smoking Cancels Out The Benefits Of Caffeine And Antioxidants

Scientists have a good understanding of how coffee and caffeine can help people breathe better. Caffeine is chemically similar to a compound called theophylline, which is found in tea and cocoa beans. This is the active ingredient in many asthma inhalers. Caffeine stimulates the muscles around breathing passages to open up a little, just enough to make breathing easier, sometimes just enough to prevent a severe asthma attack or nighttime wheezing. But smoking cancels out the benefits of caffeine.

These enzymes break down the toxic chemicals from cigarettes, but they also break down caffeine and antioxidants in coffee, so that drinking coffee doesn't help--even though cigarette smokers tend to drink more coffee than non-smokers.

If you just can't quit smoking and you have COPD, what can you possibly do to improve your breathing capacity with diet and other natural means? Here are some suggestions.

• Avoid eating too much, especially eating too many sweets. When your body burns sugar, it produces carbon dioxide. The more carbon dioxide your body produces, the more your lungs have to remove. Especially if you change elevation, for instance, leaving your home at sea level to a mountain resort, you can run into serious breathing problems by overeating or by indulging in too many sweets.

• Keep your home humidified, especially if you live in a drought-prone, dry, or desert climate. Humidity in the air keeps the mucus in your lungs moister and easier to cough up.

• Make sure you drink at least 5, and preferably 8, cups of water a day. Keeping your body well hydrated also makes it easier for you to cough up phlegm.

• Practice breathing through pursed lips to build up your oxygen capacity before strenuous activity. Puckering up your lips when you breathe helps keep small air passageways from collapsing when you do heavy activity, like climbing steps or carrying heavy loads. 

• Practice breathing out twice as long as your breathe in. When your exhalations are longer than your inhalations, your heart and internal organs get the message that oxygen is not in short supply, and they do not have to make energy as fast as they can. You pulse slows, you feel more relaxed, and your body can function better with the oxygen it has.

• Exercise. When you can't exercise both arms or both legs, exercise just one. Building up strength in your limbs, interestingly, helps your body cope with oxygen stress in the inner organs. Even a little exercise can help. Exercise doesn't have to be exhausting to be beneficial.

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