Micah Stanley
Asthmatics who like to eat ham, salami, and cured or otherwise heavily processed meat and sausage products should no longer be surprised if their asthma symptoms just don’t get better. The sausage is to blame. A study published in December 2016 in the journal Thorax found that eating sausage and ham can worsen asthma symptoms — especially if you eat four or more servings of sausage, ham, or the like per week.
Sausage, salami & co increase the risk of lung diseases
Sausage and other processed meat products are considered risk factors for cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, but can also increase the risk of COPD – chronic inflammatory lung disease. The connection between sausage consumption and asthma was not yet clear.
According to the current state of research, obesity can increase the risk of asthma, and since obesity is the result of an unfavorable diet, asthma is also considered to be diet-related. However, whether certain foods such as B. Sausage – regardless of its potential to cause obesity – can also increase the risk of asthma was not known until now.
Sausage promotes inflammation in the airways
Sausage and cured meat products are rich in so-called nitrites. However, nitrites play an important role in the inflammation of the airways typical of asthma. Nitric oxide can form in the body from nitrites. On the one hand, this can expand the vessels, which also leads to relaxation in the airways – a welcome change in the situation with asthma. However, in the presence of nitrites, so-called reactive nitrogen species can also form – and these in turn promote inflammatory reactions in the airways, which leads to the worsening of asthma symptoms.
Another reason for the asthma-promoting effect of sausage products is their high histamine content, which is also an inflammatory component.
The more sausage, the worse the asthma
Researchers examined data from the French Epidemiological study on the Genetics and Environment of Asthma (EGEA), a French epidemiological study devoted to the genetic and environmental factors in asthma. The study includes data from hundreds of asthma patients and their close relatives, as well as a control group. All participants had been followed for a period of 20 years.
About half of the participants had not experienced any changes in asthma symptoms over the years. In a quarter, asthma had improved, in a fifth, the symptoms had worsened – in the following connection with the consumption of sausages:
- Among those who ate ham, sausage, or salami once a week or less, 14 percent experienced worsening of their asthma symptoms.
- Among those who ate one to four servings of ham, sausage, or salami per week, 20 percent experienced worsening of their asthma symptoms.
- Among those who ate four or more portions of ham, sausage, or salami per week, 22 percent experienced worsening of their asthma symptoms.
Sausage is a greater risk factor for asthma than being overweight
Other risk factors such as smoking, physical activity, age, gender, and level of education were also taken into account. However, those who ate the most ham, sausage, or salami were 76 percent more likely to experience a worsening of their asthma than those who ate less sausage.
Obesity, previously thought to be a major contributor to worsening asthma, increased the risk by just 14 percent.
Other studies from other countries have already shown that processed meat products such as sausage, ham, and salami are closely linked to lung function and lung health. The scientists involved in the French study thus concluded:
Our research shows the harmful effects of ham, sausage, and salami on health, as well as the effect of diet on asthma.”
