What fruits to eat for respiratory diseases

There are no absolute "must-eat" or "forbidden" fruits for respiratory diseases. Give priority to low-irritation, high-water, and vitamin C-rich varieties, which can help relieve discomfort in most cases.

I have been nursing in the respiratory department for almost six years. Every day I see family members standing at the door of the ward holding fruit baskets and asking, can this pear be given to someone with a cough? Should oranges be avoided if they cause internal heat? In fact, there are so many dead rules. Let’s talk about everyone’s most ripe pears. The juicy texture of raw pears is like applying a cool water film to a dry and sore throat. The vitamin C in it can also be used as a "small patch" on the respiratory mucosa, helping to repair the mucosal tissue that has been gnawed by inflammation. If you have a cough with thick phlegm and cannot spit it out, steam it until soft and throw in two Sichuan clams. Many people have been coughing for half a month after the infection or the flu. This can make them feel better.

Of course, the controversy in the market is not groundless. I met a high school student suffering from mycoplasma pneumonia last month. It happened that his mother was afraid that he was lacking vitamin C, so she bought three kilograms of rock sugar oranges to put on the bedside. He showed off four of them in one afternoon, and he coughed and stayed up all night. Many people said: " That's how it comes about: "Oranges make you cough worse when you get internal heat." In fact, it's not internal heat at all. It's caused by eating too many high-sugar fruits at one time. The high osmotic pressure stimulates the throat mucosa to swell, which in turn aggravates the foreign body sensation. If you limit it to 1 to 2 a day, you won't have this problem at all. There are also disagreements about whether cooling fruits can be eaten. Chinese medicine usually recommends that people with cold cough - the kind who cough up phlegm, feel cold all over, and do not sweat - should not eat raw pears and watermelons just taken out of the refrigerator. It is best to steam and heat them before eating. ； The judgment standard of Western medicine is even simpler: as long as you are not allergic to this fruit and do not feel uncomfortable after eating it, you can eat cold fruits at room temperature without heating them.

There are also some special situations that you should pay more attention to. Last year, I met an old patient with a history of asthma who had a cold and ate half a mango. He was so breathless that day that he came to the emergency room. People who are allergic to fruits such as mango and pineapple should avoid it regardless of whether they have respiratory diseases. Don't try it blindly. Patients with diabetes should stop eating high-sugar foods such as loquats and pears. Instead, switch to low-sugar foods such as cherry tomatoes and kiwis, which can still provide enough vitamin C. Don't increase blood sugar in order to soothe the throat, which will slow down the recovery of inflammation.

Anyway, the advice I usually give to patients is very simple. First make sure you are not allergic to this fruit, then take a small bite and try it. If you feel no discomfort, eat it normally. There are so many "must not touch" sayings. If you are really unsure, ask the medical staff in charge, which is much more reliable than blindly browsing home remedies on the Internet.