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Could Drinking Coffee Really Help With Asthma Symptoms?

Jul 3, 2014
  • Medical Information
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Coffee and Asthma

Let’s say you are off on a vacation and ran out of your rescue inhaler. What will you do if you have an asthma attack?

Surely, you’ll call for an ambulance and try to get to the hospital. But what can you do in the meantime?

The answer is to start drinking a few cups of coffee, according to the Asthma Foundation in Victoria.

How Could a Food Stop an Asthma Attack?

You already know that different foods have different effects on the body. Some foods are high in antioxidants like berries; other foods are loaded with B vitamins like blackstrap molasses and liver. All foods contain medicinal ingredients that can act in different ways on the body. For example, carrots contain beta-carotene, which is helpful for vision while parsley contains substances that are diuretic in nature.

What is it that coffee contains that is so helpful to asthma? It’s actually the caffeine in coffee that has a direct action on the bronchioles, opening them up quickly and making it easier to breathe.

If You Already Drink Coffee…

Drinking coffee regularly is probably not a good idea, say the experts, as it’s possible that regular coffee drinking may not cause the same effect. There may be a rebound effect when the caffeine wears off.

Know the Caffeine Content of Foods

With this in mind, it’s important to know what other foods have caffeine in them. Chocolate does have caffeine in it, and according to the Asthma Foundation, two chocolate bars would have a similar effect. No one is saying exactly how much caffeine you need to stop an asthma attack but if you take a look at the difference in caffeine between coffee and chocolate, you will find quite a difference in the amount of caffeine.

You May Also Like:Gluten and Asthma: Should You Go Gluten-Free?
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    Here’s a list of caffeine foods that you might have to use as a substitute. Choose the foods that have the highest amount of caffeine on the list, not the lowest:

    Coffee, regular95 mg per cup
    Espresso coffee64 mg per ounce
    Decaf coffee20 mg per cup
    Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate14 mg per square
    Hershey’s chocolate bars9 mg per bar
    Hershey’s kisses1 mg per piece
    Hershey’s Special Dark Bar18 mg per 1.45 oz
    Jolt Gum45 mg per stick
    Kit Kat bars6 mg per bar
    M&M’s chocolate candy9 mg per package
    Oreo Cookies1.3 mg per cookie
    Penguin mints7 mg per mint
    Perky Jerky35 mg per ounce
    Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups4 mg per cup
    Starbuck’s Coffee Ice Cream60 mg per 8 oz cup
    VE2 Energy Gum35 mg per piece
    Wrigley’s Alert Energy Gum40 mg per piece
    Sunkist Orange Soda, 12 oz41 mg

    Source: caffeineinformer

    Sometimes the answers to health emergencies are simple. An asthma attack could be one of those times.

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    Donna Schwontkowski
    Dr. Donna Schwontkowski is a retired chiropractor with two degrees in nutrition and a Master's in herbology. She is convinced that every illness can be improved significantly through diet and nutritional protocols. See all of Donna's articles
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