When people are asked what poses a risk to their lungs, they typically bring up smoking. Then they may mention vehicle and industrial emissions as well as smoke from wildfires. Few consider the quality of the indoor air in their homes and offices, says Johns Hopkins pulmonologist and critical care specialist Nadia Hansel. And even fewer think of the food they’re eating.
Thanks to funding as the Lavinia Currier CIM Scholar, stretching back several years, Hansel is researching whether healthy diets that include a higher intake of such omega-3-rich foods as salmon and walnuts help participants with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to breathe more easily. She is also examining risk from chronic exposure to low levels of indoor air pollution.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 14 million Americans live with COPD, a lung disease that makes breathing difficult and may lead to other conditions. Its prevalence is nearly doubled among individuals with a household income below the poverty level.
So Hansel has zeroed in on the social causes of health-related risk factors for COPD, including poverty, obesity, diet and indoor air pollution. Her work has produced groundbreaking research showing indoor air cleaners may improve symptoms and reduce the risk of COPD flare-ups.
Hansel’s research also suggests that access to healthy food and the ability to afford it can become critical factors. One study of “food-insecure” participants living in the Baltimore area reported more respiratory symptoms. And she has shown that people with COPD who reported eating more omega-3-rich foods or had higher levels in their blood had fewer respiratory flare-ups, better quality of life and better lung function. She is currently studying whether those who receive three months of free deliveries of healthy food to their homes may have fewer respiratory flare-ups.
Taken together, such findings offer up the tantalizing possibility that a healthy diet and nutritional supplements could be key to improving the lives for millions in underserved communities who are struggling with respiratory disease.
“The work at CIM is helping to change the face of medicine, and that’s really exciting. It’s also encouraging both our medical trainees and our rising stars in medicine to really think about how we can give back to our patients: both one on one, and in terms of the clinical trials we develop, our community partnerships and our policies.” – Nadia Hansel
As the newly named director of the Department of Medicine, Hansel praises CIM’s support for allowing early-career faculty “the flexibility to ask and answer important questions that can pave the way to government-funded research.” In her own case, support that she received from CIM was instrumental in helping her receive NIH grants to lead her current two clinical trials.
“The work at CIM is helping to change the face of medicine, and that’s really exciting,” Hansel says. “It’s also encouraging both our medical trainees and our rising stars in medicine to really think about how we can give back to our patients: both one on one, and in terms of the clinical trials we develop, our community partnerships and our policies.”
