(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-25 09:37

Although none of the smokers achieved lung health comparable to that of the non-smoking group, Bennoor's team found that vitamin supplementation did significantly improve lung function in all four smoking groups.

No one vitamin appeared to positively impact lung health any more than another, but the group taking all three vitamins seemed to derive the biggest benefit.

However, six months after going off a vitamin regimen, the lung health of all the smokers reverted back to levels that were below those seen after two months of supplementation.

It's possible that antioxidant supplementation might help improve lung function, the team speculated, but such improvements are not retained when supplementation stops.

Dr. Neil Schachter, professor of pulmonary medicine and medical director of the Respiratory Care Department at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City, was a bit cautious on the results of both studies.

"These are interesting studies," he said. "But, first of all, there is simply not that much literature on alcohol and lung function. So, yes, there is this thought that one or two glasses of alcohol is good for your heart and too much is not good for your health in general. And I guess their findings go along with that general statement. But, nevertheless, I'd say the jury is still out."

"On the other hand, there's a lot of literature on vitamin supplementation as it relates to chronic lung disease," Schachter added. "There is a lot of evidence that diets loaded with what are considered healthy nutrients -- fruits, grains, those kind of things -- are associated with better lung health than those that are not. But attempts to supplement diets with vitamins in order to improve lung health have not been terribly successful. And this vitamin study was very, very small."

"So, while I understand that certainly people would much rather make themselves well with diet than they would with medication, it's important to recognize that this is very hard research to do," Schachter said. "So far, the attempts to sort of pluck out the ingredients that we think are the keys ones haven't been very successful. Much more work is needed," he added.

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