Dr Oz did a segment on how to protect your lungs and keep them strong and healthy. What if you are damaging your lungs without even knowing it? Doctor Oz showed how your lungs work by breathing in air, and the air mixes with your blood cells to oxygenate them. As you breathe, your lungs push air in, absorb nutrients, and push air back out.
Lung Vital Capacity Test
Dr Oz had his guest of the day do a lung Vital Capacity Test where you blow into a tube to measure how much air are in your lungs. Dr Oz’s assistant of the day was able to push out about 3 liters of air in two breaths. Dr Oz said sometimes people can push out up to 5 liters of air. Our lungs are optimal in our 20’s, and usually, by our 70’s we lose half of our lung function. However, you can damage your lungs with second hand smoke, and that can cause you to lose half of your lung function by the time you are 45 years old.
Emphysema & COPD Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Dr Oz said that Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) can be caused by breathing in smoke, which brings toxins into your lungs and irritates your cells which creates an immune response. Eventually, smoking can cause Emphysema which makes it very hard to breath. Dr Oz showed a normal lung that was soft, had air pockets and looked relatively clean. Then, Dr Oz showed a lung with Emphysema and COPD, which had tar deposits, holes, was enlarged, and the nice intricate architecture of a normal lung had completely fallen apart.
Dr Oz: Emphysema Signs
Dr Oz said that signs of Emphysema include coughing more than you used to and having excess phlegm.
Healthy Lung Remedies:
Dr Oz said that by drinking 1-2 glasses of red wine each day, you can decrease your risk of getting lung cancer. Also, by taking 400 IU of Vitamin E every day (if you are a woman… Dr Oz did not mention the dose for men) you can get a strong antioxidant boost for your lungs. However, if you smoke, these little Lung Remedies will not really help.