Dr. Hanson explores diet’s effect on COPD

Can diet affect the body’s ability to withstand air pollution?

Corrine Hanson, Ph.D., Leuschen Professor for Advancing Research in the Allied Health Sciences in the College of Allied Health Professions, is headed to urban Baltimore and the Appalachian region of Tennessee to find out.

Dr. Hanson’s work had previously shown a direct link between eating fish, fruit and dairy products and improved lung function among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Now, Dr. Hanson is collaborating, as a co-investigator, with Johns Hopkins University and East Tennessee State University to form a Center of Excellence. The center is fueled by a five-year, $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The populations studied on the grant have some of the highest instances of air pollution — and of COPD — in the country.

Urban Baltimore has lots of industrial and city-made air pollution and very little green space with which to clean it up.

And Appalachian Tennessee still burns lots of coal — and, often within homes, wood for warmth. It has one of the highest rates of COPD in the U.S., Dr. Hanson said.

These are people living under tough conditions.

COPD, the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., is exacerbated by environmental factors. Why is it so prevalent — as are many other health disparities — in low-income communities?

The research team aims to understand “the interactive effects of high indoor air pollution, obesity and pro-inflammatory diets on respiratory morbidity in both urban and rural low income communities.”

Johns Hopkins — led by the center’s principal investigator, Nadia Hansel, M.D. — and East Tennessee State will have “boots on the ground” in these communities. But Dr. Hanson also will make trips. She’ll help train the field staff.

A medical nutritionist by profession, she is responsible for developing the nutrition-related components to this nutrition-focused grant. Dr. Hanson believes that nutrients work together and create a sum greater than their individual parts. Her previous work has shown that antioxidants can help folks breathe easier.

Could better diet help a body better tolerate these tough living conditions?

“When most people think about nutrition, they don’t think about their lungs and how what they eat might be affecting how well they can breathe,” Dr. Hanson said.

The team hopes to find answers that bring help to those who need it most.