What impact can nutrition and diet have on emphysema?

Significant: A diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables reduces the sensation of breathlessness. Advancing emphysema causes significant weight loss. Nutritional support is highly recommended.

Avoid malnutrition: People with bad lung disease need to avoid becoming underweight. Many lose weight due to the calorie burning nature of heavy breathing and once all the body fat is gone the patient may start losing the muscle mass they need to breathe. Within reason, people who weight more live longer with severe lung disease.

Significant: You need to take in enough protein and fat so your respiratory muscles can have enough energy to work and regenerate; and limit the carbohydrates as COPD lungs have trouble eliminating carbon dioxide, which is their end-product. There are food supplements specialized for copd.

Helpful not curative: Emphysema is a destructive and ultimately hypermetabolic process so adequate nutrition is required to prevent scavenging of the body in general. Adequate amounts of protein are necessary to maintain the body's protein stores and muscular strength. At least one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight.