If you also imagine your lungs yelling, "Hey! What are you? Nuts?" -- stop by the store tonight. Pick up a mango, a jalapeno, a red pepper, and some fresh cilantro. Chop them all up with a little lime juice, salt, and pepper. Then dip in. This sweet and spicy salsa will do more than please your palate. The beta carotene-rich fruits and veggies help ward off normal age-related declines in lung function.
Regular exercise is a great way to help keep your respiratory system strong. But your lungs may be helped by what you eat as well. Dipping into mango salsa is really dipping into a bowl of lung-friendly, health-protective antioxidants -- especially beta carotene, the antioxidant compound that gives mangos, carrots, peppers, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, apricots, and many other fruits and veggies their brilliant red, yellow, and orange hues. An impressive French study has found that filling your plate with bright, beta carotene-rich foods can help fight normal slips in lung performance. In other words, a few daily dollops of mango salsa might keep you dashing up the stairs.
Over this 8-year study, people who had the highest blood levels of beta carotene lost the least lung function. Beta carotene is a major scavenger of certain types of free radicals (unstable atoms that encourage aging and disease) that are particularly harmful to the lungs. The bottom line? Bright red/yellow/orange foods, from salsa to squashes, can help keep your lungs young.
RealAge Benefit: Getting the right amount of protective antioxidants -- including beta carotene -- through food or supplements can make your RealAge 6 years younger.
Take the RealAge Test
