To be healthy active adults we need to have a healthy diet. If you are sick or have a serious disease a healthy diet is even more important. Eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, limiting your fat and sugar intake and reducing the salt from your diet will make anyone healthier, especially those who have cystic fibrosis.

There are some foods a cystic fibrosis patient should stay away from completely or eat in small quantities. Foods that increase mucus production or cause an allergic reaction should be removed from your diet. If you are lactose intolerant and a cystic fibrosis patient, it is essential you stay away from all dairy products.

Dairy Products Forbidden

Especially stay away from milk, cheese, and ice cream. Other foods that could cause allergic reactions and make cystic fibrosis symptoms worse are peanuts, oranges, sugar, bananas, and saturated fats.

You should also limit or avoid excessive meat, wheat, barley and oat products and leave the saltshaker off the table.

Cystic Fibrosis affects more than 30,000 children and young adults in the United States. It affects children by interrupting the work of the epithelial cells. These are cells that make up the sweat glands. They also line passageways inside the liver, pancreas, lungs, reproductive and digestive systems.

A child inherits the Cystic Fibrosis gene from a parent in the form of a defective protein called Cystic Fibrosis Conductance Regulator. If this protein is not effective, the epithelial cells are not able to regulate the way chloride passes by cell membranes.

Air Passageways Balance

Chloride is found in ordinary table salt. When this happens it disrupts the balance between salt and water that is needed to maintain the lining in the lungs, the pancreas and other passageways in the body that connect to other parts of the body. These passageways are made of a normal coating of fluid and mucus.

Infants born and diagnosed early with cystic fibrosis are now growing up, going through puberty, and eventually, most are becoming mature adults with families of their own. The teen years are a challenge both to the parents and the teens. Teens are beginning to assert their independence, trying to be grown up, and rebellion is a stage most teens will go through.

Teenagers feel awkward and uncertain and often lose confidence in their abilities and skills. They may feel frustrated at the drugs they need to take or the time spent having physiotherapy. They may want to pretend they are normal when they are out with their friends.

They may not eat healthy, take their digestive enzymes, and teenagers often start smoking at this age. Rebellion may be a perfectly normal part of going through puberty but teenagers with rebellious habits could lead to their death.

Start Early as Possible

The only way a person can inherit the cystic fibrosis if both their parents are carrier of the mutant cystic fibrosis gene. Scientists know that one in every thirty people are carriers of this mutant gene. Your risk is higher if you are a Caucasian with ancestors that came from the Northern part of Europe.

If you have a family history of cystic fibrosis, you are more likely to be a carrier of the mutant gene. If you are Caucasian, your risk of being a carrier of the disease is 1 in 29. The statistics change dramatically for those of Latino descent.

Only 1 in 46 people will be a carrier. If you are of African-American descent the risks drop even lower. Only 1 in 90 African-Americans will be a carrier for the mutant cystic fibrosis gene.

Fetal Testing

If you have genetic testing and find you and your partner are both carriers of this mutant gene, your doctor can test your baby before it is born to see if the baby has the disease. It cannot be treated before the baby is born, but if you are aware the disease is present you will have time to look at all choices.

Cystic fibrosis is a disease that has no known cure. It can have devastating complications if not treated. Common and frequent complications are respiratory infections such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and chronic sinusitis. The passageways to the respiratory organs are dilated when you have these infections and can make it more difficult to clear the passageways. Asthma can develop from the chronic inflammation of the bronchial linings.

Infection

Respiratory infections are common because the mucus that is blocking the passageways also harbor bacteria. One bacterium that causes severe complications is Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It causes increased inflammation in the respiratory system and although antibiotics can decrease attacks and lessen the severity it never leaves the airways and lungs.

This same bacterium is found in healthy individuals but seldom causes infections. It is not considered contagious. The lungs can develop bleeding from the repeated infections and a patient may also have a lung collapse. A lung collapse happens when air leaks out of the lung’s outer layer.