Eating lots of fresh tomatoes and fruit, especially apples, helps heal damaged lungs of ex-smokers, reports Johns Hopkins University research published in the European Respiratory Journal. The study, which followed more than 650 people between 2002 and 2012, also found that those that ate more than two tomatoes or more than three portions of fresh fruit daily experienced markedly less of the natural decline of lung function that typically occurs after age 30.

This article appears in the July 2018 issue of Natural Awakenings.