pollutants

IQAir HealthPro Plus Review for Asthma Sufferers

IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier Line — The IQAir HealthPro Plus Family of Air Purifiers

The IQAir HealthPro Plus (also known as the IQAir Health Pro 250 outside of the US) is a highly effective portable air purification system for asthma sufferers. It isn’t the cheapest. It isn’t the prettiest. It isn’t the smallest. But, if you’re looking for a portable unit that will effectively clean the air inside your home, do yourself a favor & please consider this air purifier.

The rest of my article describes my selection process & also compares the IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier to two other very highly regarded air purifiers: the Airgle PurePal Clean Room Air AG900 & the Blueair 650E Digital HEPASilent Air Purifier. I encourage you to read on to see how & why I reached my conclusion.

When I started, I was searching for an air purifier that didn’t sound like a jet engine, wouldn’t take up half a room, wouldn’t spew ozone & would clean the air in my home.

My criteria list included the following:

Effectiveness (how small a particle would be filtered)
Price (important up to a point)
Room size (my main living area is a large open space which includes a living room, dining room & kitchen)
Reputation (reviews & published test results)
Noise (DO NOT want a jet engine)
Replacement Filter Costs (important up to a point)
Resale Value (not that important to me, but worth considering)
Other Features (NO ozone (VERY important), UV (not important for me), Remote Control (not important for me))

As clean air is hard to come by these days, there seems to be hundreds of models of air purifiers from all over the world to choose from. Each of them promising me the cleanest air possible, in the quickest time possible, in near silence. How to choose?

I honestly didn’t know, so I went looking for folks that lived in one of the most polluted places on earth, Beijing, China. I wanted to find out what brands (if any?) they used to clean the air in their homes.

I ended up discovering two articles worth mentioning: one from the New York Times titled: “U.S. Embassy Stocks Up on Air Purifiers” & the other was from an English Doctor who’s lived in Beijing for over 7 years titled: “Air Purifier Reviews: Airgle versus IQAir and Blueair”. I weighed the article from the doctor higher because he’s been trying to protect his infant son’s lungs from the insane pollution in Beijing.

So there they were, three choices from a list of hundreds: IQAir, BlueAir & Airgle. I decided to focus on the three flagship models from the respective manufacturers’ lineups. I had some money put away for this purchase & I figured the top models would offer the most effective filtration, which after some quick research seemed to be the case.

Below are the three air purifiers I was comparing:

IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier

Effectiveness: Filters Particles to 0.003 microns
Price: $899 on IQAir.com
Room size: 1,125 Sq. Ft.
Reputation: Great Reviews
Noise: 35 to 69 dB(A)
Replacement Filter Costs ($544.93 Total):
- IQAir Cleanroom HyperHEPA Filter $289.95
- IQAir V5-Cell Gas & Odor Filter $139.99
- IQAir PreMax Pre-Filter $114.99
Resale Value: Strong
Other Features: NO Ozone

Airgle PurePal Clean Room Air AG900

Effectiveness: Filters Particles to 0.1 microns
Price: $1,299
Room size: 698 Sq. Ft.
Reputation: Great Reviews
Noise: 33 to ?? dB(A)
Replacement Filter Costs ($437 Total):
- Airgle (6lb) Gas and Odor Carbon $89.00
- Airgle cHEPA Filter $189.00
- Airgle Titanium Pro Module $159.00
Resale Value: Strong
Other Features: NO Ozone

Blueair 650E Digital HEPASilent Air Purifier

Effectiveness: Filters Particles to 0.1 microns
Price: $849
Room size: 698 Sq. Ft.
Reputation: Great Reviews
Noise: 32 to 66 dB(A)
Replacement Filter Costs ($338.95 Total):
- Blueair Smokestop Filter (Set of 3) $149.95
- Blueair Replacement Particle Filter (Set of 3) $189.00
Resale Value: Strong
Other Features: NO Ozone

Ultimately, I chose the IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier based on three things:

It’s priced in the middle of the three ($899)
It claims to filter out the tiniest particles (.003 microns)
It claims to effectively filter the largest room size (1,125 sq. ft.)

Although, to be fair, it isn’t the quietest of the three at 35 to 69 dB(A) & the replacement filters are the priciest at $544.93 to replace all three at once.

I encourage you to do your own research & decide on the best air purifying solution for you, your family & your home & I hope you have found some of the information in this article helpful to that end. Believe me, I know how daunting it can be!

Vitamin C vs. Asthma

Oranges Are High in Vitamin C — Foods like Oranges Which Are High in Vitamin C Can Help Manage Asthma Symptoms

Taking vitamin C may help reduce your risk of suffering the more serious effects of asthma. It is a vital antioxidant that can help your lungs fight off free radicals, which are caustic molecules that can damage lung tissue.

People who suffer asthma have been found to have less vitamin C in their lungs (Inhal Tox 2003; 15:101).

According to Jason Barker, ND, taking antioxidants “…most notably vitamin C, can modulate the impact of air pollutants to reduce their effects…including that of ozone on children with moderate-to-severe asthma” (Alt & Comp Ther 6/03).

Lower Your Asthma Risk

Fruits and Vegetables High in Vitamin C Have Been Shown to Lower the incidence of Asthma Attacks — Eat Plenty of Fruits High in Vitamin C

Research has pointed to several ways to significantly lower your or your family’s asthma risk:

Eat plenty of fruits & vegetables high in Vitamin C.
Unless absolutely necessary, do not administer antibiotics to children under six months of age (European Respiratory Society Conference, Vienna, 09/03).
Children under the age of three should consume full-cream milk and butter daily (PIAMA Birth Cohort Study 2003; 58:567-72).
Stay out of indoor swimming pools; their chemicals can make lungs more susceptible to asthma (Occup & Environ Med 2003; 60:385-94).
Avoid hormone replacement therapy when you reach menopause (Arch Int Med 2/23/04).
Don’t smoke; don’t let family members be exposed to secondhand smoke. According to Robert Fink, MD “[T]he hospitalization rate for asthma in children is 50% higher if there is a smoker in the household.”
Open windows at home to clear the house of indoor air pollutants.
Avoid products, such as hairspray, that come in pressurized cans.
Practice stress relief, and transmit this information to your children.
“[E]motionally induced’ asthma is a real entity,” says Dr. Fink. “It has been shown that crying or laughing can elicit a histamine response”– that is, a release of the chemical responsible for allergic reactions.