effects of air pollution they are well known. were associated with some types of cancerwith many respiratory diseases and even with a wide range mental health problems. However, until now it was not known that it also affects the bones, accelerating progression of diseases such as osteoporosis.
This was confirmed by a group of scientists from Columbia Universityin a study published this month in electronic clinical medicine. It examines the impact of pollution by various substances on group of postmenopausal women. This very specific population was not chosen by chance, but because, of course, they are very vulnerable to osteoporosis.
This is due to a drop in estrogen levels, hormones that, among other functions, are responsible for protecting bones. Therefore, these women are usually more vulnerable, with or without contamination. However, it has been observed that if they are exposed to high levels of certain substances, they bone density decreases much faster. With all the consequences, of course.
Effects of Air Pollution on Bones
This study involved 9041 postmenopausal womenobserved for six years. During this time, levels of various pollutants were measured around their homes: nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and PM 10 particles. Except, your bone density was measuredwhich is a good indicator of both the risk of fractures and the likelihood of osteoporosis.
Thus, it was seen that those who lived in more polluted areas suffered faster decline in bone density all over the body. Of course, although all the bones were affected, there were those that suffered the consequences of infection more negatively. For example, a strong negative relationship was found between spine And nitrogen impurities.
more research needed
Since all participants were postmenopausal womenyou might think that the group was too homogeneous. However, it should be noted that they were from different socioeconomic backgrounds, from a wide variety of places, and even from different ethnic groups. Thus, other factors that may influence the results can be ruled out.
However, so far they have only been able to find one correlation between pollution effects and bone loss. They still need to find a causal relationship. I mean what is it for? They think it might be related to oxidative stress. This may also be related to epigenetics. That is, with how environmental factors change how use genes in cells. But more information is required to get acquainted.
So the ideal would be to do more research like this in the future. meanwhile, bone health This seems to be another good reason to live in less polluted places. It’s just a patch though. The idea is to fight this pollution so that there are fewer and fewer affected points. This is something that will be appreciated not only by the planet on which we live, but also by our health. On a lot more levels than we originally thought.
Source: Hiper Textual
