CB BureauA study by Harvard medical researchers, published in the October issue of Diabetes Care, links air pollution to increased rates of diabetes.
The research says that even in areas where there are acceptable levels of air pollution, as regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the prevalence of diabetes is noteworthy, with an increased risk of developing the disease by more than 20 per cent.
The study is significant because until now, lifestyle has been cited as a major contributor to risk factors in diabetes. Smoking, sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition were all causative agents in the risk for diabetes that could be controlled. The environment, however, adds a new dimension on prevention and diabetes treatments because the amount of toxins and pollutants in the air are not factors that humans can immediately change or control.
With pollution level rising across the country, the risk is greater in urban India, where vehicle emissions are responsible for nearly 70 per cent of the air pollution.
The study found that even in areas where there are the highest acceptable amounts of air pollutants as deemed safe by the EPA, diabetes rates were high. The EPA determines safe limits of fine particulate (smallest) air pollution.
However, the tinier the toxic pollutant particle, the easier it is for that particle to absorb into the bloodstream and the lungs. This exposure causes chronic inflammation, which then leads to insulin resistance.
Prior research to find a link between the environment and diabetes have been done on animals. The studies found that air pollution, or exposure to fine particulates of air, results in increased resistance to insulin.
It is to be noted that in India, exhaust from vehicles has increased eight-fold over levels of twenty years ago and industrial pollution has risen four times over the same period. Although in November 2009 the country revised the national ambient air quality standards, and made them equivalent to the European level exceeding even the standard prevalent in the US, air quality has been worsening in big cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.
Commit not to drive on January 30, 2011: http://www.causebecause.com/nodrivingday.php