Has diabetes been always with us? Hard to say. Does it occur more often? Certainly! 420 million people around the world currently suffer from it. Some suffer from a genetic burden, others get sick with a bad diet and a sedentary lifestyle. There is no wonder - nowadays work takes place in front of a monitor screen, while shops and eateries attack us with highly processed food. No problem! A proper diet and some movement is enough to protect yourself from diabetes, right? Unfortunately not.
Researchers from the Washington University Medicine Department along with Veterans Affair St. The Louis Health Care System has determined that air pollution can increase the risk of developing diabetes. Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly (Washington University) says:
"Our research has shown a significant correlation between air pollution and diabetes. We have found that the risk of diabetes increases even where the air pollution is at a level recognized by the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) and WHO as safe. This is very important, as many lobbyists say that current pollution standards are too restrictive and should be liberalized. "
Researchers have found that reducing air pollution can contribute to the decline in diabetes. In other words, diabetes is tuberculosis of our time.
How does it happen? We breathe in the air, which is filled with microscopic dust. This dust goes to the lungs, it penetrates into the bloodstream, and reaches all organs in the bloodstream. It strains and damages the heart (heart disease), kidneys (kidney disease), brain (strokes) and many other parts of our body (cancers). It also hits the pancreas, which can lead to inflammation, which in turn interferes with the processing of glucose in the blood. Effect? In 2016, polluted air contributed to new cases of diabetes. Specifically, up to 3.2 million new cases.
How did the scientists come to these conclusions? Over a period of time (on average, almost 9 years), 1.7 million American veterans were observed, the results were combined with EPA and NASA data on air quality, and then various statistical models were introduced to eliminate mistakes and errors. Observations have shown that the risk of developing diabetes increases when the amount of dust in the air exceeds 2.4 micrograms per cubic meter. 21% of veterans breathing air polluted at the level of 5 - 10 micrograms, and 24% of veterans breathing polluted air at the level of 11.9 - 13.6 micrograms got ill. A slight growth, but if we translate these percentages into a world population, it turns out that for every 100,000 people there are around 5.5-6 thousand new diabetics.
We are waiting for more reports on the impact of surface quality on diseases such as diabetes!
Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-air-pollution-contributes-significantly-diabetes.html
