Long-term air pollution causes obesity and increased waist circumference in women - Video
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Overview
Obesity has been a major global health issue in recent decades as more people eat unhealthy diets and fail to exercise regularly. A new University of Michigan study suggests there is another factor that tips the scale in women's weight, body mass index, waist circumference and body fat which is air pollution.
Women in their late 40s and early 50s exposed long-term to air pollution-specifically, higher levels of fine particles, nitrogen dioxide and ozone-saw increases in their body size and composition measures, said Xin Wang, epidemiology research investigator at the U-M School of Public Health and the study's first author.
These women, whose baseline median age was nearly 50 years, were tracked from 2000 to 2008. The researchers examined the associations between the pollution and the participants body size and composition measures. One question they sought to answer was whether these associations differed by physical activity.
Exposure to air pollution was linked with higher body fat, higher proportion fat and lower lean mass among midlife women. For instance, body fat increased by 4.5%, or about 2.6 pounds.
Researchers explored the interaction between air pollution and physical activity on body composition. High levels of physical activity-which had been based on the frequency, duration and perceived physical exertion of more than 60 exercises-was an effective way to mitigate and offset exposure to air pollution, the research showed.
Ref:
Xin Wang, et al,JOURNAL Diabetes Care
Speakers
Isra Zaman
B.Sc Life Sciences, M.Sc Biotechnology, B.Ed
Isra Zaman is a Life Science graduate from Daulat Ram College, Delhi University, and a postgraduate in Biotechnology from Amity University. She has a flair for writing, and her roles at Medicaldialogues include that of a Sr. content writer and a medical correspondent. Her news pieces cover recent discoveries and updates from the health and medicine sector. She can be reached at editorial@medicaldialogues.in.
Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751