Diabetes and Pollution Linked

Diabetes and pollution is the topic of a study conducted at Ohio State University that found links between several pesticides, air pollution and diabetes. They say that breathing soot affects the way insulin works in mice and make these fat mice at risk to develop Type 2 diabetes. The National Instituted of Health paid for this study which was published in Circulation.

This research that linked diabetes with pesticides include the ones used on golf courses. They are also used to kill pests that are supposedly harmful to food crops. The researchers also tied diabetes to air pollution. They found that breathing soot affects the work of insulin in mice. This made fat mice to develop type 2 diabetes.

The National Institute of Health funded this research which showed that fat mice that were already vulnerable to develop type 2 diabetes because of unhealthy diet increased their risk with air pollution. In other words, air pollution was the trigger that determined which of the fat mice would develop diabetes and which would not.

What is soot? This is also known as fine particulates. Mind you, there is more regulation now with the government stepping in trying to improve the smokestacks and diesel engines. Sadly, the air still remains unhealthy on some days in certain areas of the country because of the fine particulates.

Heart troubles and lung disease have been triggered by the unhealthy air. This is the reason the government stepped in to regulate the emission. And now the experts are saying that pollution may also be a factor in the obesity epidemic. This is why continuing work on this will help prevent heart attack and stroke.

Epidemiological researches have suggested the diabetics are at risk to develop cardiovascular problems. They say that this is associated with exposure to air pollution associated with power plants that burn coal and those emitted from traffic.

In one study the findings reported that exposure to air pollution consistently showed positive points estimates associated with inflammatory markers. This suggests that inflammatory mechanism is behind the increased risk to cardiovascular events due to air pollution.

Standards of air quality outdoors help protect the population's sensitive people. The trouble is despite the standards, association between diabetes and pollution can still be detected even when the levels are below the standards. So there is still room for improvement in this regard.

One important pollutant is formed by such sources as power plants and also formed due the fossil-fuel combustion by motor vehicles. This is quite a concern for health as these pollutants are deposited in portions of the lungs and the lower airways. More has to be done to stop the link between diabetes and pollution.