Science is getting smarter everyday and new discoveries and revelations continue to surprise us. In a recent study conducted on Diabetes by Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis and the Veterans Affairs(VA) St Louis Health Care System, Diabetes has been found to have links with outdoor air pollution. The findings were published in The Landet Planetary Health on June 29.
In diabetes, Pollution is thought to reduce insulin production and trigger inflammation, preventing the body from converting blood glucose into energy that the body needs to maintain health. The findings raise the possibility that reducing pollution will lead to a drop in diabetes cases in heavily polluted countries like India compared to less polluted ones like the United States.
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“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University. “We found an increased risk, even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This is important because many industry lobbying groups argue that current levels are too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened.”
The Washington University team, in collaboration with scientists at the Veterans Affairs’ Clinical Epidemiology Center, examined the relationship between particulate matter and the risk of diabetes by analyzing data from 1.7 million U.S. veterans who were followed for a median of 8.5 years.
“Over the past two decades, there have been bits of research about diabetes and pollution,” Al-Aly said. “We wanted to thread together the pieces for a broader, more solid understanding,” he added.
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