Just ONE hour of exposure to common air pollutants is enough to alter brain and lung function, study suggests
A new study has found that spending just one hour breathing polluted air can change the way your brain and lungs work.
Air pollution, especially pollutants called particulate matter (PM), has been linked to numerous diseases, including asthma and various types of cancer.
In a new study, healthy adults were exposed to five different types of air for 60 minutes: fresh air, limonene SOA (a citrus scent commonly used in cleaning products), diesel exhaust, wood smoke, and cooking emissions.
After an hour, the volunteers were given a four-hour break before the researchers tested their lung function, working memory, attention, emotional processing, psychomotor control (the time it takes for the brain to receive sensory information) and motor function.
The greatest respiratory effects were seen in people exposed to limonene, followed by wood smoke, diesel exhaust and cooking emissions.
When it came to cognition, diesel exhaust showed the strongest signs of impairment in executive function, which is responsible for planning, focused attention and emotional regulation.
This may be because the nitrogen oxides in the pollutant can alter blood flow to the brain, disrupting daily functions.
Although participants were only around the pollutants for an hour, researchers warned that repeated exposures could lead to permanent cognitive problems and health risks such as cancer.
Researchers in the United Kingdom found that just one hour of pollution exposure can worsen lung and cognitive function (file photo)
The study’s lead author and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, Dr. “This unique clinical study highlighted the importance of the lung-brain axis in the brain’s responses to air pollution,” said Thomas Faherty. he said.
‘Safely exposing the same individuals to multiple real-world pollution mixtures allowed us to detect differences between pollutants, demonstrating the value of this approach for further pollution-dementia research.’
Particulate matter consists of microscopic particles from sources such as car exhaust, power plants, wildfires and fuel combustion. These particles are so small that they can penetrate deep into the lung tissue and even enter the bloodstream.
In the bloodstream, particulate matter creates inflammation, narrows blood vessels (raising blood pressure and promoting artery-narrowing plaque), and triggers oxidative stress, damaging cells, mitochondria, and DNA from top to bottom.
Past research has linked a type of particulate matter called fine particulate matter (PM2.5) to dementia. In a February study, researchers found: Every small increase in PM2.5 is linked to Alzheimer’s disease Risk increased by almost nine percent.
Experts estimate that approximately 150 million Americans are regularly exposed to environmental pollution.
In a new study from the University of Birmingham, researchers brought together 15 healthy adults over the age of 50. The participants did not have dementia, but had a family history of the disease, which increased their overall risk.
The average participant age was 60 and 62 percent were male. They were all white.
While participants were educated about a mixture of four pollution exposures alongside clean air, they were unaware of the order in which they were exposed. After each exposure, the researchers asked participants to indicate which of five discomforts they believed they were experiencing, on a confidence scale from 1 (not at all confident) to 5 (completely confident).
Experts estimate that about 150 million Americans are regularly exposed to environmental pollution from sources such as car exhaust and factories (file photo)
The team found that aerosol exposure to limonene reduced lung function by 3.4 percent, followed by exposure to wood smoke by 2.6 percent.
Exposure to diesel exhaust also led to small reductions in executive functions; This can be measured with tasks such as copying shapes and remembering words.
“Even though pollution mixtures were adjusted to contain similar levels of particulate matter (which is how we currently measure air pollution), we did not see a single, uniform response,” said study author Gordon McFiggans, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.
‘Instead, each source of pollution produced its own pattern of short-term changes in the lungs and brain. ‘This shows us that the body does not respond to all air pollution in the same way, and that the source and composition of the pollution really matters.’
The team noted that more research is needed on the long-term effects of exposure to different types of particulate matter, which could help inform legislation and other measures to protect vulnerable populations.
