A new study done in Germany finds increase glucose intolerance and insulin resistance in people exposed to increasing pollution. German researchers found that those patients who already had prediabetes were even more susceptible. The study involved 2944 people in and around Augsburg Germany, tracking their glucose levels and other metabolic measurements along with levels of air pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide.
They found that for every increase of 7.9 micrograms per cubic meter in soot and other particulate matter, there is an increase of 15 percent in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The authors suggest that the increase in oxidative stress and inflammation was the triggering mechanism. Annette Peters the lead author from the Harvard TH Chan School if Public Health emphasizes the need for healthy diet and exercise to counter these effects. In conjunction, it would be logical to measure oxidation in patients’ blood and offer nutrients as antioxidants to counter this.
At the Salerno Center, we can also measure pollutants stored in body tissues and offer iv antioxidant therapy and detoxification. This is so vital as oxidative stress, and body burden of toxins is implicated in heart disease cancer and dementia among others. Air pollution is increasingly problematic. While greenhouse gasses and global warming receive most of the attention, toxic accumulation of our air really poses the most imminent threat to society. We need to see much more media attention to the role of pollution to our health, while of course still emphasizing its effects on warming our climate. This still does not even address the issue of air pollution particles such as methyl mercury which land in our seas and trickles down to large fish which consume smaller fish. Mercury in tuna, mackerel, and swordfish are now at the highest levels ever seen!
