Confirmed the relationship between air pollution and diabetes

A comprehensive study has proven the link between air pollutants caused by automobiles and diabetes. 8.2 million human lives were lost in 2016 due to diabetes induced by pollution.

A new global study confirmed the relationship between pollution emitted by cars and trucks with diabetes. Air pollution adds to the causes of type 2 diabetes, ranging from lack of exercise and poor nutrition to genetics.

The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health reviewed data from 1.7 million American veterans who were followed for 8 and a half years with data from NASA. He also added international research on diabetes and air pollution to design a model for estimating diabetes risk based on the level of contamination, and used the study Global Burden of Disease, of 2017, to calculate how many years of healthy life were lost due to exposure to this polluted air.

The researchers calculated that 8.2 million years of healthy life were lost worldwide due to pollution-related diabetes, only in 2016

D & # After The Atlantic further research has shown a link between diabetes and air pollution in the past, this study is one of the most important in its kind, and It is unique because it quantifies exactly how many cases of diabetes in the world are attributable to air pollution: 14% of the total cases occurred in 2016. In the United, he found, pollution from the air is responsible for 150,000 cases of diabetes.

The study, funded by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, led by six researchers from the Clinical Epidemiological Center of St. Louis, Missouri (United States). Unidos), it is clear in its conclusion: "The number of cases of diabetes attributable to PM2.5 air pollution is significant. Reducing the exposure will generate substantial health benefits. "

Particulate pollutants (better known as PM2.5) are particles emitted by various industries and the combustion of fossil fuels, but the most important source is cars, PM2.5 is 30 times less that a human hair

Scientists are just beginning to understand exactly what makes PM2.5 so harmful. The main reason is that they are very small and contain toxic metals that get lodge in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, thus circulating to different organs and causing inflammation. In turn, this inflammation generates insulin resistance that the body naturally produces, and in some cases, this resistance becomes so aggressive that the patient's pancreas ceases to function regularly, and the patient is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. [19659005] The study also badessed the bed scientific literature on the relationship between the risk of diabetes and PM2.5, pbadive smoking and active smoking (the latter two were considered indirect exposures of Pm2.5). Scientists wanted to exclude this main source of PM2. .5 in the body of the subjects of the study, it turned out to be pollution.

The researchers also warn that the limits of air pollution in the world are too high, and take the example of the United States. According to the EPA, the threshold of contamination is 12 μg / m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air), but this study indicates that the risk of diabetes starts around 2.4.

Persons exposed between 5 and 10 μg / m3. of particles, about 21% developed diabetes. At the threshold of current "safe" levels, 24% develop the disease. For each increase of 10 μg / m3 of particles, the risk of developing diabetes increases by 15%. This risk is present regardless of whether the individual becomes obese or not.

The consequences of pollution are more severe for developing countries that do not have strict limits on air pollution. For example, the study indicates that countries such as Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea face an increased risk of many cases of diabetes related to air pollution, while the United States pose a moderate risk. In Colombia, according to the Ministry of the Environment, the maximum annual allowable limit of PM2.5 for 1009 was 60 μg / m3 and 50 μg / m3 in 2011.

The study was published strategically to counteract the new air pollution policy proposed by US President Donald Trump. He proposes that all studies used by the EPA to establish air and water regulations make public their underlying data. These health data are confidential

. The study adds to the evidence linking pollution to health risks. Recommendations to breathe the least amount of pollutant particles do not occur near highways or at peak times, wearing masks (as in China or India), looking for a neighborhood away from heavy traffic and taking care of food, among others.

According to WHO, pollution in the world kills three times more people than badually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and malaria combined.