Each and every day, our local weathermen report on current air pollution, with “particulates” almost always at the top of the list. Most people know that air pollution is bad, but a new study puts it in a whole different light.
Air pollution is becoming killer.
The study from the University of Milan investigated 63 healthy subjects who worked in a nearby foundry that has high levels of particulate matter (PM), which is a mixture of extremely small bits and liquid droplets — including acids, organic chemicals, metals, soil and dust — suspended in the air. Those particles pass through the nose and throat and enter the lungs. Researchers took blood DNA samples on the morning of the first day of a workweek and again three days later, and found significant changes in four genes associated with tumor suppression.
In other words, just three days of breathing particulate-laden air caused the workers’ genes to reprogram in a way that could be associated with disease. (These changes were caused by a chemical transformation called methylation, which has also been found in blood and tissues of lung-cancer patients.) The research report noted that the PM in the foundry is similar to what’s found in ambient air pollution.
I contacted the lead author, Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD, to get more information about this troubling study. He told me that while the genetic changes were moderate, and indeed reversed themselves after workers had several days off, the study showed “that even short-term exposure to particulate matter may modify the function of genes at the core of the system that keeps our cells from transforming into cancer.”
Fortunately, there is some evidence that the body may be able to adapt to changes induced by environmental exposures. In fact, Dr. Baccarelli says that one of the group’s ongoing research objectives is to find mechanisms that the body uses to make these adaptations in order to develop new ways to limit toxic exposure damage.
In research he published last year, he reported that people who have higher intake of vitamins B6, B12 and methionine had some protection against the cardiovascular effects of air pollution. His group is now trying to assess whether these nutrients might prevent DNA-methylation alterations caused by air pollution.
The harm is done at the molecular level, Dr. Baccarelli said, where the damage caused by environmental particulates combines with that caused by other unhealthy lifestyle effects. He said that this supports the belief that health risks are cumulative. This means the best personal defense against the dangers of pollution is to minimize the negative factors by following a healthy lifestyle, including a nutritious diet rich in folate-containing foods, such as calves’ liver, romaine lettuce, spinach, turnip greens, lentils and asparagus. On a broader level, he stresses the importance of continuing efforts to reduce PM emissions into the air through personal choices — such as by buying smaller, less polluting vehicles and driving less — and by supporting governmental initiatives to regulate environmental standards.
Source(s):
Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD, senior researcher, department of occupational and environmental health, University of Milan.
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Reprinted with the permission of:
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