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As the childhood obesity rate in the United States is rising, with more than 12.5 million obese children nationwide, we tend to blame the weight gain on the child's diet, family history, or lack of exercise. However, a study recently published by the researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health discovered that air pollution might have a role in the "decision" as well, because they found that when pregnant women are exposed to a high concentration of the air pollutants, classified as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, (PAHs), their children will be more than twice as likely to suffer from obesity by the age of seven.
PAHs are a group of over one hundred chemicals and compounds that are found in materials containing carbon. When these materials, such as coal, tobacco, oil, and wood, are burned, they release the PAHs into the air and they act as an air pollutant. Sources include car exhaust, cigarette smoke, forest fires, and grilled foods, and a few common PAHs are Pyrene, Fluorene, and anthracene.
The study
More than 700 pregnant women were involved in this study. They were either African American or Dominican, between the ages of 18 and 35, residents of Northern Manhattan or the South Bronx, and all nonsmokers. Researchers monitored the air around them for two days while they were in their third trimester, making each woman carry around a special backpack that sampled the air around them. At the end of the study, researchers observed that the children of the women who were exposed to high levels of PAHs during pregnancy were 1.79 times more likely to become obese by the mere age of five, and 2.26 times more likely to be obese by the age of seven than the children of the women with less exposure to PAHs. On average, the children whose mothers had the highest exposure to the PAHs had 2.5 more fat mass than the children whose mothers had the least exposure.
You may be asking, "How on earth is this possible?" Well, there have been studies involving cell culture and they showed that PAHs stop the process of lipolysis, which is the breakdown of lipids (fats) inside the body. So, if the fats are not broken down, they accumulate and are stored instead of getting destroyed.
Not only is prenatal exposure to PAHs linked to obesity, but research at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School has also linked it to attention problems in children and a reduction in a child's IQ.
If this is not a wake-up call for people about air pollution, I really don't know what is. Of course, air pollution is not the only factor when it comes to childhood obesity, but it can have a small part in it.
Fun Fact: I mentioned in a previous post how pollution is linked to asthma and other respiratory problems, but did you know that pollution, (water, air, and soil pollution) causes 40 percent of the deaths worldwide? Although we can't reverse the damages we already caused, there is always time for change, and if we can live a cleaner and more earth-friendly lifestyle, the world will indeed become a better place and people's health will improve.
What do you think about this study? Do you believe it? Did it shock you to hear the connection between obesity and pollution? What other effects do you think air pollution has on our health?
Picture Source: In case you were wondering "Who is that adorable baby in the picture?", it's me! :)
Sources:
"Overweight and Obesity" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention April 16, 2012
"Pollution Causes 40 percent of Deaths Worldwide, Study Finds" ScienceDaily August 13, 2007
"Prenatal Exposure to Air Pollution linked to Childhood Obesity" Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health April 16, 2012
