Air pollution, even at levels considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, may cause diabetes in adults. A large population-based study by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston links an increase in insulin resistance, a harbinger of Type 2 diabetes, to air pollution.
Researchers used data from the U.S. Census and the Centers for Disease Control to adjust known risk factors for diabetes, including obesity and exercise, reports USA Today. Even so, they found a 1 percent increase in diabetes for every 10 microgram per cubic meter rise in pollution particles found in smoke and car exhaust.
"We didn't have data on individual exposure, so we can't prove causality, and we can't know exactly the mechanism of these peoples' diabetes," study co-author John Brownstein said. "But pollution came across as a significant predictor in all our models."
The study found that even if pollution levels were within EPA safety limits, counties with the highest levels had an increase in diabetes of more than 20 percent compared to counties with the lowest levels.
"From a policy perspective, the findings suggest that the current EPA limits on exposure may not be adequate to prevent negative public health outcomes from particulate matter exposure," Brownstein said.
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