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Photo by Ursula Spaulding on Unsplash According to scientists from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, obesity can break down our protective blood-brain barrier resulting in problems with learning and memory. This study is published in the Journal of Neuroscience. What is the …
Photo by Gregory Pappas on Unsplash According to findings of a new study published in the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, losing a single night’s sleep may affect the liver’s ability to produce glucose and process insulin, increasing the risk of metabolic diseases such …
According to a new study, outdoor air pollution (even at levels deemed safe) is linked to an increased risk of diabetes globally.
Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases, especially in the United States, affecting more than 420 million people worldwide and 30 million Americans. The causes of this disease are due to individuals following an unhealthy diet and lifestyle, but new research indicates outdoor air pollution plays a role. This suggests health-conscious individuals may want to consider using dust masks to help avoid inhalation of toxic air.
Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University reports, “Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally. We found an increased risk, even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This is important because many industry lobbying groups argue that current levels are too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened.”
To evaluate outdoor air pollution, researchers studied particulate matter – airborne microscopic pieces of dust, smoke, soot and liquid droplets. Previous studies have found that such particles can enter the lungs and invade the bloodstream, contributing to major health conditions, including heart disease and cancer, according to the study.
New Study: Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Diabetes! Read More >>
The Washington University team, along with scientists at the Veterans Affairs’ Clinical Epidemiology Center, examined the relationship between particulate matter and the risk of diabetes by first analyzing data from 1.7 million U.S. veterans who were followed for a median of 8.5 years. The veterans did not have a history of diabetes. This data was paired with NASA’s land-based air statistical models, which tested the validity against controls like air sodium concentrations. Researchers then devised a model to evaluate diabetes risk across various pollution levels.
The researchers estimated that pollution contributed to 3.2 million new diabetes cases globally in 2016, which represents about 14% of all new diabetes cases globally that year. They also estimated that 8.2 million years of healthy life were lost in 2016 due to pollution-linked diabetes, representing about 14% of all years of healthy life lost due to diabetes from any cause.
In the U.S., the study attributed 150,000 new cases of diabetes per year to air pollution and 350,000 years of healthy life lost annually.
Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on Unsplash A new study conducted by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Seoul National University suggests that individuals with a vitamin d deficiency may be at a much greater risk of developing diabetes. The …
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash According to research published in the journal Science by researchers from the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, the promotion of a select group of gut bacteria by a diet …
According to research from the University of Bonn in Germany, eating fast food is like giving your body a bacterial infection.
The obesity rate in the U.S. is a major health issue. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third (36.5%) of U.S. adults have obesity. This is largely due to unhealthy diets and lifestyles; the Standard American Diet (SAD) is typically composed of heavy, highly-refined carbohydrates and sugar.
Numerous studies have shown that the rise in obesity rates could be attributed to an increase in calorie intake, coupled with a lack of adequate physical activity.
The Institute of Innate Immunity at the University of Bonn in Germany reports that the immune system reacts similarly to a high-fat and high-calorie diet as to bacterial infection. Unhealthy food seems to make the body’s defenses more aggressive in the long term; even after switching to a healthy diet, “inflammation towards innate immune stimulation is more pronounced.”
Scientists placed mice on a “western diet” for a month – high in fat, high in sugar, and low in fiber. The animals developed a strong inflammatory response throughout the body, almost like after an infection. Anette Christ posdoctoral lead in the study reports, “The unhealthy diet led to an unexpected increase in the number of certain immune cells in the blood of the mice. This was an indication for an involvement of immune cell progenitors in the bone marrow.” When researchers offered the rodents their typical cereal diet for another four weeks, the acute inflammation disappeared. What did not disappear was the genetic reprogramming of the immune cells and their precursors – “even after these four weeks, many of the genes that had been switched on during the fast food phase were still active.”
Director of the Institute, Prof. Dr. Eicke Latz, explains, “After an infection, the body’s defenses remain in a kind of alarm state, so they can respond more quickly to a new attack.”
Inflammatory responses can accelerate the development of vascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Researchers report that individuals born today will live on average, shorter lives than their parents – “Unhealthy diets and too little exercise likely play a decisive role in this.”
According to the Food Institute’s analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, millennial’s alone spend 44% of their budget’s food dollars on eating out. In comparison to 40 years ago, the average American family now spend half their food budget on restaurant food.
While the occasional night out won’t hurt, a habit of eating fast food can do a number on your health, according to Healthline. –
Some studies have shown that you can reverse the damage brought on by too much fast food by changing your diet and getting more exercise. Make healthier substitutes slowly; think: sweet potato fries instead of french fries or having 2% milk instead of whole milk. Be sure to have your cholesterol checked by your doctor. If it is high, follow a high-fiber diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise most days of the week. You should also get your BMI checked. If it is above 25 and you’re overweight, speak with your doctor on your weight loss options. Joyce Lee, M.D., MPH, says losing even 5% of your body weight can lower your risk of diabetes.