Air pollution is slowly killing us all.

As soon as microscopic pollution particles gain entry into the body, they can literally affect every single organ. And it’s often a 2-pronged attack that causes irreversible damage. That’s the latest news reported in the medical journal CHEST.

The primary mode of attack starts when ultrafine particulate matter (PM smaller than 0.1 micron in diameter) are inhaled into the lungs. Once inside the body, the tiny particles are so small, they pass through the lung’s capillary membrane, and on into the blood stream. Once in the bloodstream, the pollution particles can quickly spread to all organs in the body.

The second mode of attack happens via a process known as Oxidative Stress. Inflammation occurs, usually in the lungs. This can then lead to inflammatory signaling in other parts of the body, again affecting all our organs.

In addition to this, the lungs often can’t cope with filtering out the invading pollution. As a result, they become blocked up with ‘soot’ in the same way a smoker’s lungs become blackened by tobacco. And studies in animals have shown that pollution particles can even travel up the olfactory nerve into the brain.

There are currently around 70,000 scientific papers illustrating the different ways air pollution is affecting our health.

Infertility, low birth weight, pre term birth, still birth, reduced lung function, increased BMI and obesity, allergic rhinitis, asthma, allergic conjunctivitis, eczema, dermatitis, respiratory infections, viral infections, increased blood pressure, arterial pressure, pulse pressure, insulin resistance, heart disease, strokes, reduced cognitive and judgement skills, depression, impaired memory, lung cancer, Alzheimer’s and dementia.

If a condition isn’t on the list, the chances are we, just don’t know about it yet.

If you’d like to read the full article from CHEST, its here. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(18)32723-5/fulltext