Can Your Diet Reduce the Effects of Air Pollution? Here ’s What a New Study Says

A new study suggests that following a Mediterranean diet — an eating pattern high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, olive oils, fish and poultry — may protect people from some of the health effects of air pollution. Researchers at NYU School of Medicine, which looked at data collected from nearly 550,000 people with an average age of 62 from around the United States for more than 17 years, grouped people based on how closely their eating mirrored the Mediterranean diet and linked them to estimates of their long term exposure to air pollution, including particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrous oxide (NO2) and ozone (O3). The researchers made an intriguing finding when they compared men and women who most followed the Mediterranean diet to those who followed it the least, while factoring in their exposure to air pollution. Death from all causes increased by 5% for every 10 parts per billion increase in long-term average nitrous oxide exposure among people who least adhered to the eating pattern, compared to only 2% among people who most followed the diet. Cardiovascular disease deaths increased 17% for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter increase in long-term average particulate matter exposure among the people who did not closely follow the diet, compared to 5% among the people who did. Similar patterns were seen for heart attack deaths. Following the Mediterranean diet did not appear to be protective against ozone exposure, however. “Air pollution is...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthytime onetime Pollution Source Type: news