A new study—appearing in the March issue of the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) —found laboratory rats who breathed Beijing’s highly polluted air gained weight and experienced cardio-respiratory and metabolic dysfunctions after only three to eight weeks of exposure.
Compared to those exposed to filtered air, pregnant rats exposed to unfiltered Beijing air were significantly heavier at the end of pregnancy. At 8 wk old, the offspring prenatally and postnatally exposed to unfiltered air were significantly heavier than those exposed to filtered air. In both rat dams and their offspring, after continuous exposure to unfiltered air we observed pronounced histologic evidence for both perivascular and peribronchial inflammation in the lungs, increased tissue and systemic oxidative stress, dyslipidemia, and an enhanced proinflammatory status of epididymal fat.
The conclusion from the study: Chronic exposure to air pollution particles increases the risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Now this was a study done on rats, however, I believe it holds true for humans as well. Many chemicals have already been associated with obesity. I haven’t yet checked, but it may be that many of them are found in air pollution.
