As climate change continues to trigger changes in air quality, people around the world will become more and more vulnerable to serious and even fatal respiratory problems, a new research review published in Environmental Health Perspectives predicts.
Global warming is known to elevate the atmosphere’s levels of ozone, a lung irritant associated with increased risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, seasonal allergies, pneumonia and other respiratory conditions — as well as premature death. But by curbing greenhouse gas emissions, it’s possible to greatly reduce worldwide risk for climate change-linked adverse health effects, according to the review’s authors. For more information on climate change’s impacts on human health, visit who.int/globalchange/climate.
C for Curbing Inflammation
A daily dose of vitamin C could help cool inflammation, suggests a recent University of California, Berkeley study. For two months, researchers had 396 healthy adults take 1,000 mg of vitamin C, 800 IU of vitamin E, or a placebo every day. Among those with elevated levels of C-reactive protein (or CRP, a marker of inflammation) at the start of the study, two months of vitamin C treatment led to a 16.7 percent drop in CRP levels. Vitamin-C-taking study members who started off with lower CRP levels — as well as those assigned to vitamin E supplements — saw no such change, however.
The study’s authors also discovered a strong association between obesity and elevated CRP levels. In fact, higher levels of the inflammation marker were found in half of the overweight study members and 75 percent of obese participants — compared to just 25 percent of normal-weight study members. Linked to autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation has been shown to play a major role in cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.
Chemicals in Your Home
Many women may be in the dark about the danger of certain household chemicals, a recent study from the Journal of Health and Social Behavior finds. Interviewing 25 women who had previously had their homes tested for environmental pollutants, researchers found that most participants were startled and confused by the number of chemicals considered contaminants.
“People more readily equate pollution with large-scale contamination and environmental disasters, yet the products and activities that form the backdrop to our everyday lives — electronics, cleaners, beauty products, food packaging — are a significant source of daily personal chemical exposure that accumulates over time,” notes lead author Rebecca Gasior Altman. To learn how to lower your at-home exposure, check out womenshealthandenvi ronment.org.
Stay Social to Fight Stroke
Keeping social could ease the effects of a stroke, new research from Ohio State University shows. In tests on mice, scientists found that males living with a female partner before and after experiencing stroke had a much higher survival rate than those that lived alone. The cohabitating creatures also suffered far less stroke-related brain damage than solo-dwelling mice, according to study results.