Air Pollution Increases Risk of Diabetes Precursor in Children

MAY 2013—Living in areas where air pollution levels are high raises a child’s risk of developing insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.

A team of German researchers took fasting blood samples from 397 10-year-olds and analyzed traffic emissions in the areas the children lived. The incidence of insulin resistance went up by 19% for every 6 ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air) rise in airborne particulates and 17% for every 10.6 increase in nitrogen dioxide. The associations held even when the study team allowed for factors such as body mass index, puberty status and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke in the home.

Study results have been published in the journal Diabetologia.

In insulin resistance, cells don’t properly respond to insulin, the hormone that moves glucose out of the bloodstream. This leads to an increase in blood glucose; fasting levels of 126 mg/dl or higher indicate the presence of diabetes.

“Oxidative stress caused by exposure to air pollutants may play a role in the development insulin resistance,” says Joachim Heinrich, PhD, one of the study’s coauthors, who notes that pollution may also increase inflammation, an underlying factor in a number of chronic diseases.

He adds, “The results of this study support the notion that the development of diabetes in adults may have its origin in early life including environmental exposures.”

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