How the air we breathe can affect bone health. Pollution is bad for your back!

While we have until now known that air pollution is a risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, new research shows that poor air quality is making our bones increasingly fragile. How did you come to this conclusion?

Breathing clean air also means preventing illnesses and allergies that may arise. The lower the level of air pollution, the better for the health of the heart and respiratory system. Moreover, a study conducted at Columbia University in New York and published in the journal eClinicalMedicine shows that air pollution affects bone health. What did you find out?

More than 160,000 women were analyzed.

During the study, American scientists analyzed more than 160,000 postmenopausal women. The results were surprising because air pollution was found to reduce bone mineral density and increase the risk of bone fractures faster than would normally occur due to age.

“Nitrogen oxides contribute to bone damage in particular.”

Didier Prada, one of the study's authors, said in a press release quoted by the journal Popular Mechanics: “Our findings confirm that poor air quality may be a risk factor for bone loss, independent of socioeconomic and demographic factors. “For the first time, we have evidence that nitrogen oxides contribute to bone damage in particular and that one of the places most susceptible to such injuries is the lumbar spine (lower back).»

In addition, Andrea Baccarelli, chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, emphasized the importance of clean air. He said that: "It reduces bone damage in postmenopausal women, prevents bone fractures and reduces the health costs associated with osteoporosis among postmenopausal women."

More data required

The UCNY study only looked at menopausal women, so scientists say more data is needed to show how air pollution affects different age groups or ethnic groups.