Scientists have found out how air pollution affects the development of diabetes and heart attacks

Clean air has always been considered the main attribute of a healthy lifestyle. However, air pollution was most often associated with lung diseases. But the latest studies have shown that, first of all, the heart and metabolism suffer from microparticles emitted by industrial enterprises and cars.

Cardiologists from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland (Ohio) conducted a study in as a result of which the impact of polluted air on the development of cardiometabolic processes in the human body, which entail such diseases and syndromes as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and myocardial weakening, was revealed. The results of the work were published by the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

They saturated the air with particles up to 2.5 microns in size, and forced laboratory mice to breathe them. As a result, animals that breathed polluted air and at the same time consumed fat-rich food developed diabetes and dystrophic processes in the myocardium, said one of the authors of the study, head of the Institute of Cardiovascular Research at Case University of the Western Reserve District, Sanjay Rajagopalan.

However, when the subjects were placed in a clean environment, the pathological changes almost completely disappeared. Scientists believe that their study shows the importance of cleaning and filtering the air, as well as maintaining a diet.