Indoor Air Pollution and Adverse Health Effects Among Honduran Women

Air pollution is associated with premature mortality and a wide spectrum of diseases. Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) is one of the most concerning sources of air pollution for human exposure and health. Until TRAP levels can be significantly reduced on a global scale, there is a need for effective shorter-term strategies to prevent the adverse health effects of TRAP. A growing number of studies suggest that increasing antioxidant intake, through diet or supplementation, may reduce this burden of disease. In this paper, we conducted a non-systematic literature review to assess the available evidence on antioxidant-rich diets and antioxidant supplements as a strategy to mitigate adverse health effects of TRAP in human subjects. We identified 11 studies that fit our inclusion criteria; 3 of which investigated antioxidant-rich diets and 8 of which investigated antioxidant supplements. Overall, we found consistent evidence that dietary intake of antioxidants from adherence to the Mediterranean diet and increased fruit and vegetable consumption is effective in mitigating adverse health effects associated with TRAP. In contrast, antioxidant supplements, including fish oil, olive oil, and vitamin C and E supplements, presented conflicting evidence. Further research is needed to determine why antioxidant supplementation has limited efficacy and whether this relates to effective dose, supplement formulation, timing of administration, or population being studied. There is also a need to better ascertain if susceptible populations, such as children, the elderly, asthmatics and occupational workers consistently exposed to TRAP, should be recommended to increase their antioxidant intake to reduce their burden of disease. Policymakers should consider increasing populations’ antioxidant intake, through antioxidant-rich diets, as a relatively cheap and easy preventive measure to lower the burden of disease associated with TRAP.

Download Full-text

Premature Adult Mortality and Years of Life Lost Attributed to Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Particulate Matter Pollution and Potential for Mitigating Adverse Health Effects in Tuzla and Lukavac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos11101107 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 1107

Author(s):

Vlatka Matkovic ◽

Maida Mulić ◽

Selma Azabagić ◽

Marija Jevtić

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Life Expectancy ◽

Health Effects ◽

Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽

Ambient Air ◽

World Health ◽

Years Of Life Lost ◽

Adverse Health Effects ◽

Adverse Health

Ambient air pollution is one of eight global risk factors for deaths and accounts for 38.44 all causes death rates attributable to ambient PM pollution, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is 58.37. We have estimated health endpoints and possible gains if two policy scenarios were implemented and air pollution reduction achieved. Real-world health and recorded PM pollution data for 2018 were used for assessing the health impacts and possible gains. Calculations were performed with WHO AirQ+ software against two scenarios with cut-off levels at country-legal values and WHO air quality recommendations. Ambient PM2.5 pollution is responsible for 16.20% and 22.77% of all-cause mortality among adults in Tuzla and Lukavac, respectively. Our data show that life expectancy could increase by 2.1 and 2.4 years for those cities. In the pollution hotspots, in reality, there is a wide gap in what is observed and the implementation of the legally binding air quality limit values and, thus, adverse health effects. Considerable health gains and life expectancy are possible if legal or health scenarios in polluted cities were achieved. This estimate might be useful in providing additional health burden evidence as a key component for a clean air policy and action plans.

Download Full-text