New study: air pollution increases the risk of diabetes. Find out what you can do to lower your risk!
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:10 Bad news about air pollution and diabetes
1:43 Good news about air pollution and diabetes
2:34 Share your success story!
In this video, we’re going to talk about air pollution.
Now, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that air pollution has now been found to increase the risk of diabetes.
This is due to something called particulate matter. These are microscopic particles in the air. They can be solids or liquids.
Particulate matter can get into the lungs and bloodstream.
The size of this harmful particulate matter is less than 2.5 micrometers. This appears as a haze in the air.
Within particulate matter, there are thousands of chemicals from industry, power plants, automobiles, and various other sources.
This air pollution has long been known to cause lung cancer. A new study found that exposure to particulate matter (PM 2.5) can alter blood sugar levels and significantly increase the risk of type-2 diabetes over 16 weeks.
The reason why air pollution has these effects is unknown. However, there are some theories. It could be due to systemic inflammation, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, oxidative stress, or the gut microbiome.
What we do know is that pollution leads to insulin resistance, which affects blood sugar levels.
The good news is that research shows that fasting can block the adverse blood sugar effects of air pollution. Fasting can also inhibit glucose intolerance.
Dr. Eric Berg
08/31/2023
