Childhood obesity linked to air pollution from diesel vehicles - Sensationalist Headlines

Pupils from Bowes Primary School in Enfield, north London campaign outside their school, which is adjacent to the busy North Circular ring road. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA Early exposure to air pollution from vehicles increases the risk of children becoming obese, new research has found. High levels of nitrogen dioxide, which is emitted by diesel engines, in the first year of life led to significantly faster weight gain later, the scientists found. Other pollutants produced by road traffic have also been linked to obesity in children by recent studies. Nitrogen dioxide pollution is at illegal levels in most urban areas in the UK and the government has lost three times in the high court over the inadequacy of its plans. The pollutant also plagues many cities in Europe and around the world. “We would urge parents to be mindful where their young children spend their time, especially considering if those areas are near major roads,” said Jeniffer Kim, at the University of Southern California, who led the new research. “The first year of life is a period of rapid development of various systems in the body [and] may prime the body’s future development.” ... The new research, published in the journal Environmental Health, followed 2,318 children in southern California and built on earlier work which had identified traffic pollution as a major risk factor for the development of obesity in children. The research investigated the impact of air pollution from busy main roads, where diesel trucks are common, in the crucial first year of life. They found that by age 10, children suffering high early exposure were almost 1kg heavier on average than those with low exposure. The scientists took a series of other factors into account, including gender, ethnicity and parental education, and think it is unlikely that variations in diet could explain the strong link found. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/04/childhood-obesity-linked-to-air-pollution-from-vehicles?CMP=share_btn_tw

That's really interesting, another possible benefit of cleaner air.

There are so many health issues and deaths linked to air pollution now, it's absurd that more isn't being done about it.

it's because humans are hardwired to place less importance on the most dangerous industries, it's endlessly aggravating. Instead, we focus on things that can be related to on an individual level, things that can be sensationalized that generate easy emotional responses. Some vague notion that all of our air is being filled with various types of pollution that even drastically increases death rates and reduces health globally is too nebulous compared to "power plant explodes killing 5 people" or "people near fukishima have to leave their homes". Without sufficient education people literally care more about maybe having to leave their house because of the small chance of a localized nuclear disaster over permenantly being stuck in a poison cloud no matter where you run.

what's with the dumbs?

Just push the air out

it's a. it's morgen or b. they're people who'll live ICEs until the world burns

Consumer diesels were a mistake

Fat people need to stop making excuse and lose weight etc. Its easy to see who this can actually start, if emissions cause poor lung health it leads to lack of exercise and unhealthy habits, this is just coming from someone who has severe asthma

Lol yeah FUCK THIS FAT LOSER CHILDREN. You realize the human metabolism is one of the least understood parts of the human body? Its very possible some people are fucked and born with a variance in the way there bodies handle nutrition and energy storage. Even if you dont think thats an excuse for adults, these are childs and the correlation between toxic chemicals and weight problems could be very feel.

Just eat less. Jeez.

Ya Stoopid science mans take that

These are scare propaganda

That darn anti pollution propaganda?????

I don’t know why they would rate this “dumb”, but considering this form of research isn’t the the gold standard in the first place, these confidence intervals are quite unimpressive: “A two-standard deviation difference in first year of life near-road freeway NOxexposure was associated with a 0.1 kg/m2 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.03, 0.2) faster increase in BMI growth per year and a 0.5 kg/m2 (95% CI: 0.02, 0.9) higher attained BMI at age 10 years.” Those are borderline just straight up not significant results.

As someone who gained like 90 pounds or something because of medications, lost 70 when I realized I needed to make a change, and then gained 50 or 60 so back when my mom completely destroyed my mental well being with transphobic bullshit after I maintained that healthy weight for 2 years and am still struggling to lose it again now, weight can be more nuanced than "lol eat less".

Yeah this whole thread is full of reactionary anti-“being fat is healthy” when thats not even what this actual is about the whole time. Being overweight is much more complicated than “eat less calories”. I was overweight for my whole childhood and I was basically addicted to fast food until I realized I liked sex more than food but still medication, environment, genetics plays a huge role on how easy it is to lose weight.

How easy it is to lose weight is understandably varied from person to person but the same rules apply for us all: calories in, calories out. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding this but I never had the impression that people claim it's easy to lose weight. All I hear is people telling other people how to lose weight. If someone suffers from any form of eating disorder or have any addictions to unhealthy food then that's something else entirely. Once a person gets that under control then yeah, you eat less calories to lose weight.

Next article: Lung diseases linked to cheesburgers.

The scientists took a series of other factors into account, including gender, ethnicity and parental education, and think it is unlikely that variations in diet could explain the strong link found.

My joke had nothing to do with criticizing or belittling the scientific study in the article it had to do with the surprise of how unexpected the correlation is.

theyre eating all the pollution

To drug addicts : just take fewer drugs To drunks: just drink less To smokers: just smoke less etc. etc Yes, food is what means people put on weight, but this idea that humanity is a hive-mind who consistently checks with a central database to determine what is or isn't okay is retarded... I am extremely thin - always have been - but it's not because I have restricted myself - it's because my body doesn't tell me to eat as often. Read about evolution in more detail and you may understand a semblance of the science.

I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if this and combined with the chemicals I deal with at work, no wonder I cough like a smoker.

Sorry, it just read like that.

We always knew children would come up with a way to save the planet, hurrah!