Pollution and smog increase the risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes: not only the lungs and respiratory system, but the whole body suffers from ‘unhealthy’ air: according to a study by Washington University in Saint Louis – published by Lancet Planetary Health – about 14% of cases worldwide could be linked to this cause.
We discussed this topic with Dr. Cesare Berra, Head of the Metabolic Diseases Section of the Diabetology Unit at Humanitas.
Smog and diabetes, new scientific evidence
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (also known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or adult diabetes), is a metabolic disease, characterized by high blood sugar in a context of insulin-resistance and relative insulin-deficiency.
About 90% of patients with diabetes suffer from this disease, while the remaining 10% is mainly due to type 1 diabetes mellitus and gestational diabetes. In type 1 diabetes mellitus, there is an absolute deficiency of insulin due to the destruction of the pancreas’ Langerhans Islands.
Researchers at Washington University of Saint Louis analyzed more than 1.7 million people followed on average for 8.5 years, comparing their state of health with the rates of pollution recorded by the control units in the vicinity of their residences. Research has revealed a strong link between pollution and diabetes: about 21% of those exposed to a level of smog between 5 and 10 micrograms per cubic meter developed the disease, especially for those between 12 and 14 the percentage was 24%.
Comparing these numbers with the new cases of diabetes worldwide, according to the authors of the study, pollution and smog would contribute to the onset of at least 3.2 million cases of type 2 diabetes each year.
The opinion of the Humanitas expert
“The study focuses on an environmental cause so far little investigated, showing how even pollution can be part of the many causes that generate type 2 diabetes – explained Dr. Berra – Among other risk factors there is also family history first of all, then obesity and overweight, then nutrition, but also being affected by other diseases such as hypertension, abnormal blood sugar levels and diabetes developed during pregnancy,” clarified the doctor.
