Not Just Lung And Heart, Air Pollution May Be Affecting Your Gut Too: UCLA Health Study

The most obvious association made regarding the adverse affects of air pollution is generally with lung or heart health; however, the clasps may be more far reaching than previously thought.

A study done by UCLA Health and published in Environment International suggests that breathing ultrafine polluted air particles may disrupt gut health, which can ultimately lead to worsening of heart disease.

Further, the study aimed to examine the impact of breathing these particulate matter beyond the obvious suspects.

To conduct the study, UCLA health experts re-created real life air pollution conditions and exposed mice to ultrafine air particles over a 10-week period, though not constantly. It ran over six hours a day, three days a week period so as not to create an extreme environment.

The results revealed a stark difference in the gut bacteria of mice that had been exposed to the air particles. The shift in their gut bacteria was indicative of atherosclerotic plaque buildup in major arteries, which is considered a key warning sign for heart disease, as per UCLA Health.

Moreover, the batch of mice exposed to air pollution reflected strains on other parts as well. For instance, levels of short-chain fatty acids in faecal samples rose; a marker associated with oxidative damage called liver malondialdehyde increased and, genes tied to antioxidant response and cellular stress became more active.

Simply implying that exposure to air pollution produced serious strain on the gut and liver of the mice.

The study has opened another avenue which had been overlooked while examining impact of air pollution on the living body — the gut microbe may be more significant in predicting cardiovascular damage under polluted air.

Three key shifts which are closely connected with heart disease in gut bacteria include affect on inflammation, metabolism, and oxidative stress.

Therefore, offering a possible explanation on why people living in polluted areas face greater risks to their heart irrespective of other factors, UCLA Health noted.