Air Pollution & Adult-Onset (Type 2) Diabetes: The Surprising Link

Your blood sugar is under control, you have maintained a healthy lifestyle by eating a diet packed full of good food choices with low calories and an even lower consumption of simple carbohydrates, and you exercise moderately. You feel fairly certain that you have eliminated your chances of getting adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes. Unfortunately you have overlooked a major contributing factor that most of us wouldn't even consider when it comes to this particular disease, and the surprising link between this unhealthy factor and diabetes may just stun you.

The Definition, Signs & Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes

Increased thirst can mean many things, but when put together with a few other symptoms, you could quite possibly be a candidate for Adult-Onset (Type 2) Diabetes. Frequent urination, and an increased hunger due to a lack of insulin, and depleted energy are also possible signs. Weight loss despite the lack of activity coupled with constant fatigue are all possible symptoms to the deadly disease. A sudden resistance to infections and or slow healing sores and blurred vision should be your final nail that says there just may be something serious going on within your body.

According to MedicineNet.com, the definition of adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes occurs when the beta cells of the pancreas produce insulin, but the body is incapable of using it effectively because the cells of the body are resistant to the action of insulin. Add this equation to an unhealthy body that is being inflicted daily with heavy pollutants in the air, and you have a recipe for disaster that leads to serious illness and possibly death if not treated quickly and properly.

Uncontrolled or undetected, Type 2 diabetes is a serious disease that can lead to cardiovascular events, kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, skin problems, amputation, gastro-paresis, sexual dysfunction and obesity due to a lack of physical activity. Fortunately studies have determined that regular eye exams and quick treatment of eye problems related to the disease and blindness could be prevented by up to 90%, but a lack of health insurance raises the risk factors for millions everyday.

Air pollution is everywhere, and it runs much deeper then diesel smoke or poorly ventilated fires, and it cannot always be seen with the naked eye or even detected by any normal means. Acid rain, carbon dioxide and chemical vapors exist in our atmosphere allowing us to unknowingly breathe them in, and on those days that they are heavier in the air, many times we find it harder to breathe normal. This is where health issues may begin, starting with costly visits to the doctor due to sudden problems that may include respiratory ailments, headaches, coughing and watery eyes, that would otherwise be attributed to nothing more then allergies.

The Expert's Analyze Pollution & the Link on Diabetes

Cities with high levels of these pollutants that include deadly chemicals, smog, acid rain, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans by simply breathing them in on a daily basis have a 20 % greater chance of getting adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes. Experts like Dr. Allison Goldfine of Harvard's Joslin Diabetes Center claim that life style factors from weight and other issues including living in an area with a high level of pollution directly contributed to this type of diabetes.

Environmental factors play a big part of a person's health, and pollution has been linked in recent years to the debilitating disease through several studies surrounding adult-onset Type 2) diabetes. Multiple studies performed by researchers at the Harvard school of public health and Boston's Children's Hospital found that low grade and chronic inflammation can be the defining link that makes you more susceptible to the disease due to a corrupted and unhealthy immune system which is amplified by living in cities with moderate to heavy air pollution.

Sweets & Sugar

Other contributing factors of adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes include studies on sugary drinks, and they concluded that, people who drank the most sugar-sweetened beverages had a 26 percent higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes. So when you add this not so new addition to a person's lifestyle who also happens to be living in an area with heavy pollution it now becomes a dangerous mix that includes unfavorable consequences with an outcome that may offer a death sentence.

Why should you worry? Why wouldn't you when you take into consideration that 23 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, and Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes. Not to mention that regulating your environment is no simple task, but choosing your geographic location is. Moving is an expensive option, but future medical bills could bankrupt the wealthiest of men when it comes down to a life time of commitment to a disease that cannot be controlled under harsh circumstances due to things out of our control.

The Most Polluted Cities in the United States for 2010

The American Lung Association evaluates metropolitan areas by the levels of ozone and particle pollution, and gives a detailed report on their findings each year. Their methodology includes inducted and defined regulations obtained from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality System. In their most recent report they concluded that the 10 most polluted cities by ozone standards in the U.S. are currently, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Riverside, California. These three cities tied for first place. Following not too far behind is Visalia, Fresno, Sacramento and Harford, California. The next city takes us away from the Golden state, and sends us to Houston, Texas, but we quickly head straight back to California with San Diego and San Luis being next on the list.

Year round contaminants which includes microscopic solids and liquid droplets suspended in air, also known as particle pollution is a completely different monster, and it is an underlying factor in determining just how well our quality of life can be or not. The top ranking cities according to the American Lung Association that show a clear problem with this dangerous health issue include, but are not limited to:

1. Phoenix, Scottsdale and Mesa, Arizona. 2. Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Riverside, Fresno, Madera, Visalia and Porterville, California. 3. Pittsburgh, New Castle and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 4. Birmingham, Hoover and Cullman, Alabama. 5. Middletown, Kentucky. 6. Wilmington, Indiana. 7. St. Louis, Missouri. 8. Charleston, Parkersburg and Weirton, West Virginia 9. Detroit and Flint, Michigan. 10. Cicinnati, Cleveland, Akron, Steubenville and Marietta Ohio.

Linfen, China is Ranked the Worse in the World for Pollution

According to a recent study that Time.com followed up on; the city of Linfen, China is so polluted that when you hang your laundry out to dry it will turn black within a few minutes. Smog hovers over the city like a blanket, and three million people are directly affected by these extreme conditions on a daily basis. The main source of their barely livable conditions is a city dotted with coal mines and the constant burning that yields black smoke and vapors.

The Future & Diabetes

It has been estimated by researchers at the Population Health Metrics that as many as one in three adults in the United States alone could have diabetes by 2050. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have concluded that it is probable that one in ten adults have diabetes right now, but have no clue due to a lack of signs and symptoms of the disease or they have no health coverage for getting the proper blood work necessary to determine it's existence living within the body.

Sources:

http://www.time.com/time/

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