14 DAY TRIAL // A new science report authored by specialists with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and their colleagues at the Boston University School of Medicine looks at how long-term exposure to air pollution affects the human brain.
According to this report, people who breathe in air pollutants for the better part of their life risk having their brain shrink and experiencing cognitive impairment.
Thus, researchers say that, having looked at the brains of 943 volunteers over the age of 60, they found that those living in highly polluted areas had a somewhat smaller brain volume.
Specifically, the study documented a drop of 0.32% in brain volume for every 2 micrograms per cubic meter increase in air concentrations of pollutants. The reduction in brain volume was due to the loss of neurons.
True, the human brain is known to lose mass as it ages. Still, it looks like exposure to air pollutants such as traffic exhaust speeds up this process, and in doing so, takes its toll on one's cognitive abilities.
In fact, the 0.32% drop in brain volume brought about by a 2 micrograms per cubic meter increase in the concentration of airborne pollutants is said to be the equivalent of one year of natural brain aging.
“Our findings suggest that air pollution is associated with insidious effects on structural brain aging, even in dementia- and stroke-free individuals,” says specialist Elissa Wilker.