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Breathing dirty air may lower kids' IQ 3-1-08
By Anne Harding Comments by Dr. Beth Dupree
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who live in neighborhoods with heavy traffic pollution have lower IQs and score worse on other tests of intelligence and memory than children who breathe cleaner air, a new study shows.
The effect of pollution on intelligence was similar to that seen in children whose mothers smoked 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant, or in kids who have been exposed to lead, Dr. Shakira Franco Suglia of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.
While the effect of pollution on cardiovascular and respiratory health has been studied extensively, less is known about how breathing dirty air might affect the brain, Suglia and her team write in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
To investigate, she and her colleagues looked at 202 Boston children 8 to 11 years old who were participating in a study of maternal smoking. The researchers related several measures of cognitive function to the children's estimated exposure to black carbon, a component of the particulate matter emitted in automobile and truck exhaust, particularly by diesel vehicles.
The more heavily exposed children were to black carbon, the lower were their scores on several intelligence tests.
When the researchers adjusted for the effects of parents' education, language spoken at home, birth weight, and exposure to tobacco smoke, the association remained.
For example, heavy exposure to black carbon was linked to a 3.4-point drop in IQ, on average. Heavily exposed children also scored lower on tests of vocabulary, memory and learning.
"It's within the range for in utero tobacco exposure and lead exposure," Suglia said in an interview.
She pointed out that exposure to traffic pollution has been associated with a number of other harmful effects and that, short of moving away from heavy traffic areas, there's not much people can do to limit it.
She and her colleagues suggest that traffic pollution may exert harmful effects by causing inflammation and oxidative damage to the brain. They call for further research on the effects of pollution on the development of intelligence in children and on cognitive decline for people of all ages, including whether traffic exposure might cause or accelerate brain degeneration in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, February 1, 2008.
What you can do about it:
Reducing all dirty and foreign particles your children's air not only raises IQ, but reduces asthma and allergies. The greatest gift you can give your children as well as yourself is to quit smoking. If you choose not to, at least never allow smoking in your house or car even when your children aren't present. The over 3000 chemical particles found in cigarette smoke cling to everything and can be stirred back up at anytime.
Use allergen barrier covers for all mattresses and pillows. They are not plastic like they used to be and are not noticeable at all under sheets. If you have to have carpets in your Child's room vacuum weekly and use Fabreeze Allergen Reducer (Do Not use Regular Fabreeze use only the one marked Alleregen Reducer, Do not use any Fabreeze if you have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) or a dust mite spray on all fabric or furry things. Always run an ionizing HEPA filter. The Holmes brand room size for under $25 works just fine!
When it comes to carpet care there is a brand of vacuum that uses water to run the air through so 100% of all airborne pollutants are captured. It's called HYLA and is the best vacuum around. For more information on it email me. In your current vacuum make sure you use HEPA Filters if your vacuum has them. Or buy the strongest filtration you can get. If you have a bin type vacuum, never empty inside the home; all the dust you just vacuumed up will go everywhere.
If you have a furnace don't use those cheap Blue filters. Make sure your filter has a MERV rating of 7+ or it is useless. A MERV 7 or higher filter will remove mold, dander and many other dangerous pollutants.
Strive to use no chemical cleaners. These release harmful volatile organic compounds into the air. Read the Article Easy Substitutions for Healthier Living for hints on switching to healthy cleaners.
If you own pets bathe them at least once a month. Feed them correctly and they will produce very few allergens.
Following these simple tips will drastically reduce dust and millions of other nasty particles; which will keep you and your children healthier and as this new study show, smarter.