Air pollution ‘contributes to obesity in middle aged women’ study says

Women in their late 40s and early 50s saw an increase in their body size and composition measures, reports Aisha Rimi

Study showed that exercise was an effective way to mitigate and offset exposure to air pollution (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Air pollution can contribute to obesity in middle-aged women, a new study reveals.

A study from the University of Michigan, published in Diabetes Care, looked at how the environment impacts weight.

Women in their late 40s and early 50s exposed long-term to pollution – specifically, higher levels of fine particles, nitrogen dioxide and ozone –saw increases in their body size and composition measures, said Xin Wang, epidemiology research investigator at the U-M School of Public Health and the study’s first author.

A team of scientists analysed data from 1,654 white, Black, Chinese and Japanese women from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. The women, whose baseline median age was nearly 50 years, were tracked from 2000 to 2008.

The analysis showed that exposure to air pollution was linked to higher body fat, higher proportion fat, and lower lean mass among midlife women. For instance, body fat increased by 4.5 per cent, or about 2.6 pounds.

The team also explored the interaction between air pollution and physical activity on body composition.

The results showed that high levels of physical activity – which had been based on the frequency, duration, and perceived physical exertion of more than 60 exercises – was an effective way to mitigate and offset exposure to air pollution.

Since the study focused on middle aged women, the findings cannot be generalised to men or women in other age ranges, Dr Wang said.

Obesity has been a major global health issue in recent decades as more people eat unhealthy diets and fail to exercise regularly.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US obesity prevalence between 2017 to 2020 was 42 per cent, with the estimated annual cost of obesity nearly at $173 billion (£154 bn) in 2019.