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Childhood Obesity Linked To Air Pollution From Vehicles (theguardian.com)

Early exposure to air pollution from vehicles increases the risk of children becoming obese, new research has found. From a report: High levels of nitrogen dioxide, which is emitted by diesel engines, in the first year of life led to significantly faster weight gain later, the scientists found. Other pollutants produced by road traffic have also been linked to obesity in children by recent studies. Nitrogen dioxide pollution is at illegal levels in most urban areas in the UK and the government has lost three times in the high court over the inadequacy of its plans. The pollutant also plagues many cities in Europe and around the world. "We would urge parents to be mindful where their young children spend their time, especially considering if those areas are near major roads," said Jeniffer Kim, at the University of Southern California, who led the new research. "The first year of life is a period of rapid development of various systems in the body [and] may prime the body's future development." The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed last Monday that 90% of the world's children are breathing unsafe air, a situation described as "inexcusable" by the WHO's head. Concern over the impact of toxic air on children's health is rising as research reveals serious long-term damage to both their physical and mental health.

26 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. and ... and ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    and eating too much. probably more the fault.

    1. Re:and ... and ... by geekmux · · Score: 2, Insightful

      and eating too much. probably more the fault.

      How dare you accuse those who should be! You must be some kind of racist.

      Personal accountability was deemed unethical and immoral. Seems it doesn't help move #PerpetualVictims forward towards their special flavor of "progress".

    2. Re:and ... and ... by sjames · · Score: 2

      Meanwhile there's all those people getting the flu because they breath too much.

      If they'd just man up and hold their breath when they're in public they wouldn't get sick.

    3. Re:and ... and ... by ewibble · · Score: 2

      Perhaps its driving around everywhere which contributes to both

  2. So cars are not producing .... by 3seas · · Score: 2

    High Fructose Corn Syrup? Make since given the ethanol added.

  3. This makes no sense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Pollution standards are far stricter than they used to be, so we should be seeing a decrease in obesity if this is such a major factor.

    These are just environmental activists who are trying to exploit "intersectionality" with the well-publicised obesity epidemic, so as to promote their war on mankind's industrialisation.

    You'll never convince mankind to tear down its hard-won development. Make better machines, or STFU.

    1. Re:This makes no sense. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Depends on whether our pollution standards happen to target the chemicals

      They do. Catalytic converters specifically target nitrogen oxides, and NO2 levels have fallen dramatically over the last 20 years.

      Has there been a corresponding decrease in childhood obesity? No.

      To be fair, older cars produce much more NO2 than newer models, so kids in low income neighborhoods are more likely to have higher NO2 exposure, and are more likely to be obese. But even in low income areas, NO2 levels have fallen, with no corresponding decrease in childhood obesity.

  4. Re:Another random correlation by oldgraybeard · · Score: 2, Informative

    To the powers that be in urban areas "rural areas" do not exist and thus are of no concern in their world.

    Just my 2 cents ;)

  5. Re:There'a a very simple reason for the trend... by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The subjects are ingesting more calories than their bodies need. That's why they become obese. It's that simple.

    Yes, everybody knows that. The question is what are all the things that lead people to ingest more calories than they need, and if certain kinds of pollution may play a part in that.

  6. ...with likely causation by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 2

    It is also not hard to think of likely causal connections either: areas with high air pollution are either likely to be poorer and/or have more traffic which will mean less playing outside and fewer trips to the grocery store making processed foods with longer shelf lives more appealing than fresh produce. I wish journals would remember that correlation != causation and refuse to publish crap like this without actual evidence of cause.

  7. Re:Another random correlation by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wondered if there was something like kids in rural areas are more likely to play outside than those in urban environments.

    Obesity is higher in rural areas.

    Perhaps rural kids are LESS likely to play outside, since an urban park full of other kids is a nicer place to play than a rural cornfield.

  8. Re:There'a a very simple reason for the trend... by LordAba · · Score: 2

    Exactly. Everyone know how you get fat, this looks at why

    It could be Chemical X inhibits vitamin intake, causing people to eat more to compensate. Chemical X might cause depression, which in a population can lead to overeating as a mechanism to cope. Chemical X might inhibit the ability to feel full. Chemical X could make people less inclined to exercise.

    Heck, it could be "cars produce Chemical X, more cars more Chemical X, more cars the less parents let their kids out to play, less play time early in life could lead to obesity later in life.

    Having evidence of correlation and handwaving it away as calorie consumption doesn't do anybody any favors.

  9. Re:Great News by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

    Good news everyone: car emissions are lower than ever and still falling. The reason for air pollution in so many European cities being at illegal levels is not because pollution has increased (it hasn't), but because the legal levels have been set lower and lower. Which is good, sure. Cleaner is always better. But it seems to me that if there is a direct correlation, childhood obesity would have been more prevalent during times when NO2 levels were higher as well, such as during the 80s. It wasn't. And it certainly isn't the "immediate health crisis" that WHO guy calls it.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  10. Re:There'a a very simple reason for the trend... by iggymanz · · Score: 2

    false model, since manure burns. all calories taken in are not used. since all calories not used, some food types might cause obsesity compared to others.

    high fat high protein diet == low obsesity

    high carb diet == obsesity

  11. Right by argStyopa · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ....because Nairobi street kids are famously obese?

    "...The scientists took a series of other factors into account, including gender, ethnicity and parental education, and think it is unlikely that variations in diet could explain the strong link found...."

    I'd suspect confounding factors like poverty, urbanization, and THOSE impacts on peoples' diets in the early years of life (or the diets of their nursing mothers) before I'd point a finger at the trucks driving by.

    Don't get me wrong, I think early childhood development is probably stunted by particulates, NOx, etc *particularly* from diesel vehicles, but I think this study is merely finding correlation.

    --
    -Styopa
  12. Re:Makes sense by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why would you want to shave whales? Do they even have any hair?

    Yes. Whales have hair.

    Young whales of many species are born with some hair, and lose it before adulthood. Others keep a bit of hair into adulthood.

    Shaving them is difficult, because you have to train them to keep their head above water so the shaving cream doesn't wash off.

  13. Re:There'a a very simple reason for the trend... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The subjects are ingesting more calories than their bodies need. That's why they become obese. It's that simple.

    This is just stating the obvious while explaining nothing.

    Of course fat people eat more. But WHY do some people eat more than others? And why have obesity rates TRIPLED since the 1980s? And why is there a huge disparity in obesity rates between different income levels and different ethnicities? And why have obesity rates soared in some countries, while barely changing in others?

    Meaningless tautologies like "people are fat because they eat more" explains none of that.

  14. Re:Said it before by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

    It's a lovely graph but it ends in 2012.

    Here's one that has a few extra years:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  15. Re:BS by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 2
    explain why the children in Peru are mostly super skinny? The thick fog of diesel smoke is so bad you can't even see very far most days in Lima.

    That is easy: the diesel engines that smoke heavily burn at low temperatures, leaving lots of unburned carbon. The oxides of nitrogen are produced by burning the nitrogen in the air, not diesel. This only became a problem after diesel engines were modified to run hotter reduce the carbon dioxide. To create lots of oxides of nitrogen, the engines have to run seriously hot.

    To mitigate the NO2 problem, they introduced the urea injection technology (squirting pigs piss into the the exhaust pipe). The amount of urea needed depends on the amount of NOx being generated, which depends on the temperature in the combustion chamber, which can't be measured, so the microprocessor has to guess. Sometimes it is right, sometimes not. If its right, well and good, if not you get a face full of pigs piss, NOx or both. Fortunately, on a test bench, its easy to guess. In real life, not so much.

    I blame the regulators for driving the CO2 regulations deep into this area, when diesels were already cleaner than petrol, Also, you could use EGR technology instead, but the pigs piss people would not make a profit from that. In any case, pollution is around 60% of what it was in 1970 - probably less than 10% of what it was in 1956, in the UK.

    Disclaimer: I am not bribed by pigs piss people, and my proposal a for "Kosher" alternative, using goats' piss, was ignored. I am not sore, honest.

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
  16. What a joke! by nanospook · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People and kids are obese because our food supply has become contaminated with huge amounts of sugar and carbs. A huge number of American's are now diabetic as a result. The drug, foods, and medical corporations are all in cahoots on this. That there is no outcry from the government is in my opinion, because the corps are running the show.. https://www.cdc.gov/media/rele...

    --
    Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
  17. Re:There'a a very simple reason for the trend... by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

    Manure burns because cellulose is very hard to digest.

    high fat high protein diet == low obsesity

    That's mostly because people eat less on such a diet. It makes you feel full for longer. Try eating a block of cheese, and then watch your poop the next day. Most likely it is perfectly normal, indicating that pretty much all of the fat was absorbed.

    high carb diet == obsesity

    Also not true. Plenty of people around the world eat (or ate) a high carb diet and are perfectly lean.

    The things that make you fat are usually foods that are both sweet and fat. Try eating a bowl of plain sugar. It's disgusting. Try eating a bowl of plain cream. Not very appetizing either. Now mix them together, chill them, and you have ice cream. All of a sudden, you can eat both bowls.

  18. Re:Mindless reactionary or brown energy shill? by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    Wow. You can always tell when it's an election year.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  19. Re:Another random correlation by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    I could swear that people are just looking at http://tylervigen.com/spurious... for ideas to make new headlines with.

    I dunno, I believe the divorce/margarine one. Seems like a clear correlation.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  20. Re:There'a a very simple reason for the trend... by Drogo007 · · Score: 2

    Nope, not that simple:

    https://www.scientificamerican...

    Same diet, different gut bacteria - one group gets fat, the other stays lean.

    The old (calories in - calories burned) model is overly simplistic and ignores a couple decades of research that shows that obesity is more than just a willpower deficit.

  21. Re:Sunspots by bobbied · · Score: 2

    Have they?

    I was under the distinct impression that sunspots where unexpectedly low in number. Not a Maunder Minimum, but it has been very disruptive to HF radio propagation as a lack of sunspots thins out the ionosphere and drives the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) down. The lower bands are *really* impacted by impulse noise (lighting, arching and other very loud RF sources) and for ham radio operators stuffs a lot of us in very small and narrow portions of the 75 and 40 meter bands.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101