Air Pollution Linked to Diabetes in Children

A German research states that higher exposure to air pollution may increase the chances of developing insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes, in children.

The study that was published in the journal Diabetologica, says that previous studies have found an association between heart disease, atherosclerosis, respiratory problems and air pollution. But studies done on the effect of pollution on diabetes were found to be inconclusive

For the research, blood samples were collected from 397 children of 10 years of age. They calculated the exposure of the children to air pollution by observing car emissions, population density and land use in the localities they lived.

The study found that the children who had higher exposure to air pollution had higher insulin levels compared to those who lived in less-polluted localities

"There is some evidence that air pollution is associated with lower birth weight and growth restrictions ... which are known risk factors for type 2 diabetes," said co-author Joachim Heinrich in a press release. "Thus, one may speculate that lower birth weight is an intermediate step or 'phenotype' between air pollution and insulin resistance. However, we found no evidence to suggest that this may be true in our cohort of children, all of whom had birth weights above 2.5kg."

The researchers said that they will continue to track children and also study whether a similar effect can be seen in adults.

 "The results of this study support the notion that the development of diabetes in adults might have its origin in early life including environmental exposures," Heinrich said.

According to the data released by National Diabetes Fact Sheet in 2011, around 8.3 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes. The data also revealed that one in 400 children and adolescents suffer from diabetes.