Automotive Pollution is an Environmental Risk Factor for Alzheimer’s Disease
According to a new study, you should avoid a lot of industries and areas with automobiles if you want to avoid Alzheimer’s disease. An article in Natural Health 365 identified the pollution from industrial processes and cars as making you more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease.
A recently published paper from Lancaster University paper examined the brain tissue in the frontal cortex of 37 volunteers from Mexico and Lancaster. The researched team observed exceptionally high levels of magnetite nanoparticles in the brains of the volunteers.
Residents of highly polluted-areas are known to be more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease. Although the research from Lancaster University avoided saying outright that magnetite nanoparticle is a cause of dementia, the study seems to indicate that there is a strong connection between the two.
The Lancaster research team found millions of grams of magnetite nanoparticles in the smallest grams of brain tissue from the participants. Worse of all, the nanoparticles all traced back their origins to artificial sources.
There are two forms of magnetite particles, natural and artificial magnetite. The naturally formed particles are crystalline in shape and small. The particles found in the brain tissues of the volunteers, unfortunately, were spherical in shape and large. For every natural magnetite particle, the researchers found in the brain tissue, there were 100 artificial ones.
One of the researches, Barbara Maher, stated that the artificial particles usually start out as molten droplets from the smokestacks of power plants, car exhausts, and factories. Their spherical shape was because of the high temperatures from the combustion process that led to their creation.
Maher described the particles as an environmental factor that could cause Alzheimer’s disease. She stressed the importance of reducing the amounts of nanoparticles in the air and urged for further investigation to be carried out on the magnetite.
The Lancaster roadsides typically have very poor air quality. You can find as much as 200 magnetite particles in a mere cubic meter of air. Once you inhale these particles, they move up the nose all the way to the brain. At the brain, they begin to affect the frontal cortex and the hippocampus, both of which are targets for Alzheimer’s disease.
Magnetite is considered very toxic. Apart from interrupting cellular functions, it is also partly responsible for the production of free radicals, which cause damage to tissue and cells. It is worth mentioning that these effects can also be seen in Alzheimer’s disease.
The easiest way you can protect yourself from the negative effects of magnetite nanoparticles is to consume antioxidants as they absorb these free radicals. Usually, your body will produce all these protective compounds, but due to regular exposure to air pollution, you internal antioxidant levels get depleted faster than they can be replenished.
The good news is, you can boost the levels of antioxidants in your body by taking supplements or eating foods rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants derived from natural sources are typically more effective than those gotten from supplements. You can get antioxidants by eating plenty of vegetables and organic fruits.