Air Pollution Undermines Children’s Lungs

It’s been long acknowledged that respiratory problems are linked to air pollution. A recent study revealed that children’s lung development can be stunted by vehicular pollutants.

This eight-year study of more than 3,600 children in USC in LA presented compelling evidence published in the Lancet recently.  Each year, the researchers carried out tests to measure how much, and how quickly, the children could exhale after taking a deep breath. They also recorded the distance the youngsters lived from freeways and other busy roads.

Children who had lived within 500 yards (500 meters) of a highway from the age of 10, had significantly less lung function by the time they reached 18 than those who were exposed to less traffic pollution. Not just those with frail lungs were affected, the otherwise-healthy children who were non-asthmatic and non –smokers also experience significant decrease in lung function due to traffic pollution.

The study's findings also raise troubling questions about what the authors call "environmental equity" because -- even within a single community -- some children are at higher risk than others. Children who were otherwise healthy but who lived close to main roads had a significant decrease in lung function.

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Beneficial Effects of Calcium Against Colon Cancer

In a 4-year study by researchers from Dartmouth Medical School, calcium was found to have protective effects for high-risk people from developing the polyps that can lead to colorectal cancer. The results were published in  the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Jan. 17, 2007; vol 99: pp 129-136

And the benefits appear to last long after calcium supplementation ends. In the study, patients with a history of non-malignant polyps took either 1.2 g of calcium in supplement form or a placebo daily for four years found that use of calcium was associated with a 17% lower relative risk for polyp recurrence; and the protection persisted for years.

During the first five years after the end of treatment, 31.5% of patients in the calcium group developed new polyps, compared with 43.2% of the study participants who did not take calcium. The protection did not appear to extend beyond five years, however. The findings are published in the Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute

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