Low levels of air pollution to blame

New research into the health effects of air pollution, has shown for the first time that poor air quality can significantly impair lung function even in healthy people.

The six-week study by Brunel University/LifeLab Innovations and Prof. Alison McConnell, inventor of PUREbreathe, a revolutionary new breathing filter for urban exercisers, regularly tested the pulmonary function of eight professional cycle couriers working in London. The couriers worked five days a week for an average of 7.5 hours a day.

Individual exposure to particulate matter (PM) was estimated by collating data from official pollution monitoring sites in the capital and each courier’s work logs.

The calculated ‘pollution load’ delivered to the couriers’ lungs varied over the six-week testing period, but the study found that when the load was low, lung function improved by almost 5%. Conversely, when the measured pollution load was high, lung performance fell by a similar amount.

The changes in lung function indicated that the couriers’ lungs were suffering from acute inflammation.

Crucially, the study found that even low levels of pollution can affect lung function. PM levels in central London at the time were, on average, below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended maximum of 50 micrograms per cubic metre, and below the average levels measured by the BBC in Beijing during the Olympic Games.

“Previously, these sort of changes in lung function have only been observed in people with asthma, or at much higher levels of particulate air pollution”, explains Prof. Alison McConnell, Professor of Applied Physiology at the Centre for Sports Medicine & Human Performance at Brunel University.

The research, conducted by Brunel University and Brunel spin-off company, LifeLab Innovations, pointed to the likelihood that the impairment of lung function at relatively low concentrations of air pollution was due to the magnifying effect of exercise, which increases the amount of PM delivered to the lungs.

More information: www.purebreathe.com