Moderate levels of traffic pollution can damage human brain function in just a few hours, according to a new study by experts from the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria.
The peer-reviewed findings, published in the journal Environmental Health, show that just two hours of exposure to diesel exhaust causes a reduction in brain functional connectivity – a measure of how the study provides the first evidence in humans, a controlled study. From experiment, altered brain network connectivity induced by air pollution.
“For many decades, scientists thought that the brain could be protected from the harmful effects of air pollution,” said Chris Carlsten, professor and chief of respiratory medicine and Canada Research Chair in occupational and environmental lung disease at UBC.