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Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

nature.com

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Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#21

Post by hereme888 »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #14

In my opinion, the reason air pollution effects dementia risk is through activation of Heat Shock Proteins and I think it is the most valuable place to be investing in research. Heat Shock Proteins in Alzheimer’s Disease: Role and Targeting https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6163571/

It seems to be multifactorial. Per an OpenEvidence query, which cites many recent studies:

"In summary, the mechanism of PM2.5-induced brain damage involves entry via the olfactory system and BBB, activation of glial cells, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, BBB disruption, and downstream neurodegenerative changes."

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#22

Post by FollowingTheDao »

graemep wrote: post #13
bamboozled wrote: post #3

I've heard the argument made that it's better to stop burning fossil fuel, even if you're a climate change denier for reasons like this. Even if you think climate change is a hoax, why not reduce pollution anyway?

I agree. It also reduces the world's dependence on unstable regions. However, some things that are regarded as renewable (e.g. wood burning, such as the notorious Drax power station in the UK) are more polluting than fossil fuels. Personally I doubt they are even effective at CO₂ reduction. What we need is clean energy.

> It also reduces the world's dependence on unstable regions.

Do you think the world might have made these regions unstable because they have the oil?

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#23

Post by csallen »

ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 wrote: post #6
Havoc wrote: post #4

Only so much you can do about ambient pollution in your city. Looking carefully at your cooking situation is worthwhile though. Was horrified by the spike in readings from stuff like steak in a pan

Are there studies showing indoor air pollution from cooking in a residential setting is linked to dementia?

Study: Household fuel use and motoric cognitive risk syndrome among older adults: Evidence from cohort study and life course analysis

Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12413735/

Conclusion: "Clean fuel use for cooking and transitioning from solid to clean fuels decreases MCRS risk among older adults. Moreover, earlier adoption of clean cooking fuels is associated with a lower prevalence of MCRS in later life..."

---

Study: Association between cooking fuels and mild cognitive impairment among older adults from six low- and middle-income countries

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-17216-w

Conclusion: "In this large representative sample of older adults from multiple LMICs, unclean cooking fuel and a lack of chimney or hood when cooking were associated with a higher risk of MCI..."

---

Study: Household air pollution from solid fuel use as a dose-dependent risk factor for cognitive impairment in northern China

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10074-6

Conclusions (summarized by ChatGPT):

> People who use solid fuels (like wood, coal, or crop residue) for cooking or heating tend to do worse on cognitive tests compared to those who use clean fuels (like electricity or natural gas). This effect shows up across several areas of thinking, but the biggest impacts were on attention (for cooking) and orientation (for heating).

> The more often people currently use solid fuel stoves, the worse they do on attention-related tasks. For example: if someone cooks with a solid fuel stove 100 extra days in a year, their attention score drops by about 0.05 points (a small but measurable decline).

> Long-term exposure matters too. For every 5 extra years of solid fuel stove use (over the past 20 years), people scored about 0.07 points lower in attention tests. In other words: the longer you’ve been exposed, the worse your performance tends to be.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#24

Post by hollerith »

mc32 wrote: post #19
hollerith wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The air pollution in China and India was already awful 30 years ago, so "spike" is not be best choice of word. "Continuation of a high level of dementia" would be better.

I guess it would be a large and massive upswell in the coming decades because dementia isa trailing indicator and takes decades to have effect on populations. China only started pumping out massive amounts of dirty pollution in the mid 90's and China probably in the 2010s or so, so the impact is yet to hit them but if the conclusions are correct then wow...

I remember reports of terrible air pollution in China in the 1990s. China is burning much more coal now than it did then, and has about a thousand times more cars, but since the 1990s they've also instituted controls on how much air pollution a car or a unit of coal produces.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#25

Post by hereme888 »

bamboozled wrote: post #3

I've heard the argument made that it's better to stop burning fossil fuel, even if you're a climate change denier for reasons like this. Even if you think climate change is a hoax, why not reduce pollution anyway?

I'm on that boat. Though no one denies that the climate changes (but rather argue the about degree of human contribution and climate warming), destroying the beauty of nature and polluting the environment should go against global human conscience.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#26

Post by jodrellblank »

Havoc wrote: post #11
ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there studies showing indoor air pollution from cooking in a residential setting is linked to dementia?

Not sure - it may very well be a different kind of pollution, but the raw PM2.5 values definitely look scary fast with any kind of "dry" cooking where you're browning anything

The raw PM2.5 values also skyrocket with just boiling tap water, on my Ikea Vindstyrka. Which makes me question how useful it is, presumably even with "dry" cooking a lot of meats and vegetables have water in them?

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/vindstyrka-air-quality-sensor-s...

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#27

Post by FollowingTheDao »

ajkjk wrote: post #5
Havoc wrote: post #4

Only so much you can do about ambient pollution in your city. Looking carefully at your cooking situation is worthwhile though. Was horrified by the spike in readings from stuff like steak in a pan

Well studies like this are often directed at policymakers, who actually can do something about it.

And lobbyists are also directed at those policy makers...which is the bigger problem.

Big spikes in soft money group spending in 22 and 24 elections...

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?cycle=2024&ind=...

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#28

Post by melling »

hereme888 wrote: post #25
bamboozled wrote: post #3

I've heard the argument made that it's better to stop burning fossil fuel, even if you're a climate change denier for reasons like this. Even if you think climate change is a hoax, why not reduce pollution anyway?

I'm on that boat. Though no one denies that the climate changes (but rather argue the about degree of human contribution and climate warming), destroying the beauty of nature and polluting the environment should go against global human conscience.

“The climate is always changing”

Yes, those people are mostly imbeciles.

They argue that because Obama has a house near the ocean… and because people fly…

You can have a discussion with them but be prepared to start over in the same place the next time the subject comes up.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#29

Post by lazide »

ajkjk wrote: post #5
Havoc wrote: post #4

Only so much you can do about ambient pollution in your city. Looking carefully at your cooking situation is worthwhile though. Was horrified by the spike in readings from stuff like steak in a pan

Well studies like this are often directed at policymakers, who actually can do something about it.

Policy makers generally only give a damn if someone else makes them - or they get something from it.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#30

Post by acdha »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #22
graemep wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. It also reduces the world's dependence on unstable regions. However, some things that are regarded as renewable (e.g. wood burning, such as the notorious Drax power station in the UK) are more polluting than fossil fuels. Personally I doubt they are even effective at CO₂ reduction. What we need is clean energy.

> It also reduces the world's dependence on unstable regions. Do you think the world might have made these regions unstable because they have the oil?

It’s definitely a combination of both but I think oil wealth is inherently destabilizing because it tends to be concentrated in areas which were not previously rich and densely populated (most of the world by area) and because the way the market works allows a relatively small number of people to be wealthy without much local support compared to, say, high-end manufacturing which require lots of skilled workers and local investment. Norway is basically the only example of a petrostate where the money is invested in the betterment of the entire country.
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