The role of micronutrients in the response to ambient air pollutants: potential mechanisms and suggestions for research design.
Citation:
Miller, C. AND S. Rayalam. The role of micronutrients in the response to ambient air pollutants: potential mechanisms and suggestions for research design. JOURNAL OF TOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH - PART B: CRITICAL REVIEWS. Taylor & Francis, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, , 1-16, (2017).
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of the current paper is to (1) provide an understanding of the known nutrients of concern worldwide. Selected nutrients will be discussed in depth in the following sections based on information from the World Health Organization, World Food Programme data, and also demonstrate risk of deficiency in the U.S. as found in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (2) We will discuss connections of nutrient deficiencies to mechanisms of air pollution-associated adverse health outcomes and further, (3) we provide information for developing appropriate research models in nutrition.
Description:
People living in regions of low socioeconomic status are thought to be prone to higher exposures to environmental pollutants, poor nutrition, and numerous preventable diseases and infections. Poverty correlates with pollution and malnutrition, however limited studies examined their interrelationship. The well-studied, deleterious health effects attributed to environmental pollutants and poor nutrition may act in combination to produce more severe adverse health outcomes than any one factor alone. Deficiency in specific nutrients render the body more susceptible to injury which may influence the pathways that serve as the mechanistic responses to air pollutants. This review (1) explores specific micronutrients that are of global concern, (2) explains how these nutrients may impact the body’s response to ambient air pollution, and (3) provides guidance on designing animal models of nutritional deficiency. It is likely that those individuals who reside in regions of high ambient air pollution are similarly malnourished. Therefore, it is important that research identifies specific nutrients of concern and their impact in identified regions of high ambient air pollution.
