Supplementation of fish oil and vitamins have been shown to counteract the effects of dangerously high levels of air pollution, according to a new report from DSM.
It claimed that an estimated 80% of the world’s population was living in regions where air pollution exceeded the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum of 10 micrograms of fine particles – less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) – in every cubic metre of air. This could lead to adverse physiological and biochemical responses, including heart rate variability reduction and oxidative stress, wider scientific studies have shown.
“Supplementation of fish oil, some B vitamins, vitamin E and C were shown to intervene with these responses,” DSM’s report concluded. The company has also produced an infographic to illustrate its findings.
Report co-author Professor Manfred Eggersdorfer said: “Inhaling polluted air, especially air containing PM2.5, constitutes an environmental risk that has a proven impact on the quality and duration of human life. The objective of this scientific paper is to highlight human clinical investigations in which vitamins and marine-derived long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids were administrated to significantly reduce certain detrimental responses to PM2.5 exposure.”
Corresponding author Weiguo Zhang added: “Many people across the world are now exposed to air pollution daily. The studies included in this paper demonstrate that nutrition can play an important role in reducing some detrimental responses of the body to PM2.5 exposure. Future investigations are needed to determine whether long-term administration of these nutrients improves PM2.5-related clinical endpoints, for example, cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes.”
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