Here's an irony if you commute by bicycle through city streets to improve your health:
A research paper says London bicycle commuters have 2.3-times more black carbon — soot — in their lungs than their pedestrian counterparts.
Bicyclists have long assumed they might be inhaling a little urban pollution when a bus passes by or they get stuck behind a fume-belching delivery van at a stop light.
Now the London-based researchers have put a number on it in a paper presented at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Amsterdam. I never would have guessed it was this much.
Small sample
The researchers in London examined 10 urban dwellers — five who commute by bicycle and five who walk. Although it's a small sample, the researchers said there's only a one in 100 probability that the difference is by chance.
The European Lung Foundation says there growing evidence that inhaling black carbon particles is associated with adverse health effects such as heart attacks and reduced lung function.
One of the researchers, Dr. Chinedu Nwokoro, said the increased soot in bicyclists' lungs is probably caused by breathing more deeply and faster in proximity to traffic exhaust.
Change route
He suggests planning bicycle commuting routes that could limit exposure to exhaust.
As someone who occasionally suffers from asthma, I'd like to see more research on this topic, especially the long-term effects of the pollution on bicyclists and how we can protect ourselves from it.
Recent Comments