When we think about air pollution, most of us focus on its effects on our lungs and maybe our hearts. But new research reveals something more troubling: the air we breathe may affect children's brains. Children are especially vulnerable to air pollution for a few reasons. Their bodies and brains are still developing, and they breathe faster than adults, meaning they take in more air (and more pollutants) relative to their body size. This outdoor time increases their exposure, particularly in cities or near freeways where pollution levels can spike.
What should concern us in these studies and what they show is that fossil fuel pollution is literally damaging, not only things like the vasculature of infants and children's brains, but also what we call the cortical thickness, which is associated with cognitive capacities or cognitive deficits.
These are observational studies, so we can't definitively say air pollution causes these brain changes. But when so many studies show consistent results, the association becomes strong - strong enough to move toward causality.
Researchers also looked at animal models to explore potential causal links. In these models, exposure to pollution led to brain changes similar to what's observed in human studies.
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