Division of Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine.
Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2019 Jan 1;109(1):99-108. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy232.
Air pollution exposures are novel contributors to the growing childhood obesity epidemic. One possible mechanism linking air pollution exposures and obesity is through changes in food consumption patterns.
The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal association between childhood exposure to air pollutants and changes in diet among adolescents.
School-age children were enrolled in the Southern California Children's Health Study during 1993-1994 (n = 3100) and were followed for 4-8 y. Community-level regional air pollutants [e.g., nitrogen dioxide (NO2), elemental carbon (EC), and fine particles with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm (PM2.5)] were measured at central monitoring stations. Line dispersion modeling was used to estimate concentrations of traffic-related air pollutants based on nitrogen oxides (NOx) at participants' residential addresses. In addition, self-reported diet information was collected annually using a structured youth/adolescent food-frequency questionnaire during 1997-2001. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used in the association analyses.
Higher exposures to regional and traffic-related air pollutants were associated with intake of a high-trans-fat diet, after adjusting for confounders including socioeconomic status and access to fast food in the community. A 2-SD (12.2 parts per billion) increase in regional NO2 exposure was associated with a 34% increased risk of consuming a high-trans-fat diet compared with a low-trans-fat diet (OR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.72). In addition, higher exposures to acid vapor, EC, PM2.5, and non-freeway NOx were all associated with higher consumption of dietary trans fat (all P < 0.04). Notably, higher exposures to regional NO2, acid vapor, and EC were also associated with a higher consumption of fast food (all P < 0.05).
Childhood exposures to regional and traffic-related air pollutants were associated with increased consumption by adolescents of trans fat and fast foods. Our results indicate that air pollution exposures may contribute to obesogenic behaviors. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03379298.
空气污染暴露是导致儿童肥胖流行的新因素。空气污染暴露和肥胖之间的一个可能的联系机制是通过改变食物消费模式。
本研究旨在检验儿童时期暴露于空气污染物与青少年饮食变化之间的纵向关联。
1993-1994 年（n=3100），南加州儿童健康研究招募了学龄儿童，并对他们进行了 4-8 年的随访。在中央监测站测量了社区水平的区域空气污染物[例如，二氧化氮（NO2）、元素碳（EC）和空气动力学直径<2.5 µm 的细颗粒物（PM2.5）]。基于参与者居住地的氮氧化物（NOx），使用线扩散模型来估计交通相关空气污染物的浓度。此外，在 1997-2001 年期间，使用结构化的青少年食物频率问卷每年收集自我报告的饮食信息。在关联分析中使用了广义线性混合效应模型。
在调整了社会经济地位和社区内快餐供应等混杂因素后，较高的区域和交通相关空气污染物暴露与高脂肪饮食摄入有关。与低反式脂肪饮食相比，区域 NO2 暴露增加 2 个标准差（12.2 皮克/十亿），摄入高脂肪饮食的风险增加 34%（OR：1.34；95% CI：1.05，1.72）。此外，较高的酸蒸汽、EC、PM2.5 和非高速公路 NOx 暴露均与较高的膳食反式脂肪消耗相关（均 P<0.04）。值得注意的是，区域 NO2、酸蒸汽和 EC 暴露的增加也与快餐的摄入增加有关（均 P<0.05）。
儿童时期暴露于区域和交通相关的空气污染物与青少年摄入反式脂肪和快餐的增加有关。我们的研究结果表明，空气污染暴露可能导致肥胖行为。本研究在 clinicaltrials.gov 注册为 NCT03379298。
