Secondhand smoke, roadway air pollution linked to childhood obesity

Researchers have drawn a link between adolescent exposure to tobacco smoke and road pollution to higher incidence of childhood obesity. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, was led by researchers from Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California.

Children who lived close to highway or roadway pollution and were exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke were more likely to see an increase in weight gain during adolescence.

“Vehicle miles traveled, exposure to some components of the near-roadway air pollutant mixture, and near roadway residential development have increased across the United States over the last several decades corresponding to the epidemic of childhood obesity,” lead author of the study Dr. Rob McConnell said in a press release. “The potential for near-roadway air pollution to be among several factors contributing to the epidemic of obesity merits further investigation.”

Researchers analyzed 3,000 children who had been exposed to tobacco smoke and measured the effects of air pollution from busy roads or highways. The study followed the children from the age of 10 in 1992 until they turned 18 years old.

The University of Southern California is the first to link childhood obesity to both air pollution and exposure to tobacco.