Air pollution could make your brain age faster

Air pollution could cause lower birth weights and make your brain age faster

(Image credit: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

last updated 29 April 2015

On the heels of the American Lung Association's annual State of the Air report, a pair of studies details two new — and frightening — consequences of air pollution.

The first study, published this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that babies who were carried by pregnant women during the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008 were born heavier than babies born the years before and after. Researchers believe the higher birth weights are linked to cleaner air in 2008, when Beijing officials worked to lower pollution levels while hosting the Olympics. Beijing cut its pollution between 18 and 59 percent in 2008, CNN reports, which had a marked effect for the babies.

A separate study, published in the journal Stroke, found that long-term exposure to air pollution could increase the brain's aging, putting people at a higher risk of stroke. The study looked at health data from patients who were older than 60 and had not previously suffered from dementia or strokes. The researchers found that increased exposure to air pollution could be connected to "lower total cerebral brain volume," Time reports. As people age, they naturally lose cerebral brain volume, but high levels of air pollution could expedite the process.