A new study revealed that the hearts of young urban dwellers contain billions of air particles contaminated with minerals. These iron-rich molecules, produced by cars and factories, could be the cause of the close correlation between polluted air and heart disease, the study suggests. More than 90 percent of the world's population is polluted, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which says the situation calls for a global "public health emergency".

Lancaster University professor Barbara Maher and her team of scientists discovered in 2016 that these same micro atoms are present in human brains and are linked to Alzheimer's disease, which is related to air pollution. While all ages are affected, Maher stressed that she is particularly concerned about children. "For children, the damage will be very early, whether in the heart or in the brain," she said. "We have a (particle) capable of reaching both organs, with satisfactory evidence showing the damage." A recent comprehensive review found that air pollution could damage every member of the body, and almost every cell in the human body. When a person inhales small particles, they move into the bloodstream and are distributed throughout the body. There is a lot of evidence of damage, from diabetes to low IQ to increased abortions, they are epidemic. A study in 2018 revealed that there were particles of air pollution in the placenta in women who were born to attenuate.

The new research is the first direct evidence that iron-rich nanoparticles may cause heart disease. Particle particles were already known through laboratory tests to cause severe damage to human cells, and were an important element in roadside air pollution. "There are a lot of iron-rich nanoparticles in the subcutaneous components of myocardial tissue that are not where they are supposed to be. They are in the energy-producing cells, which are damaged and appear abnormal," says Maher. "This cell is the human energy source, Blood effectively ».

"There is a need to do more to reduce particulate emissions from vehicles, especially to reduce the number of vehicles on the road by encouraging people to walk and bicycling on short trips," says Mark Miller, a professor of cardiovascular air pollution at the University of Edinburgh.

The research, published in the journal Environmental Research, analyzed heart tissue from 63 young men who died in traffic accidents but had no chest trauma. They lived in Mexico City, which suffers from high air pollution, and their average age was 25 years. . Two main parts were investigated: the number of iron-rich nanoparticles found in the body and their location within tissues, and associated damage. The number of particles between 2 billion and 22 billion per gram of dry tissue was twice as high as 10 times in the population of Mexico City, compared to nine samples that lived in less polluted areas.

"Exposure to nanoparticles appears to be directly related to early cardiac damage," the team's medical scientists said. Maher says the results were appropriate for all countries: "There is absolutely no reason to expect this to be different in any other city." Based on previous work, molecules may also carry additional pollutants. "We can imagine that these nanoparticles come loaded with a toxic mixture."

Iron-rich nanoparticles begin to enter the body as molten droplets caused by fuel combustion, and then cool rapidly in molten surfaces. The molecules in the heart tissue have such properties, not like the iron-rich small magnetized crystals, naturally concentrated in at least one member, the brain. Instead, scientists separated molecules from tissues to determine their composition and magnetic content, and then used the average size and magnetism of the molecules to estimate the total number.

• Iron-rich nanoparticles begin to enter the body as molten droplets caused by fuel combustion, and then cool rapidly in balls with fused surfaces.

More than 90% of the world's population is polluted, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which says the situation calls for a global "public health emergency".