Pesticides, heavy metals, micro- and nanoplastics in the soil and environmentally harmful chemicals can have a detrimental effect on the cardiovascular system, according to a review paper published today in Nature Reviews Cardiology.
Pesticides, heavy metals, micro- and nanoplastics in the soil and environmentally harmful chemicals can have a detrimental effect on the cardiovascular system, according to a review paper published today in Nature Reviews Cardiology. The article provides an overview of the effects of soil and water pollution on human health and pathology and discusses the prevalence of soil and water pollutants and how they negatively affect health, particularly the risk of cardiovascular disease.
“Soil contamination is a much less visible danger to human health than dirty air”, comment the two main authors of the study, Prof. Dr. Thomas Münzel, Senior Professor, and Prof. Dr. Andreas Daiber, Head of the Molecular Cardiology Research Group at the Department of Cardiology at University Medical Mainz. “But the evidence is mounting that pollutants in soil as well as in water may damage cardiovascular health through a number of central mechanisms that have been identified to play a key role in the atherosclerotic process such as inflammation of the vasculature, increased oxidative stress, but also the disruption of the body’s natural clock causing vascular (endothelial) dysfunction that may lead to the initiation or progression of atherosclerotic disease.” An important reason for writing this review article was therefore to strongly encourage cardiologists to consider environmental factors that could influence their patients' risk,” adds Thomas Münzel.
Read more at Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
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