Could a Noisy Neighborhood Make You Fat?
May 28, 2015
Exposure to noise from traffic, trains and planes may be linked to a burgeoning belly, Swedish researchers report.

The increased risk of a larger waist rose with the number of sources of noise someone was exposed to at the same time -- from 25 percent for those exposed to only one source to nearly double for those exposed to all three sources, the scientists added.

"Long-term exposure to traffic noise may affect our metabolism and lead to abdominal obesity," said lead researcher Charlotta Eriksson, from the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

"Traffic noise should be recognized as an important environmental health hazard that needs to be taken into consideration in urban planning," she said.

Eriksson cautioned that this is an observational study, so no definitive conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect between traffic noise and abdominal obesity.

Traffic noise, however, may be even more harmful to health than was previously known, Eriksson said. Earlier research has shown associations between traffic noise and high blood pressure and heart attacks, she noted.

"But since abdominal obesity is a risk factor for many diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, and more and more people live in densely populated areas in close vicinity of large roads, railways and airports, noise constitutes a serious public health threat," Eriksson said.

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Posted by Ken at 1:43 AM