public health

What are GMOs? Are GMOs Safe? Can GMOs Be Useful?

November 11, 2019 by Katherine Baker 3 Comments

Hi friends! Today on the blog, we are talking about GMOs. GMOs (or genetically modified organisms), have gathered quite a clout of controversy in recent years. Depending on who you ask, GMOs are either horrific, potentially useful, unnatural, necessary, toxic, harmful, helpful, and everything in between. With all the noise surrounding GMOs, it can be hard to decipher the truth. So what are GMOs? Are GMOs bad for you? Or are GMOs safe? Are GMOs bad for the environment? And Can GMOs be useful? Read on for all the details.

What are GMOs?

There is actually no universally agreed-upon scientific definition for the phrase “GMO,” nor is there any regulation around its use for labeling in the US.

That means things that are labeled “non-GMO,” have not had to meet any specific standards or regulations. The FDA has released voluntary guidelines, but there is no formal inspection or enforcement of the phrase “Non-GMO” on food labels.

The FDA doesn’t even use the phrase “GMO,” as most crops we eat today are genetically modified in some way. The FDA does recognize some foods as “genetically engineered” (GE), which it states is a “more precise term.”

Genetic engineering refers to genetic modification practices that utilize modern biotechnology to target a plant’s genetic makeup to give the plant a desirable trait.

This brings up an important point: there are actually very few genetically modified/engineered crops allowed.

In the US, the list includes things like alfalfa, canola, cotton, maize, papaya, rice, soybeans, roses, sugarcane, wheat and a few varieties of “Arctic” potatoes and apples, as well as FLAVRSVR tomatoes, which are rarely grown these days. Besides the major crops (rice, wheat, soy, etc), it’s actually very unlikely the produce you buy at the grocery store is a ‘GMO.’

Yup, that’s right. A vast majority of what you find in the produce section of US grocery stores is not genetically modified (the exception being papayas, which are always genetically modified in the US, read on for details).

The process for a crop to get “GM” approved costs millions to billions of dollars, and the import/export taxes upon them are also steep. Thus, even if the technology exists, very few GM crops are approved to be grown, unless they are going to be utilized widely, because of the high cost barrier for approval.

Many crops may have been selectively bred to foster certain flavors or growth characteristics, but this is not the same as genetic modification. Humans have used selective breeding techniques for thousands of years to develop crops with a range of desirable features, including various sizes, shapes, and colors of crop foods.

Perhaps you did experiments with pea plants growing up that required you to cross pollinate different pea plants to get different color flowers, etc. This is sort of like what plant breeders do to create different varieties of produce.

For example: say you see an apple in the store that’s new-to-you. You read the description. It says it’s a mix of honeycrisp and another variety (Hi, Snapdragon apples!). This is not a genetically modified apple. It’s a result of plant breeding.

Are GMOs Safe?

To date, existing evidence suggests that genetically engineered crops are safe for human consumption.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, WHO, National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and FDA have all stated that genetically modified crops are safe for consumption, based on the plethora of available data.

In the US, the FDA holds foods from GE plants to the same food safety standards and requirements as foods derived from traditionally bred plants.

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Air Pollution and Human Health: How Poor Air Quality Leads to Chronic Illness and Death

November 7, 2019 by Katherine Baker 1 Comment

The current air quality emergency in Delhi, where the AQI has reached 999 (which is well above the “safe” level of 100 set in the US by the EPA), has raised recent awareness about air pollution and human health.

I recently shared some articles on the #DehliAirEmergency on my social feeds, adding a comment about how air pollution caused over 8 million deaths per year. Several people reached out to me, surprised that air pollution could cause death or chronic illness, and so I thought I’d devote a post to address the health impacts of air pollution.

I must say I myself was shocked to learn about the serious and sweeping dangers of air pollution. I always assumed it could cause some respiratory distress, but didn’t think it could do much more than that.

Then, I took a job where I spent a semester researching air pollution as a justice issue for a lawyer at Mailman (she’s a legend and I learned so much…but that’s another story for another time) and I was surprised to learn it caused not only respiratory illness, but also cardiovascular diseases, cancer, neurological illnesses, and even death.

What’s alarming about air pollution, and many other environmental health exposures, is that they are, for many, unavoidable. While we can choose whether or not we smoke, do drugs, or engage in other risky health behaviors, we must all breathe air, we do not have the luxury of choosing how clean or dirty that air is.

Obviously, air pollution levels vary by geographical location, and there are luxuries afforded to privileged individuals to reduce their risks. However, air pollution, like climate change, is a threat to us all.

I hope by spreading awareness about these topics I can help others understand how and why we need to take action. I don’t think anyone wants their family, friends, and pets breathing in toxic air, because as you will learn in the text that proceeds this, air pollution can do a lot of damage to health.

So with all that said, here’s a post about how air pollution can impact human health. I hope you enjoy it As always, please feel free to leave questions or comments below, and/or reach out to me on Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube!

What is air pollution?

Air pollution is a mixture of natural and human-created substances in the air. According to the WHO, the 6 major air pollutants include ground-level ozone, particle pollution (read all about PM 2.5 here), carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxides and lead.

Air pollutants are typically divided into two main categories: outdoor air pollution, and indoor (ambient) air pollution.

Outdoor air pollution is, as the name suggests, pollution you would be exposed to the outside of the built environment, and includes things like fine particles produced by the burning of fossil fuels, ground-level ozone (which is produced from the reaction of oxygen and urban smog), tobacco smoke, and noxious gasses such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and chemical vapors.

Indoor air pollution (also known as ambient or household air pollution) is found within buildings and homes and is considered one of the most important environmental health risks worldwide.

Indoor air pollution involves exposure to household particles like building materials such as asbestos, formaldehyde, and lead, allergens from pests like cockroaches and mice, tobacco smoke, mold, and pollen. Indoor air pollution may also contain carbon monoxide, radon, and household products and chemicals found from cleaning, building, or pest control products.

In developing countries, indoor air pollution is often generated by incomplete combustion of fuels for cooking, heat, and lighting, without ventilation. Coal, charcoal, wood, kerosene, and dung are commonly burned using ‘dirty’ technologies, which do not completely burn these fuels, and emit air pollution into the home. People who spend more time around the source of the air pollution, like women and children, are at highest risk for adverse health effects.

Both forms of air pollution are important to address and both can contribute to each other.

Air Pollution and Human Health: How many people die each year from air pollution?

Air pollution is responsible for an estimated 8 million deaths each year (some estimates go up to 8.8 million deaths per year), with about 4 million of those deaths coming from indoor air pollution.

Yes, you read that correctly – over 8 million people die from air pollution each year.

To put that in perspective, the WHO estimates 7 million smokers die each year from cigarettes (and an additional 1.2 million die from secondhand smoke), meaning deaths from air pollution are roughly on par with deaths from smoking. Except individuals have the choice to smoke. AIr pollution is something people can’t escape.

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What is lactose intolerance? What causes lactose intolerance?

October 28, 2019 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful day. I apologize for the blip in blogging; I have been crazy busy with school and experiencing simultaneous computer issues. I am really hoping my laptop holds out for service until winter break. I really need it! Eep! Anyways, today while studying for a test, I was reviewing lactose intolerance and thought “Gee, this is interesting. Maybe I can procrastinate studying by writing a blog post about what causes lactose intolerance.”

So here we are! Procrastinating studying by writing about something else I’m studying. Do I know how to have a good time or what? But all jokes aside – this is a topic that impacts the majority of people (yup, more people are lactose intolerant than tolerant – read on to find out why).

I grew up super duper lactose intolerant, and that was back in the day before there was a dairy-free version of everything (I remember kids making fun of my Silk Very Vanilla boxes of soy milk, which by the way, are still delicious). Luckily, lactose intolerance is easy for most to manage, especially nowadays thanks to the dairy-free boom. But let’s chat about what lactose intolerance actually is, and why it happens. Read on!

What is lactose intolerance?

Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose, which is the main sugar found in milk. Lactase, an enzyme, breaks lactose into glucose and galactose, to be absorbed by your small intestine.

People with lactose intolerance have insufficient lactase, meaning lactose in milk can’t properly be split into glucose and galactose for easier absorption.

Instead, individuals who are lactose intolerant have undigested lactose in their colon. Bacteria flock to the lactose to try to break it down. This fermentation process causes osmosis (meaning it brings water to the area) and creates gas, which comes out as, well, gas. The bacterial breakdown of lactose leads to the symptoms associated with lactose intolerance.

What are the symptoms of lactose intolerance?

Bloating, diarrhea, gas, abdominal pain, nausea, stomach rumbling/gurgling sounds, and indigestion upon ingestion of milk or milk products.

Some people may even vomit upon ingestion of lactose-foods.

What causes lactose intolerance in humans?

As it turns out, lactase deficiency is actually the norm for most adult populations. In most mammals (including humans), the gene that transcribes for lactase to be produced is turned off as the mammal matures after weaning off milk from their mothers, limiting their ability to digest milk after childhood.

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What are VOCs? How can VOCs impact health?

October 20, 2019 by Katherine Baker 2 Comments

Hello! Welcome to this post about VOCs. You may be wondering, “What are VOCs? And how can I reduce my exposure to them?”

Or, you may be like I was before I got my MPH in environmental health science and be like “All that stuff is whatever; I’m sure it’s fine. People live with chemicals and stuff all the time.”

Ahh, sweet ignorance. Seriously though – getting my MPH in environmental health science really opened my eyes to a variety of topics I feel like more people should be educated about. It’s easy to be told and to believe that chemicals and pollutant exposure are just a part of life, and that everything is fine, but the truth is, many produce real and serious risks!

Please know that I am not an alarmist, nor do I want to ignite fear into you about any specific food or chemical. My goal is always to provide information about nutrition and environmental health science to equip people to make choices for a healthy life.

Random story…What Inspired this post

VOCs have been on my mind a lot lately, due to some 4-day-turned-4-week contract work that I was told was “low-VOC.”

Obviously, me being me, I had the urge to look up the chemical being used and to do my own risk assessment, and can say, that although it is not a known carcinogen to humans, I wouldn’t consider the work being done to carry zero risk.

I also have hypersomnia and am super sensitive to chemicals, so let’s just say…the last four weeks have been trying me. Of course, my concerns were washed over, and I was told repeatedly that “VOCs are fine!”

Sometimes it’s frustrating to have authority but not be respected. Sigh. I have legitimate training in this area, and literally was stared at like I was an alarmist idiot.

So it goes with choosing to study environmental health science and nutrition and looking young and having others make assumptions about my qualifications and level of competence. Just over here dealing with daily headaches and worried about people (and pets!) in this building! Sigh. In an attempt to turn my frustration into something positive, here is an informative post on VOCs to help you live your best life!

Anyways, let’s chat VOCs!

What are VOCs?

Volatile Organic Compounds (also known as VOCs) are compounds that are easily vaporized and turn to gases. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, emitted by a by a wide range of products, and inhaling VOCs can lead to both short and long-term health effects.

VOCs are most often found in higher concentrations indoors than outdoors. Many chemicals found in common building materials, home goods, and household cleaning products contain VOCs.

Sources of VOCs include paints, paint strippers and other solvents, wood preservatives, aerosol sprays, air fresheners, pesticides, dry-cleaned clothing, moth repellents, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as printers, copiers, and graphic and craft materials like glues, adhesives, permanent markers and photographic solutions.

VOCs are also found in cigarettes, secondhand smoke, and vehicle exhaust.

The most common ways people are exposed to VOCs is through inhalation. Skin contact is another route of exposure.

What are the Health Effects of VOCs?

VOCs can cause a variety of short and longer-term health effects.

Early symptoms of VOC exposure include ear and respiratory irritation, headache, dizziness, and visual disorders or impairments.

More generally, VOCs can cause ear, throat, nose and eye irritation and discomfort, difficulty breathing, as well as allergic skin reaction and rash. Epistaxis, or nosebleeds, may also occur from VOC exposure.

VOCs can also cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness, and loss of coordination.

Longer-term VOC exposure can cause damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system. Some VOCs, including benzene (found in tobacco smoke, paint supplies, and automobile emissions) and methylene chloride (found in paint thinners and adhesive removers) are known carcinogens in human studies.

Others, like perchlorethylene (emitted during the dry-cleaning process) are known carcinogens in animals, and suspected carcinogens in humans.

Formaldehyde, a well-known VOC, is known to impair lung function at high levels, and sensory irritation and asthma development at lower levels.

As with all chemical exposures, health effects vary based on exposure level, time period of exposure, and individual susceptibility (some people are more susceptible than others).

VOC exposure in office spaces are sometimes responsible or contributory for a phenomenon known as “sick building syndrome,” or SBS. SBS describes a medical condition where people in a building have symptoms of illness of feel nondescript “unwell” for no obvious reason.

Elderly individuals and those with asthma may be more susceptible to the impacts of VOCs. Young children, who have an increased frequency of respiration compared to adults, are also more vulnerable.

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What are Ultra-processed foods? How do they impact health?

October 6, 2019 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Have you ever eaten something, looked at the label, and realized that, even though it’s apparently in your native language, you can’t read or pronounce or understand a bulk of the ingredients? I have. Things like hyper-flavored, brightly-colored chips, candies, sodas and packaged baked goods often fall into a category of what’s called “ultra-processed foods.” But what are ultra processed foods? And how do ultra-processed foods impact health?

This is currently a hot topic in the world of nutrition science. Ultra-processed foods have been receiving lots of attention from various nutrition and food policy experts for their potentially detrimental impacts on human health, and many believe they should be a target for decreased consumption (however, with industry funding, this issue keeps getting swept under the rug).

So what does this mean for you, the consumer? Well, I’d like to start by saying most of us probably know that fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grain products are generally beneficial for human health, and that things like Diet Coke, Oreos, Takis, Doritos, etc. But just what are ultra-processed foods, and just how much can they impact health? Read on for details!

*Disclaimer: As always, this is general information intended for healthy adults to gather general information. Your needs may vary based on medical status, lifestyle, or life-stage. Please never replace generalized health information you’ve read online with individualized clinical care.

What are ultra-processed foods?

Ultra-processed foods are foods that are mostly made of cheap industrial sources of dietary energy plus additives using a series of processes (like multiple milling, extruding, molding processes in a single object – ie ultra-processing’) to yield hyper-palatable foods with extended shelf lives.

Often times, they are low in fiber, protein, micronutrients, and are rich in additives, artificial colors, flavors, refined grains, sugar, salt, and/or unhealthful fatty acids.

Examples include hyper-palatable chips, snack foods, candies, packaged baked goods and pastries, and microwave foods, and artificially-sweetened beverages.

Basically, ultra-processed foods are the foods you can’t really recognize the original ingredients in in the final product (for example, when I see a Dorito, I don’t think “oh yeah, the first ingredient in that is definitely corn.”)

Processed versus Ultra-Processed Foods:

I think it’s important to distinguish processed versus ultra processed foods. Many foods are processed, including things like table salt, tofu, frozen vegetables, and dried or canned beans. Processing does not automatically make foods detrimental to human health.

However, ultra-processing often yields foods riddled with artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, sugar, and salt, and fewer micronutrients, fiber, and protein compared to lesser-processed foods.

Unprocessed or minimally processed foods are things like fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs, etc.

How Do Ultra-Processed Foods Impact Human Health?

A recently published randomized control trial compared food intake of participants given an ultra-processed diet versus those given an unprocessed diet. The researchers admitted 20 participants into clinical center for two weeks, where they were allowed to eat ‘ad lib’ and monitored for 14 days.

Individuals in the ultra-processed group ate, on average, 508 calories more per day than those in the unprocessed group.

If you think about it, considering ultra-processed foods are often micronutrient-poor, it’s possible they don’t have the same nourishing effect as lesser-processed foods, leading to increased need for food to obtain the proper balance of macro and micronutrients.

Another study in JAMA found a correlation between increases in ultra-processed food consumption and increased risk of mortality in adults over 45. At 10-years follow up, those with the highest levels of ultra-processed food consumption had a 62% higher risk for all-cause death than did the people in the lowest ultra-processed food consumption group.

While correlation never explains causation, it could be that adults who consume lots of ultra-processed foods have less stomach space for minimally or unprocessed foods, like healthful fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, etc.

When ultra-processed foods displace micronutrient and fiber-rich foods in the diet, it’s easier to eat large volumes of energy-dense food that are rich in unhealthful fatty acids, artificial colors and flavors, refined sugars, and/or high fructose corn syrup, while still not fulfilling your body’s micronutrient needs.

Do I need to stop eating ultra-processed foods?

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Climate Change and Wildfires: How are they connected?

August 28, 2019 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Hello! Given that wildfires have been all over the news lately, I thought they would make a good topic for a blog post. Specifically, we are going to discuss what ingredients are necessary for wildfires to start, and how climate change and wildfires are connected.

Wildfires have been increasing in the Western US since the 1980s. While there are normal fluctuations in wildfires cycles and climate patterns like El Nino which may impact wildfire frequency and intensity, it is clear that they are increasing.

Projections suggest that climate change will increase wildfire frequency and areas burned moving forward.

Ingredients for a Wildfire:

Before we dive more into wildfires and how climate change exacerbates conditions for wildfires to ignite or spread, it’s first important to understand the ingredients for wildfires.

The main ingredients needed for a wildfires include:

Availability of dry vegetation (“dry fuel”)
Hot and dry wind
And human or natural fire ignition

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What are the Social Determinants of Health?

August 6, 2019 by Katherine Baker 1 Comment

Hello everyone! Today I’m trying out something a little different here on the blog. Typically, I post nutrition content, recipes, recent eats recaps, and environmental health science stuff. But today we are talking public health; specifically, we are answering the question “what are the social determinants of health?”

Are you interested in public health? I am (clearly…I got my MPH). And I want to share some of what I’ve learned with others so everyone reading this can be a better-informed human, better equipped to understand health-related news articles with a greater perspective or understanding.

Lately I’ve been doing some reflecting and wondering what content I really want on my blog. I want my posts to be useful, informative, and entertaining…I am currently leaning more towards info-based posts and less recipe posts. There are approximately 10 million excellent recipe blogs out there, but there are far less blogs (that I know of) that provide science-based nutrition content.

So since I have the time and energy and motivation, I’m currently enjoying writing more science-based nutrition, environmental, and public health-focused post (while still doing recipes!) Let me know what you like to see around here. I’m always open to hearing your thoughts.

Anyways, that was a long random aside.

Back to the social determinants of health. I actually was assigned to write about this for a job I had, and I’m fairly sure my draft never got used. So it goes in content-creating jobs.

But while I was researching and writing the post, I got to thinking about how I wish I had been better educated about this topic from an earlier age. I feel like the social determinants of health was not really ever taught in any of my high school science or even undergrad classes. And as someone who took a lot of science and health-oriented classes, I wish it had been stressed with greater importance from the get-go!

I learned about the social determinants of health formally during my MS and MPH programs, especially in the later. While I have worked with people of many socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, I feel like learning more about the social determinants of health has been important in realistic understanding of complexity and deep systemic causes of many health-related issues, widening my compassion and understanding, and making me a more thoughtful, systems-thinking problem solver.

Moreover, I think the social determinants of health are super important to keep in mind when consuming “wellness” media, which often comes from a highly privileged lens. It’s not easy for most people to snap their fingers and make healthier choices – heck, some people can’t even afford safe transportation to the grocery store. But more on that later in another post. For now, let’s just chat about what the social determinants of health are.

So, What are the Social Determinants of Health?

The social determinants of health are conditions, including environmental, economic, and social conditions in a place a person lives, works, breathes, and learns, that can have a wide range of impacts on many health risks, disease rates, and quality-of-life outcomes.

The social determinants of health can play a significant role in a person or a community’s well-being. Although they have been historically understudied, the social determinants of health are now gaining increasing attention as an essential component of understanding and improving human health.

Examples of Social Determinants of Health:

As mentioned above, the social determinants of health encompass a variety of conditions, including environmental, economic, and social conditions, among others.

But what are some examples of social of determinants of health?

Economic Conditions:

Well, let’s start with economic conditions. Poverty itself is a known health risk factor for a multitude of diseases and physical and mental health conditions. A person’s ability to afford safe places to live, ample basic resource needs such as nutritious food and clean water, and access to healthcare are important to health.

Think about it: if you can only afford a moldy, cockroach-infested apartment near an airport, you are exposing yourself to a wide variety of allergens that someone in a newer apartment in a lower-emission neighborhood may experience.

Likewise, if you live in a low income neighborhood with tainted water, you are more likely to experience health risks than someone who lives in a higher-income neighborhood with clean water, or an individual who can afford a water filter.

Nutritious food also costs money. While it is easy to tell people to simply “get creative” with budgets and low-cost healthy foods like beans or frozen vegetables, the reality is that many people live in food deserts where healthy groceries are not as readily available or extremely expensive. At an even more basic level, some people can’t even afford transportation to and/or from a grocery store.

And then, of course, there’s health care. Many have struggled, or continue to struggle, to afford adequate medical, dental, and mental health care.

Economics can also play a large role in available educational and occupational opportunities a person has available to them. I believe Obama once said “You can’t reach for what you can’t see,” and I find this to be very true. Many in low-resource settings may not be exposed to the same educational opportunities or scholarships to achieve higher education or training of any type. This plays a longer-term role in their financial well-being, creating a difficult-to-break cycle.

Social Conditions:

Social conditions are another social determinant of health. Social attitudes and norms, exposure to crime and violence, residential segregation, and distrust of government, all contribute to a person’s well-being. Discrimination or historical trauma are also considered social determinants of health. Historically marginalized groups may still suffer from prejudice or stigmatization.

Sadly, racism, sexism, stigma, and oppression are still all present in the United States and across the world. These social conditions can impact a person’s physical and mental health, as well as their ability to thrive academically or professionally, which may impact their finances, which also may impact their health.

On the flip side, social privilege can lead to greater health opportunities. We all hear about someone who knows someone who can got them in to see a top doctor or specialist. Those with more financial resources can also afford medical treatments or traveling for medical treatments, as well as more preventive resources, like healthy food, firness classes, mental health therapy, and stress-management treatments like massages.

Environmental Conditions:

And then there are environmental determinants of health, of which, there are many. Environmental toxins, for example, have emerged as a hot topic in recent years. From lead in pipes to quality of the air a person has to breathe, environmental conditions can have an enormous impact on human health.

The built environment also plays a role. Think about the place you live: can you walk or run outside while feeling safe? Do you have access to parks and green spaces? Are there sidewalks and bike lanes? All of these are considered built environmental privileges.

Access to green space, the availability of safe roads, sidewalks and bike lanes, environmental conditions and exposure to toxins, local air and water quality, and even aesthetic elements including good lighting, trees, and benches, can all contribute to a person’s physical or physiological well-being.

Putting it all together:

Together, social, environmental, and economic conditions make up the social determinants of health. Keep in mind the above examples are exhaustive. There are many social determinants of health that can have a snowball effect.

For example, being born into a zip code with an under-resourced school system may limit a person’s opportunities for higher education, and/or impact their professional opportunities and shape their future level of income.

Furthermore, if that neighborhood has no safe places to play, someone growing up in that neighborhood may not have the opportunities to exercise as much as kids in safer neighborhoods. They may also have a harder time getting safely to a grocery store with accessible, affordable healthier food options. All of these can have long-term affects.

With limited income comes limited access other physical, health, and social resources, with potential intergenerational effects (meaning lesser resources for the individual’s children, etc).

I hope this was at least someone helpful and/or interesting to understand some social determinants of health, and help you keep an open mind as to why not everyone can just snap their fingers and make healthier choices. I’m planning a whole post about how this stuff plays into nutrition and the wellness industry, so stay tuned for that.

Until then, feel free to let me know if you did indeed find this at all interesting, and leave questions, comments, or post topic requests below, and/or say hello on Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube!

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How Does Climate Change Impact Human Health?

July 28, 2019 by Katherine Baker 1 Comment

Hi internet friends! How are you? I was pleasantly surprised by the high level of interest in the “What does it mean when your cell phone says “Unhealthy Air Quality for Sensitive Groups?” post I wrote last week. Turns out, people are interested in environmental health-related issues! Yay information! Due to the interest, I thought I’d roll out some more climate and health-related content. In today’s post, I am going to do a brief overview about how climate change can impact human health.

This has been a more nutrition-sided than environmental health-sided blog lately, but seeing as I’m going back to nutrition as my primary academic focus in fall, why not use my MPH in environmental health science while all the info is fresh!

Plus, it’s super interesting (at least to me, and I hope to many of you) and motivating to make actionable changes in your life and advocate for even more.

So how does climate change impact human health? Well, in a lot of ways! I’m going to do a brief overview of a variety of ways climate change can impact health.

Let me know in the comments below (or on Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube) if you’d like more information or a specific post on any of the below subtopics.

I feel very fortunate to have gotten my MPH in Environmental Health Science with my certificate in Climate & Health from the university that pioneered an academic focus in that area. I realize this is a huge privilege to have learned so much about how climate change impacts human health, and I want to share what I’ve learned with others. So please ask questions about anything! I am happy to elaborate!

**Don’t want to read? Check out the video version here, or scroll to the bottom of this post.

Air Pollution

Air pollution causes an estimated 8 million deaths each year. Poor air quality increases risks of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, eye irritation, skin diseases, and neuropsychiatric complications, and even cancer. Air pollution can exacerbate existing medical conditions such as asthma high blood pressure.

Human-produced indoor and outdoor (ambient) air pollution are both serious sources of pollution, both of which contribute to climate change and cause human health impacts.

*Quick side note: does it make sense to you how climate change even occurs? I’d be happy to write a separate post about it. Let me know if that’s of interest!

Allergens

Got allergies? I have some sad news for you. Climate change can make your allergies worse. How? By changing temperature and precipitation patterns that characterize different seasons of the year, climate change may prolong plant pollination period, and thus, lengthen and exacerbate the amount of allergens that make their way into the air in many areas.

Additionally, elevated CO2 concentrations and temperatures increase pollen output of plants. Meaning more stuff will is in the air to make you sneezy, itchy, weezy, etc.

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Micronutrient Facts: Vitamin A

July 23, 2019 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Hello everyone on the internet! It’s vitamin A day! Hooray! We are going to be chatting about all things vitamin A.

This post is to help kick off a new thing I’m calling “The Micronutrient Series.” In case you didn’t know, micronutrients are components of the diet that can’t be made by the human body and are therefore required in the diet, usually in small amounts; they include vitamins and minerals. I plan to chronicle all the micronutrients from vitamin A-zinc in this series.

Each vitamin or mineral will have a post like this one, where I explain what the micronutrient does, how it is absorbed and used in the body, food sources of the micronutrient, and what too much of the vitamin may do to you.

Please take note that this series will be rolling out slowly, as there are many micronutrients! But I hope you’ll stick around for the ride. If you have questions about RDA and DRIs, please see this post. Otherwise, let’s chat vitamin A!

Intro:

‘Vitamin A’ is the name of not one, but rather, a group of fat-soluble retinoids. It includes retinol, retinal, and retinyl esters.

There are two forms available in the human diet: preformed vitamin A and provitamin A (often called carotenoids). Both must be metabolized into retinal and retinoic acid for use in the human body.

Preformed vitamin A is found primarily in animal food products, such as meat, fish, and diary.

Provitamin A is found mostly in plant foods. Beta-carotene is the most important provitamin A in the human diet, and is prevalent in foods such as carrots and sweet potatoes.

What Vitamin A Does in Your Body:

Vitamin A does a lot of things in your body. Often associated with good vision, vitamin A is indeed critical to make rhodopsin, a protein that absorbs light in retinal receptors in your eye, thereby ensuring proper vision.

But vitamin A does more than help you see. It also plays an important role in cell growth and differentiation, and is critical for normal formation and maintenance of the lungs and kidneys, among other organs. Vitamin A also plays a role in gene expression and a large body of research also supports the role of vitamin A in regulation of genes involved in immunity.

Vitamin A also plays an important role in reproduction and human development. In males, vitamin A participates in sperm development, and in women, vitamin A promotes healthy fetal growth and development. Vitamin A is transferred from the mother to fetus to ensure proper development of the nervous system, lungs, kidneys, heart, skeleton, eyes, and ears.

Some human epi studies have shown that adequate intake of vitamin A from food is associated with lower risks of certain cancers; however, studies have also shown that overconsumption of vitamin A from supplement specifically can be harmful (more on this in the toxicity section).

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What does it mean when your phone says “Unhealthy Air Quality for Sensitive Groups?”

July 20, 2019 by Katherine Baker 2 Comments

Ever look down at the weather app on your iphone and see some small text under the temperature that reads “Unhealthy Air Quality for Sensitive Groups?” Ever wonder what that means? And if you should be concerned?

Today we are going to be discussing exactly what that unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups warning means, and what you can and should do when you see it.

While this blog has been heavily nutrition-focused lately, but this post is going to tap into my Environmental Health Science MPH. May as well use it, right?

What is AQI?

Before we can understand what “Unhealthy Air Quality” means, let’s first talk about what it is and how it’s measured. Air Quality Index (AQI) is a term used by government agencies to communicate with the public how polluted the air is or is forecasted to be.

Generally speaking, the higher the AQI, the greater the public health risk. Different governments have different national air quality standards to classify different health risks and communicate these risks to their citizens.

How is the AQI Calculated?

In the US, the EPA calculates the AQI for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act, including particulate matter (read my whole post about what PM is here), carbon monoxide, ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.

Air monitors collect and record pollutants over 1,000 locations across the country. The raw data is used to develop a separate AQI for each of the 5 mentioned pollutants. The highest of the AQI values from these 5 is reported as the AQI value of the day.

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