Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Diet study may find ways to breathe easier on smoggy days

There are more than 100 days each year with poor air quality in Cache Valley, Utah. Poor air quality impacts health by limiting lung function and by weakening defenses against illness; children and the elderly are at higher risk.

A new partnership between the Applied Nutrition Research team at Utah State University and USANA Health Sciences, a Utah-based global nutritional supplement company, was announced this week. Clinical research to study the effects of nutritional supplementation to combat health consequences associated with Cache Valley’s poor air quality will begin soon.

Cache Valley experiences poor air quality most often during winter months when high-pressure systems act as a lid to trap pollutants from car exhaust and wood burning chimney fires. The problem isn’t specific to Cache Valley. Other areas of the state, including the Salt Lake Valley, experience poor air quality and lengthy inversions. Air pollution is a global issue.