Monday, March 28, 2011

Does Cycling in Bad Air Outweigh the Benefits of Exercise?


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Cycling: Health Benefits and Risks (1 page pdf, Panis LI, Environ Health Perspect, March 1, 2011)

Also discussed here: Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks? (8 page pdf, Jeroen Johan de Hartog, Hanna Boogaard, Hans Nijland, Gerard Hoek, Environ Health Perspect 118, Aug.1, 2010)

A new look at and discussion about cycling and its positive benefits, such as fitness and Life Expectancy (LE), and negative factors, such as injury from accidents and impacts from air pollution, is the focus of today’s review.

Key Quotes:

“the balance between physical activity and air pollution and accident risks of cycling.. the benefits outweigh the risks by an order of magnitude”

“cyclists are perceived to have a higher exposure to air pollution and a higher accident risk. Do the new data tilt the balance between the risks and benefits of cycling?”

“Exposure to short, high bursts of traffic exhaust may be different from an exposure to the same dose over a longer period”

“Air pollution mortality is often associated with the elderly and individuals with cardiovascular problems, but most cyclists are neither old nor very likely to suffer from bad health.”

“If the higher LE observed in present day cyclists can be transferred to people now taking up cycling, the benefits will probably be higher than the risks”

“may have overestimated the air pollution risks related to cycling because, in general, subjects who cycle are healthier than those who respond in long-term epide­miological studies.
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