Avoid Air Pollution

[Plumster]

Food to help detoxify from air pollution: cruciferous vegetables! Especially broccoli sprouts and broccoli.

[circular]

Food to help detoxify from air pollution: cruciferous vegetables! Especially broccoli sprouts and broccoli.

Thanks for mentioning that. Came up a long time ago, but I’d forgotten my cruciferous we’re doing this for me

[Fiver]

Curious - how do cruciferous veggies do this?

[floramaria]

Curious - how do cruciferous veggies do this?

Dr Joe Pizzorno, in his book The Toxin Solution pgs 98-99, says that Brassica family foods (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale) facilitate detoxification by increasing the availability of liver enzymes.

[Fiver]

Thanks floramaria! I did some reading.

I'm mostly concerned with ultra-fine particulate PM 2.5 pollution - from trucks and traffic, more generally. It's long been known that it damages the lungs, brain, and heart. Good data linking it with neurological issues, including AD. PM 2.5 must circulate. But only recently have studies shown impacts on the liver - apparently, as per some 2015 studies, it can cause liver scarring (fibrosis).

I see that broccoli up-regulates some liver enzymes.

What I haven't yet found is a study linking up-regulation of liver detoxification enzymes to protection from air pollution. I'm not sure - at least off the top of my head - what the mechanism would be. Back to the reading.....

[circular]

This article that Saskia posted mentions radon as a problem for Alzheimer’s ... I hadn’t thought of that one! I wonder if the monitors are affordable.

You can Google US radon map.

Radon test kits on Amazon aren’t too expensive, but I don’t know which are most reliable.

Mitigation costs?

Does opening windows help? Something to Google with my morning coffee ...

[SusanJ]

Does opening windows help?

Nope, you have to have a system that pulls air out, normally in the basement, because radon is dense, comes up from the ground through cracks or open areas in the foundation and pools in the lower levels.

Buy a couple test kits and put them out in a few places. If they come back positive, don't mess around and get the mitigation done. Radon causes lung cancer. Depending on the size of the house and details, I'd guess around $1000.

We tested all the houses we ever bought in Colorado, because it's a known problem there.

[Anna]

This article that Saskia posted mentions radon as a problem for Alzheimer’s ...

Does opening windows help? Something to Google with my morning coffee ...

Opening basement windows can help with radon, but opening other windows without having the basement windows open can actually suck more radon into the home. But if you live in a high-radon area, as I do, there is no substitution for radon mitigation AND occasional testing, preferably in the winter.

[circular]

Not that I expect anyone to remember, but a long time back in this thread I was using a VOC tracker in my home to check levels. They regularly went into unhealthy zones. They would clear by opening windows, but of course we can’t live with windows open all the time. I bought the IQAir HealthPro Plus and returned the trackers to wait for Kaiterra’s Laser Egg 2+ that tracks both VOCs and particles in one. Then my life veered in new directions and I’m only now getting back to this.Instead of getting the Laser Egg 2+ I got an updated version of the Eve Room that I’d used before, for less $ and that I can use alongside my Wynd particle tracker, although I’m not settled on what tracker I’ll use going forward.

So without further ado my first observation:

I had started diffusing essential oils along the way and adding them to baths periodically. I noticed these ‘healthy home enhancements’ would irritate my eyes, which VOCs are known to do. I got suspicious and found this study of VOCs produced by common essential oils https://link.springer.com/article/10.10 ... 018-0606-0. Since I had some oils diffusing over a flame, I moved the VOC tracker to the nicely scented room. The recorded VOC level immediately began to shoot up. The house was cool and humidity low. The levels may have been higher in a warm house with higher humidity. These two factors and ambient air pressure affect VOC formation. Although it was still in a healthy zone, I snuffed out the diffusion and opened windows.

Since I figure I have many years of unchecked air pollution exposure I’m going for as flat and low a level as possible at home to achieve a lower lifetime average. Someone else might be okay with oil diffusion as long as monitor levels are registering in the healthy zone. Just be aware that EOs will increase VOC exposure, and I didn't wait to see how high the VOCs would go if I left the diffusion going. As it was it had only been going maybe five or ten minutes. My diffusion had 5 drops frankincense and two drops lavender.

[hairyfairy]

How can you avoid air pollution when you live in a city and moving to the country isn`t an option?