How Traffic Noise May Lead to a Pot-Belly
How Traffic Noise May Lead to a Pot-Belly – Abdominal fat has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer and sleep apnea. Now researcher have found that one of the causes for gaining weight around the middle may be traffic noise.
Researchers studied the impact of road traffic, rail, and aircraft noise on the health of 5075 people living in five suburban and rural areas around Stockholm, Sweden.They used official statistics on traffic flow and noise levels and also looked at questionnaires the participants had completed as part of a Stockholm Diabetes Prevention Program (1992-8). Participants answered questions about their lifestyle, state of health, levels of psychological distress, insomnia and job strain, They were also asked about environmental noise pollution from road traffic, trains, and planes. The participants also underwent tests for high blood pressure, diabetes, and central obesity (belly fat).
Researchers found that there was a link between road traffic noise and waist size, with a 0.21 cm increase for every additional 5 dB increase in exposure, particularly among women. There was also a link to waist:hip ratio, with a change of 0.16 for every 5 dB increase in noise exposure to road traffic and this association was stronger in men. While aircraft noise seemed to increase waist size, waist:hip increase was linked to road and aircraft noise.
Overall, researchers found that greater exposure to all three sources of noise pollution increased the risk for central obesity.
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