Diabetes affects more than 420 million people globally and is one of the world's fastest growing diseases.

A new study has found that air pollution caused one in seven new cases of diabetes in 2016. Even low levels of pollution raised the chances of developing the disease. Often diabetes has been attributed to diet and a sedentary lifestyle, but research by the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis said pollution also plays a major role.The study estimated that pollution contributed to 3.2 million new diabetes cases globally in 2016 — or around 14 percent of all new diabetes cases globally that year.

"Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally," said Ziyad Al-Aly, the study's senior author. Pollution is thought to reduce the body's insulin production, "preventing the body from converting blood glucose into energy that the body needs to maintain health," according to the research.

Al-Aly said the industry lobbying groups argue that current levels fare too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows otherwise, the current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened according to him.

Researchers working with scientists at the Veterans Affairs' Clinical Epidemiology Center, examined data from 1.7 million US veterans who did not have histories of diabetes and were followed for 8.5 years and their information was compared to air quality information to examine the relationship between pollution and diabetes risk. The scientists found the risk of developing diabetes "exhibited a strong link to air pollution".

Source: Khaleej Times