PGAQ #25 (Cit) by Vic Steblin, March 25, 2008

2570 Laurier Crescent, Prince George, BC, 250-564-1123

To appreciate clean air we could consider the air as a nutrient. A nutrient is defined as any food substance that eventually gets into cells. Like oxygen, unwanted gases and small particles can follow a similar path into our lungs, blood and cells. So treat particles in the air as unnatural or bad nutrients.

I have read that cooks who work for many years near the fumes of food show the effects of those particles. I have also read accounts of how the smell of popcorn and barbecues can have health effects depending on the exposure. Many stoves have fume hoods to lessen the effect of food particles on humans.

A saving aspect of particles in the air is their dilution as compared to food. For example, you would have to breathe in a lot of coffee aroma to get much coffee into your blood. Of course our lungs deal with gases primarily while the digestive system deals with food. But it is unnatural for our bodies to absorb nutrients other than through our digestive system.

So now consider the air we breathe as a nutrient. If that air has a certain microgram load of pollution we could calculate the actual mass of stuff that eventually gets into our blood. Of course we would also have to know absorption rates of particles from lungs into the blood. If you exercise multiply this mass of stuff many times.

The end result of bad particles in our blood is not nice. Our liver attempts to undo the harm and may coat some of the particles with a waxy substance that leads to bad cholesterol. Particles are obviously many times worse in a smoker’s home, near wood burners, or during air advisories. And particles in the air are not a good nutrient source.