Air pollution · GS-III
What polluted air adds to India’s rising blood sugar ↗
Consider the following statements regarding PM2.5 and its links to non-communicable disease burden:
- PM2.5 is associated with triggering inflammation and oxidative stress in the human body, which impairs insulin sensitivity and thereby raises the risk of type 2 diabetes.
- The Global Burden of Disease project attributes a greater share of diabetes-related healthy years lost worldwide to household solid-fuel smoke than to outdoor ambient PM2.5 exposure.
- Coarser particulate matter (PM10) has been studied in relation to type 2 diabetes risk, in addition to fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Explanation
Statement 1 is correct: PM2.5 exposure is linked to inflammation and oxidative stress — cellular damage caused by reactive oxygen species — which blunts the body's response to insulin, the hormone responsible for transporting glucose into cells. This is the principal biological mechanism connecting air pollution to type 2 diabetes risk. Statement 2 is incorrect: the Global Burden of Disease project attributes about 14% of diabetes-related healthy years lost globally to outdoor air pollution (ambient PM2.5) and only about 6% to household smoke — outdoor exposure accounts for the larger share, not household solid-fuel smoke. Statement 3 is correct: a 2024 global review of 46 studies linked both PM2.5 (fine particles) and PM10 (coarser particles) to type 2 diabetes, confirming that the association extends beyond the finest fraction of particulate matter.