About the A-Bike Where to Buy Reviews Forum A-BIKE CENTRAL
Home Page
Gallery & Videos Sinclair Bikes History Other Folding Bikes A-Bike News (Blog)

One Downside to Bicycle Commuting: Biker's Lung

Any conversations, not related to A-Bike at all.

Moderators: Binch Shin, newcross, Amuro Lee

One Downside to Bicycle Commuting: Biker's Lung

Postby Amuro Lee on Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:28 pm

:?
Source:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2011/09/bikers-lung/195/

Image

If you bike to work, you’ve probably got pretty nice thighs. Your lungs, though, may not be in such great shape.

New research has found that bicycle commuters inhale more than twice the amount of black carbon particles as pedestrians making a comparable trip. That healthy bike ride to and from work might be getting you out of a car, but it’s not getting you out of the way of the automobile emissions.

The study, led by Professor Jonathan Grigg from Barts and the London School of Medicine, looked at bicycle and pedestrian commuters in London to determine whether different modes of travel exposed commuters to higher levels of black carbon. By comparing levels of carbon in the lungs of five healthy bicycle commuters to the levels of five healthy pedestrian commuters, the researchers found a large disparity. The bicycle commuters had 2.3 times more black carbon in their lungs. They claim that the probability of this happening by chance is less than one percent.

Fuel-combustion creates this black carbon, or soot, which can be inhaled and which persists in the lungs, creating potential health risks. Following on the hypothesis that bicycle commuters’ heavier breathing would expose them to more of the particulate pollutants created by fuel-burning traffic, the researchers were relatively unsurprised by their results, which were presented at this weekend's European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress.

“Our data strongly suggest that personal exposure to black carbon should be considered when planning cycling routes,” said Dr. Chinedu Nwokoro, one of the researchers in the study and an active cyclist. “Whether cycling by healthy individuals is in itself associated with adverse health effects is currently being assessed in a larger ongoing study.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amuro_Ray

Folding Forum - The Community Site for all Folding and Micro Bicycles
http://www.foldingforum.com/forum
User avatar
Amuro Lee
 
Posts: 619
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:24 pm
Location: Hong Kong

Return to Off Topic Chat

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests