Earlier this week, the Obama administration released a new report on climate change that focused on how environmental changes will impact our health. The three-year scientific assessment called upon some 100 experts, and is one of the most comprehensive looks to date at forthcoming public health issues that have not been widely discussed.
“The polls show that most people in the U.S. don’t even realize that there are health effects of climate change,” says John Balbus, M.D., senior advisor for public health to the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, who lead-authored two of the nine chapters. “The report addresses a very common lack of knowledge.” Here, Balbus walks us through four major areas from the study that may impact your day-to-day life.
A New Approach to Allergies
Scientists have observed a change in the seasons—warmer winters, earlier springs, later falls—that has prolonged pollen season. At the same time, there is some evidence that rising CO2 levels have altered some ragweed pollen itself, perhaps making it more allergenic. “The main thing to do is to make sure patients are aware about bad air-pollution days,” Balbus says. In practical terms, this may eventually mean forgoing your outdoor run on certain days when advised or upping your indoor-gym membership, and investing in a HEPA filter air purifier that removes contaminants and allergens to maintain better conditions inside your home.
Preventative Medicine Moves to the Forefront
Extreme heat is linked to a number of health issues, ranging from increased cardiovascular to renal illnesses, as higher temperatures put more stress on the body, while heightening common conditions like anxiety and depression. There are also some medications, such as Adderall and antidepressants, that affect body temperature and put patients at greater risk of overheating. “The first step is to make sure providers are aware that this is a real phenomenon, which means more preventive care,” Balbus says. The answer may be as simple as maintaining more frequent contact with your doctor and using measured judgement about time spent outdoors on particularly hot summer days.
Tackling Mosquito-Born Illnesses
In February, the World Health Organization declared Zika an international public health emergency, and though the virus, which is spread by an infected mosquito bite, did not make it into the recent report, it has much in common with other vector-borne diseases that did—Lyme disease, carried by deer ticks, and West Nile Virus, by mosquitos. It is unclear how climate change will play a part—Balbus explains that though insects like mosquitos breed more rapidly in warmer temperatures, too little rainfall could dry them out, or a timely burst of rain could wash out larvae—so a proactive game plan is key. In Miami, a dedicated mosquito control division is working to clear out back lots and abandoned pools where Zika-carrying mosquitos might breed, offering a model of what future initiatives may look like; travelers are encouraged to check WHO alerts and educate themselves on local health risks.
Why Fortified Food May Be the Future
“Plants use CO2 to make sugars, and it turns out that if you feed plants a lot more CO2, they make sugar more quickly,” Balbus explains. “In the process, they end up creating less protein and minerals like calcium into the body of the plant.” Around the world, scientists are experimenting with fortified crops—indoor farms in Japan are producing lettuce and other vegetables that they claim contain more vitamin C, calcium, and magnesium—and in the United States, this may result in a new emphasis on fortified food sources. Technically, fortification has been practiced in the U.S. since the 1920s, when salt was iodized, followed by Vitamin D–enriched milk in the 1930s, but it has somewhat fallen out of favor, thanks to the organic whole foods movement. Regardless of the source, attention to a well-rounded, varied diet, complete with calcium, protein, vitamins, and minerals, could become more important than ever before.
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