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Dietary Intake Modifies the Association between Air Pollution and Chronic Diseases: A Systematic Review and
Ye Chen1, Bangqin Cai1, Fei Wang2
1Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China; Liaoning Key Laboratory of Precision Medical Research on Major Chronic Disease, Shenyang, China.
Advances in Nutrition (Bethesda, Md.)
|July 20, 2026
Summary
Dietary intake significantly modifies air pollution
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Nutritional Science
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Air pollution exposure is a global health concern linked to various chronic diseases.
- The interaction between diet and air pollutants in disease risk remains incompletely understood.
- Previous studies show inconsistent findings regarding dietary modification of air pollution's health effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and meta-analyze observational studies examining how dietary intake modifies the association between air pollution exposure and chronic disease risk.
- To quantify the effect modification by specific dietary factors on risks for cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic, neuropsychiatric, and digestive diseases.
- To identify dietary patterns and nutrients that may attenuate or amplify air pollution-related health outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library up to May 2026.
- Inclusion of 51 observational studies (cohort, case-control, cross-sectional) with 9,956,549 participants.
- Stratum-specific pooled odds ratios (pORs) estimated using random-effects models; effect modification assessed via deft analysis.
Main Results:
- Particulate matter (PM) exposure increased cardiovascular disease risk, an effect attenuated by healthy dietary patterns (HDPs), grains, and dairy, but amplified by sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).
- PM and nitrogen oxides (NOx) increased respiratory and metabolic disease risks; these effects were attenuated by omega-3 fatty acids and HDPs, respectively, and amplified by unhealthy dietary patterns (UDPs) and SSBs.
- PM exposure also increased neuropsychiatric and digestive disease risks, with some attenuation observed for vitamin B intake.
Conclusions:
- Adherence to healthy dietary patterns, including grains, dairy, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin B, may mitigate the chronic disease risks associated with particulate matter and nitrogen oxides exposure.
- Dietary interventions targeting specific nutrients and food groups hold potential for public health strategies aimed at reducing the burden of air pollution-related diseases.
- Further research is warranted to elucidate the complex interplay between diet, air quality, and chronic disease development.
Keywords:
air pollutionchronic diseasesdietary factormeta-analysismodificationnitrogen oxidesparticulate matterMore Related Videos
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