If you live in or near a big city, chances are you’ve heard TV or radio stations proclaim an ‘ozone alert’ during those hot, sunny summertime days.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ozone is one of two pollutants that pose the greatest threat to human health in the United States. Ozone pollution is widely reported to be a major causative factor of respirator illness.

Now, however, a new article describes how Paul Wentworth and colleagues at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California have proven that ozone (which is an important component of smog) leads to the formation of atheronals. Atheronals form when ozone reacts with cholesterol, and have now also been shown to be directly responsible for narrowing of the arteries and atherosclerosis.

This is interesting, because a couple weeks ago I posted an article on how smog from big cities can accelerate atherosclerosis, which in turn reduces brain power. Now we may have a mechanism by which this happens.

And if you think you’re safe because you don’t live in a big city, consider this: Although ozone is mainly formed in urban areas, it has a tendency to drift and commonly cause significant pollution in rural areas as far as 250 miles away. (Taken from “How Ozone Pollution Works”)

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