New research from France suggests for people living in certain environments, good diet and exercise may not be enough to combat the damage of low but constant levels of pollution.

A new report published in The FASEB Journal sought to quantify the impact of mixtures of low-levels of pollutants, rather than their separate effects. The report could lead to a re-defining of the ‘safe’ levels of atmospheric constituents.

“This study adds evidences for rethinking the way of addressing risk assessment especially when considering that the human population is widely exposed to low levels of thousands of chemicals, and that the health impact of realistic mixtures of pollutants will have to be tested as well," said Brigitte Le Magueresse-Battistoni, a researcher from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM).

“Indeed, one pollutant could have a different effect when in mixture with other pollutants. Thus, our study may have strong implications in terms of recommendations for food security. Our data also bring new light to the understanding of the impact of environmental food contaminants in the development of metabolic diseases,” she said.

The study saw groups of obese mice fed meals laced with proportionately similar level of pollutants as humans breathe. In groups that were fed polluted food for their entire lives there were a number of glucose tolerance and diminished estrogen capabilities recorded among females. Males showed changes in liver related to cholesterol synthesis and transport when they ate polluted food, as opposed to those which did not.

“This report that confirms something we've known for a long time: pollution is bad for us,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, “but, what's equally important; it shows that evaluating food contaminants and pollutants on an individual basis may be too simplistic. We can see that when ‘safe’ levels of contaminants and pollutants act together, they have significant impact on public health.”

A full copy is available online.