Air pollution ‘speeds up osteoporosis’ in postmenopausal women

The study was carried out in the US (Los Angeles, picture), where 10 million people are thought to have osteoporosis. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

A study has concluded that air pollution is accelerating osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Researchers scanned the bones of more than 9,000 women living in four different parts of the US. Each had a bone scan three times over a six-year period that was compared with the air they breathed. On average, air pollution accounted for a doubling of the speed of bone loss.