Arthritis has little to do with aging or even ‘wear and tear’—instead, it’s more likely to be caused by environmental factors, such as air pollution. It’s a preventable disease, new research suggests. Researchers inspected the skeletons of 1,581 people who lived during the 19th century, and who were aged 50 or more, and compared them to those of 819 similar people who lived in the 20th century. After taking into account age and body mass index, cases of knee arthritis had doubled in the latter group—which suggests that something other than age and body weight had something to do with the increase. The big difference between the two centuries has been the rise of industry and pollution.
New study: Pollution causes arthritis, not wear and tear or old age
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