birthweight

Strict Pollution Regulations Around Beijing Olympics Produced Bigger Babies

Medicine & Technology Thanks to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China may find another generation of star athletes on its hand. No, it’s not thanks to the facilities or the experience of bringing together the world’s best athletes in its large port-city—rather it has everything to do with the pollution around the event. Researchers are aware of the fact that high levels of air pollution can significantly impact fetal growth and development, and when it comes to air pollution few nations are quite as bad as China. But with the arrival of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and mandates reducing pollution levels courtesy of the Chinese government, researchers were given the perfect setup for a case study. And what they happened to find is that children born from mothers pregnant during the games had higher birth weights than those born before or after the games.

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