chemia-kuchni: Brain health and pollution

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The effects of pollution on the brain are felt throughout the lifespan. Prenatal exposure to pollution is associated with an increased risk of negative fetal outcomes, including central nervous system damage and developmental delays. Exposure to pollution can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders involving brain development, cognitive function, intellectual development, and emotional and behavioral regulation, often becoming apparent during childhood or adolescence (e.g. ADHD, autism). Pollution is also linked to mental health outcomes that are commonly diagnosed in adolescence or adulthood such as schizophrenia, neuroticism, depression, anxiety, and suicide. Pollution is associated with neu…

Evidence: 57 • authority: 92

From Air to Brain: Environmental Nanoparticles as Modifiable Risk Factors for Neurodevelopmental, Neurodegenerative, and Mental Disorders.. Ultrafine particles (≤100 nm) and other environmental nanoparticles have emerged as biologically active pollutants that can cross biological barriers, including the blood-brain barrier and the placenta. Growing evidence implicates ultrafine particles in a wide range of neuropsychiatric conditions, yet their effects remain poorly integrated into clinical and public health frameworks. In this review, we distinguish between size-defined ultrafine particles (UFPs, ≤100 nm), composition-defined environmental nanoparticles originating from combustion and seco…

Evidence: 51 • authority: 72

A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is also characterized by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotional regulation, or behavior, often in a social context. Such disturbances may occur as single episodes, may be persistent, or may be relapsing–remitting. There are many different types of mental disorders, with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorders. A mental disorder is one aspect of mental health. The causes of mental disorders are ofte…

Evidence: 46 • authority: 92

Pollutant Burden in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Mechanistic Convergence, Genetic Susceptibility, and Clinical Translation.. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk reflects genetic susceptibility and modifiable environmental exposures acting during fetal and early postnatal critical periods. Building on our prior two-path model, in which folate receptor autoantibody-driven cerebral folate deficiency and oxidative stress/neuroinflammation converge on disrupted neurodevelopment, this review provides the first full mechanistic treatment of environmental pollutants within that framework. We synthesize evidence across seven exposure categories: micro/nanoplastics, plastic-associated endocrine-disrupti…

Evidence: 46 • authority: 72

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, hearing voices), delusions, disorganized thinking or behavior, and flat or inappropriate affect. Symptoms develop gradually and typically begin during young adulthood. There is no objective diagnostic test; diagnosis is based on observed behavior, a psychiatric history that includes the person's reported experiences, and reports of others familiar with the person. For a formal diagnosis, the described symptoms need to have been present for at least six months (according to the DSM-5) or one month (according to the ICD-11). Many people with schizophrenia have other mental disorders, especially mood, anxi…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 92

Microplastic Neurotoxicity in the Prefrontal Cortex: A Review of Mechanisms and Neuropsychiatric Associations.. The escalating crisis of plastic pollution has positioned microplastics (MPs) as globally pervasive environmental contaminants, with a documented presence across aquatic, terrestrial, and atmospheric ecosystems, as well as within biological organisms. A growing body of evidence suggests that MPs not only threaten ecological integrity but may also induce multifaceted neurotoxic effects in humans, particularly targeting the functional architecture of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). As the central regulator of cognition, emotional processing, and behavioral control, PFC dysfunction has…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 72

Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a condition characterized by impairment in social communication and interaction, as well as a need or strong preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing differences, focused interests, or repetitive behaviors. Features of autism are present from early childhood and the condition typically persists throughout life. Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder, and a diagnosis requires professional assessment that these characteristics cause significant challenges in daily life beyond what is expected given a person's age and social environment. Because autism is a spectrum disorder, presentations vary and sup…

Evidence: 35 • authority: 80

Environmental Pollution and Brain Development

Evidence: 35 • authority: 72

The classification of mental disorders, also known as psychiatric nosology or psychiatric taxonomy, is central to the practice of psychiatry and other mental health professions. The two most widely used psychiatric classification systems are the International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition (ICD-11; in effect since 1 January 2022.), produced by the World Health Organization (WHO); and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders produced by the American Psychiatric Association since 1952. The latest edition is the Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR), which was released in 2022. The ICD is a broad medical classification system; mental disorders are contained in Chap…

Evidence: — • authority: 92

Antibiotic mixture exposure in meconium affects child neurodevelopment via altering early-life gut microbiome and metabolome.. Previous evidence has established associations of antibiotic exposure in early life with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, previous studies have often relied on self-reported or record-based exposure measures that may not accurately reflect internal fetal exposure, and few have integrated prenatal exposure biomarkers with infant microbiome, metabolome, and longitudinal neurodevelopmental data. This study included 300 mother-infant pairs from the Shanghai Maternal-Child Pairs Cohort. Meconium samples were used to quantify concentrations of 18 antibiotics using h…

Evidence: — • authority: 92

Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring: A nationwide population-based cohort study - A commentary on Oh and Song 2026.. This commentary examines how prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution may contribute to the aetiology of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Experimental work demonstrates that gestational exposure to air pollution and micro- and nanoplastics can induce neuroinflammation, synaptic disruption and autism- or attention-related phenotypes in rodents, supporting biological plausibility for pollutant-related NDD risk. Large-scale epidemiological studies have begun to link prenatal traffic-related pollutants with cognit…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Environmental toxicants and fetal development is the impact of different toxic substances from the environment on the development of the fetus. This article deals with potential adverse effects of environmental toxicants on the prenatal development of both the embryo or fetus, as well as pregnancy complications. The human embryo or fetus is relatively susceptible to impact from adverse conditions within the mother's environment. Substandard fetal conditions often cause various degrees of developmental delays, both physical and mental, for the growing baby. Although some variables do occur as a result of genetic conditions pertaining to the father, a great many are directly brought about fro…