Yes, that’s right. Sweden is actually one of the least polluted countries in the world, but even the sun has spots. Our journey started in Stockholm, which is one of the world’s top 10 least air polluted capitals in the world. The important thing here is perspective. Even though it might be good compared to other places, it doesn’t mean it’s good enough. As an example, a study performed by Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, where they followed 4000 children born in the mid 90’s, for 24 years, actually showed that children exposed to higher levels of air pollution during the first years of life, had reduced lung function compared to other children. That’s because even though Stockholm is, by comparison, ”clean”, it still exceeds the recommended levels of air pollution 144 days a year. So the levels of air pollution to exert its negative effects, are most likely much lower than we think, especially in the developing human.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), more than 90% of the world’s population currently live in areas where the air is hazardous to their health. 

Bad air quality, or high levels of air pollution, accounts for millions of deaths each year, and a monumental cost to societies all around the world. It also accounts for a wide array of negative health effects and diseases, not to mention the suffering for those affected by it. Air pollution has been linked to diseases like COPD, Asthma, cardio-vascular diseases like stroke or myocardial infarction as well as cancer and Alzheimers. We can aslo see that air pollution affects the unborn child as it’s developing inside of the womb, eg. resulting in reduced birth weight, which is a strong risk factor for infections and other serious complications.

Air quality is a measurement of how clean or polluted the air is. Therefore you can also refer to this as Air Pollution.  The primary sources for these pollutants are traffic, industry, agriculture, cooking and heating, but other events, like wildfires, volcanic eruptions etc, can also greatly increase the amount of pollution in the air. 

The pollutants are a mix of particles and gasses. Among these are: Ozone, PM (Particulate Matter)(coarse, fine, and ultra fine particles), VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds), NOx (Nitrogen Oxides), and CO2 (Carbon Monoxide). We also have a chapter about CO2 (Carbon dioxide), even though this is not usually mantioned when talking about air pollution, but is important notheless. 

So with that said, air quality is important, because it’s the very air that we breathe, and it affects us in many different ways. Just as in other examples, whether it’s water or food, pollutants can have a negative impact on our health, and make us sick. You might have seen or experienced heavily polluted places, with a heavy, yellow or brownish smog hanging over the city. In those cases, there’s no problem understanding how the air can be harmful to you, just as you wouldn’t drink dirty water. The problem with air pollution, however, is that it’s mostly invisible. This is an important factor regarding the general awareness of air pollution and it’s magnitude. 

It’s easy to understand why large cities, with a lot of traffic and heavy industries, are heavily polluted. But this is also seen in many communities in both industrialized and developing countries, where eg. heating and cooking are being made with old fashion methods, and fuels, without proper exhausts emission control. But there are also other factors contributing to the general air quality, eg:

Weather : 

Meteorological factors can greatly affect the level of air pollution, and the effects vary with the seasons. 

During summer, with hot and sunny weather, the air can get stagnant which increases the amount of eg PM in the air. The heat and sun are also important factors contributing to increased levels of ground Ozone. All of this can be further aggrevated with high-pressure systems which can also create stagnant air. 

During winter, not only does the emmisions from eg heating and traffic increase, but the cold weather can also create a so called thermal inversion. This forms when a layer of warm air traps cold air underneath, together with the pollutants from traffic and industry. This is common in cities where cold, dense air gets trapped in mountain basins, depressions or valleys, like Los Angeles, London, Madrid, or Meixico City, just to mention a few. 

Wind and humidity can also greatly affect air pollution. For example, wet and windy days, which typically occurs with low-pressure systems, can help by dispersing, or transporting the polluted air from the city, leaving clear skies behind. However, the air pollutants don’t disappear, they just get transported to another place. In the case of humidity it can help reduce air pollution locally, and decrease eg. formation of ground ozone.

Geography:

Generally, communities situated in valleys and depressions, or that are surrounded by mountains or hills, on at least two sides, experience a higher degree of air pollution. Typical examples are Mexico City, but also seen in cities like London, Los Angeles, Oslo etc. This is due to the fact that the topography itself prevents the movement of air, and that it makes them more prone to temperature inversions. As a matter of fact, a vast number of cities around the world are actually built in places like this. Historically, cities have been built with proximity to water of some kind, which often puts them in a depression or valley. Other distinguishing characteristics are for example the proximity to mountains or hills, which could act as a natural barrier or protection for the city. Also that building the city on a mountain could actually restrict expansion and make eg tranportation much harder.

There are however communities situated on more exposed areas, like on an elevation for example, which generally allows for a larger degree of air movement, which helps disperse the pollutants in the air locally. 

Yes, that’s right. Sweden is actually one of the least polluted countries in the world, but even the sun has spots. Our journey started in Stockholm, which is one of the world’s top 10 least air polluted capitals in the world. The important thing here is perspective. Even though it might be good compared to other places, it doesn’t mean it’s good enough. As an example, a study performed by Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, where they followed 4000 children born in the mid 90’s, for 24 years, actually showed that children exposed to higher levels of air pollution during the first years of life, had reduced lung function compared to other children. That’s because even though Stockholm is, by comparison, ”clean”, it still exceeds the recommended levels of air pollution 144 days a year. So the levels of air pollution to exert its negative effects, are most likely much lower than we think, especially in the developing human.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), more than 90% of the world’s population currently live in areas where the air is hazardous to their health. 

Bad air quality, or high levels of air pollution, accounts for millions of deaths each year, and a monumental cost to societies all around the world. It also accounts for a wide array of negative health effects and diseases, not to mention the suffering for those affected by it. Air pollution has been linked to diseases like COPD, Asthma, cardio-vascular diseases like stroke or myocardial infarction as well as cancer and Alzheimers. We can aslo see that air pollution affects the unborn child as it’s developing inside of the womb, eg. resulting in reduced birth weight, which is a strong risk factor for infections and other serious complications.

One very important factor when talking about small children is that they’re not fully developed at birth. There is a lot happening after birth and many of the organ systems will take many years to grow and develop. So when exposed to air pollution, the most important factors are:

How much, when and how long. 

The more, and earlier children are exposed to high levels of air pollution, and if they’re exposed over a prolonged period of time, the worse are the effects of air pollution. Among the health effect we can see are:

• Reduced lung function and growth 
• Increased risk of developing asthma or other respiratory diseases, even later in life
• Increased risk of developing allergies
• increased susceptibility to infections – which can be very serious in the smallest children due to their immature immune system, and the fact that their airways are very small and narrow. 

In general, the lungs have an amazing ability to recover, or heal, so even though you or your child have been exposed, it’s not too late to make it better.

With this in mind, our hope is that by reducing exposure, we’ll be able to give children both better conditions for a healthy life and give them a chance of recovering from high-level exposure. This is exactly why we developed our first product, the babybubl. – to reduce exposure to these harmful pollutants.

The pollutants in the air trigger both local and systemic inflammatory responses in the body or specific organs involved. Big particles, like soot or pollen, generally get stuck in the body’s own filtering system, the nose and upper respiratory tract.

Small particles act more like air and can bypass this system. The smallest ones can even reach the very end of the respiratory system, the alveoli (the small air sacs where the gas exchange takes place). From there they can even pass into the bloodstream, which enables them to reach, and affect, any organ in the body. That’s what makes the smallest particles so dangerous. The smallest particles can even be transported directly into the brain through the olfactory system, located in the roof of the nasal cavity, and affect the brain directly.

The small particles act in several ways in the body. Some are deposited in the tissue of the affected organ, and some act by affecting cells in the respiratory tract, the bloodstream or the vessel walls. 

Many of the negative effects are actually due to our own defense system. This is because the immune system is, in many ways, a very blunt instrument, and wrongful, or excessive activation of this can actually do more harm than good. But even with a low grade of activation over time, as sometimes seen in air pollution exposure, the substances created from this immune response can inhibit growth and development locally, facilitate the accumulation of immune cells in that area, or disturb the local balance between e.g. pro- and anti-inflammatory substances. 

When this for example happens in the respiratory tract, the airways can become hyper-reactive, both due to the accumulation of immune cells, but also because of a local disturbance of locally active substances, which can eventually transform into a chronic condition, such as asthma. 

Asthma is a chronic disease affecting the airways, associated with increased inflammatory activity, which can result in swelling, excess mucus secretion, and narrowing of the airways. Many suffering from asthma also experiences hyperreactivity in the airways that can be triggered by different factors. Among the symptoms are difficulty breathing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing.

Asthma affects approximately 10% of the population, and the risk of developing asthma is due to both intrinsic (hereditary) and extrinsic factors. The hereditary part is the strongest one, meaning that if at least one of the parents has asthma, there is a fairly high risk of developing asthma.

Among the extrinsic factors contributing to the development of asthma, one of the biggest ones is exposure to cigarette smoke and air pollution. According to the EEA (European Environmental Agency), as much as 33% of asthma cases in Europe are attributable to air pollution, which means they can be prevented if exposure to air pollution is minimized. 

We feel that allergies are something that might require some extra attention when talking about air pollution, and air purification. 

Allergic respiratory disease is something that’s affecting approximately 40% of the world’s population, and it can occur pretty much anytime during life. It’s a complex topic, but it boils down to the body’s immune system responding to something that’s actually harmless. 

Some theories on why we’ve seen an increase in allergies and respiratory diseases like asthma in industrialized countries have focused on something often referred to as the “hygiene hypothesis”. This hypothesis suggests that newborns are brought up in an environment that’s basically too clean. This happens during the critical post-natal period of immune response (when the immune system is trying to learn what’s harmful and what’s not). Not being exposed to naturally occurring allergens so that the immune system has a chance to learn that these substances are harmless. 

However, the development of allergic diseases takes place due to the interaction of genetic predisposition and environmental determinants. Air pollution can affect this in many ways. For example, by activating the immune system, putting it on alert, and sensitizing it by tipping the balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory factors, or even affecting the cells on a genetic level. This can result in hyperreactive airways, where the immune system has been affected, or altered so that it reacts excessively to naturally occurring substances. Air pollution can also act by modifying the allergens themselves, potentiating their allergenic properties and how they interact with the immune system.

Air pollution is therefore considered an important factor, potentiating, and driving the development of allergies and asthma. By filtering out these harmful pollutants, we’re hoping to provide the immune system with better prerequisites for natural development, and the chance to learn what’s harmful, and what’s not.

Infectious agents are organisms capable of causing infections or infectious disease. These agents are viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. We will say something about viruses, bacteria and fungi since these infectious agents can be transmitted through the air in the form of droplets. 

This is important when talking about air quality, because bad air quality, or air pollution, actually makes you more susceptible to infections. This is especially important for small children, individuals with risk factors (e.g. immune deficits, respiratory diseases etc.), and the elderly.

When looking at infants or small children, it’s important to know a little about their physiology, to better understand why respiratory infections can be potentially life threatening.

First of all, their immune system is not fully developed, which both makes them more susceptible to infection, and less effective in combating the infection itself. 

Second, the anatomy and physiology of their respiratory system is very important.

Infants, up to at least 6 months of age, are so-called obligate nose breathers, which means they only breathe through their nose, except when crying. This can pose a problem if the nose is completely clogged, e.g. due to a cold. When you get a respiratory infection, what also happens, which is a crucial part of why this is potentially dangerous for these small children, are swelling of the mucosa, increased mucous secretion and hyper reactivity of the airways which causes obstruction.

How is this important? Imagine that the trachea has the same size as the little finger of that person. Poiseuille’s law (R=8ηl÷πr4) demonstrates what happens in the airways: namely that a change in radius is altered by the power of 4. This means  that even a small reduction of the airway diameter results in dramatic increase in airway resistance. 

The risk here is not only the obstruction itself, but also because small children and infants have very small margins. They have much less lung tissue available for gas exchange, and the energy deposits can easily get depleted when they’re struggling with an infection and heavily increased work of breathing due to the increased airway resistance.   

What is it?

Viruses are microscopic organisms, typically between 20 and 400 nanometers in diameter, and the most common biological entity on our planet. They’re quite special in the sense that they don’t possess the ability to multiply by themselves, they need other organism’s cells to do the job for them. They’re responsible for a wide array of infections, ranging from the simple cold, to Measles, Ebola or HIV/Aids. They can be transmitted by many different ways, like touch, through saliva, airborne droplets (coughing, sneezing), sexual transmission, contaminated food or water. 

Health effects?

The health effects, of course, depend on what virus it is. Some of the viruses might be transmitted through airborne droplets from coughing or sneezing, and inhaled by the receiving part. Some of these viruses can be particularly hazardous for very small children, e.g. RS (Respiratory Syncytial) -virus which occurs as a seasonal epidemic, generally in the Northern hemisphere.

Generally, the risk of infection is, as mentioned above, the potential swelling and airway obstruction.       

What is it?

Bacteria are single cell organisms, found almost everywhere on earth. Some of these are harmful and can give rise to infections, but most of these are not. Some are even beneficial, and necessary for human health. As a matter of fact, there are approximately as many bacteria in our body as there are human cells. Bacteria are usually between 1 and 10 micrometers in size. They are transmitted through the same ways as Viruses, i.e touch, airborne droplets, contaminated food, water etc.

Health effects?

The most common bacterial infections among children involve the throat, ear, and skin. The smallest children are the most vulnerable, and just as in the case of a virus infection, the risk, even with a less dangerous infectious agent, is mainly related to the potential mucosal swelling and secretion that can cause airway obstruction.

What is it?

Fungi are a family of organisms that multiply by releasing spores which are generally between 2 and 50 micrometers in size. These spores can sometimes become airborne. The fungi family contains many different species. Some are good for us, and are used to help us, like yeast and antibiotics. However there’s also fungi that can colonize our bodies and make us sick. The most common type of fungal infection is skin infection. Another member of the fungi family is mold. Exposure to large numbers of mold spores can cause people to develop allergies, which can get severe.    

Health effects?

The effects differ from fungi causing local or systemic infection to those that give rise to allergic reactions. It’s a very heterogeneous group. The most common fungal infection is to the skin, but other types of infections can also arise. Individuals suffering from an immature, or impaired immune system, are generally more susceptible to fungal infections. Exposure to mold spores are known to cause allergic symptoms, and can sensitize a person, which gives rise to allergies. The allergic symptoms arising from mold exposure can even be quite severe.

What is it?

• Ozone at ground level, not to be confused with the ozone layer in the Stratosphere, protecting us from harmful UV light. Ozone at ground level is formed by the reaction of sunlight (photochemical reaction) and pollutants such as Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). NOx and VOC are primarily derived from traffic and industry. This is the major constituent of the SMOG that can be seen in highly polluted areas. The highest levels of ozone occur during sunny weather.

Health effects:

• Ozone is a highly reactive gas and primarily affects the respiratory system. When exposed to high levels of ozone you can experience symptoms like irritation in the eyes, nose and throat, shortness of breath, wheezing or even chest pain. Ozone is known to both trigger and exacerbate e.g. asthma or COPD.  

What is it?

• Particulate matter, or ”micro particles” are the most widely used proxy indicator for air quality, and that’s why they’re often displayed in studies and measurements of air pollution. Microparticles are often divided into sizes, like coarse, fine and ultra fine particles. Coarse particles are particles with a diameter of 2.5-10 micrometers. Fine particles are defined as particles up to a diameter of 2.5 micrometers, and ultra fine particles, or nanoparticles, have a diameter of less than 0,1 micrometer. The nomenclature of these particles are also referred to as fractions named PM10, PM 2.5, PM1 etc, where the number represents the diameter of the particles. PM are usually displayed as g/m3, which means the total weight in grams per cubic meter of all of the particles up to that PM fraction.
  
  These micro particles consist of a complex mixture of substances, both solids and aerosols, like ammonium, carbon (soot), organic chemicals, metals, soil etc. As a rule of thumb, the smaller the particles, the more dangerous they are.

Health Effects

• The large particles, often above 10 micrometers in diameter, including large particles like soot or pollen, often get stuck in the upper respiratory tract, like the nose, which contains a great system for filtering out particles we don’t want entering our airways. These are the ones that turn the snot black, as seen when you blow your nose after being in a polluted city.
  
  These small particles deposit in various tissues, activating the immune system, both locally and systemically, which is responsible for the many negative health effects seen in individuals exposed to high levels of PM over time.
  
  PM is closely linked to a wide array of negative health effects, for example cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases as well as neurological diseases like Alzheimers. PM also makes you more susceptible for infections, and are responsible for millions of deaths each year.  

What is it?

VOCs are a large group of chemicals, commonly known as a result from combustion of fossil fuels. However VOCs are widely present in many products and manufacturing processes, and we get in frequent contact with them in our everyday life. VOCs are for example used in the manufacturing process for paints, adhesives, pesticides, disinfectants etc. Other sources of VOCs are tobacco smoke, dry cleaned clothing, wood burning, flooring, furniture etc.  

Health effects?

Exposure to VOCs can cause irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and also give rise to symptoms like difficulty breathing. Because of the dissolvent properties of many VOC’s, they can damage the central nervous system as well as other organs. 

VOCs can also, when exposed to sunlight, react with NOx to form Ozone, described above. 

What is it?

Nitrogen Oxides are a family of poisonous, highly reactive gasses made up of nitrogen and oxygen. They’re formed during combustion of fossil fuels, and organic material under high temperature. Traffic is one of the main sources, but sources also include industrial boilers, cement kilns and power plants.

The most common nitrogen oxides are NO, which is both colorless and odorless, and NO2 which is a reddish-brown gas with a pungent smell. Apart from reacting with VOCs and sunlight to form Ozone, NOx can also interact with water to form acid rain which is harmful to sensitive ecosystems.  

Health effects?

Inhalation of pure gasses is rapidly fatal. Thankfully we’re not exposed to the pure gasses, but rather a mix of all that constitutes the air around us. The NOx gasses are very reactive, and just like other reactive gasses, this often results in symptoms from the eyes and upper respiratory tract. NOx is also known to trigger or exacerbate pre existing respiratory conditions such as asthma or COPD. The typical symptoms of acute exposure include breathing problems (cough, wheezing, shortness of breath), headache, eye irritation etc. Long term exposure can result in reduced lung function, increase susceptibility of infections, and increase the risk of developing asthma.

What is it?

CO is a colorless, odorless gas formed by the incomplete reaction of air and fuel. The main sources are from combustion of fossil fuels, but also from industrial processes, wood burning, cigarette smoke etc. The highest levels of CO occur during the colder months due to inversion when air pollution gets trapped close to the ground, beneath a layer of warmer air.

Health effects?

CO in large doses can be very dangerous. This is because hemoglobin, the oxygen transporter in our blood, has 240 times higher affinity for CO than oxygen. This means that the oxygen in the blood gets replaced with CO, which in turns results in reduced oxygen delivery to the organs in the body. CO-poisoning generally occurs if a person is in an improperly ventilated, sealed or enclosed space together with some form of combustion. For example in a burning house, a small closed room with a stove, or a sealed garage with a car engine running, resulting in accumulation of dangerous levels of CO.

What is it?

Even though CO2 might not be mentioned as much when talking about air pollution, or air quality, it has an important part to play. CO2 exerts its effects primarily on a climate basis, resulting in increased temperature and humidity, which in turn affects, and potentiates the formation of smog and other adverse effects, making air quality even worse.

CO2 is also an important marker for air pollution and the work that’s being done in regards to air quality and climate change. Because CO2, and all of the other pollutants mentioned above, come from the same sources, namely traffic, industry, agriculture, cooking and heating. 

Health effects?

Apart from sources like traffic etc., CO is actually the fourth most abundant gas in our atmosphere. It’s the byproduct of normal cell function and exhaled from our bodies in every breath. It’s also the basis for photosynthesis, where plants take in CO, water and sunlight, to produce sugar molecules and oxygen. 

However, as with most things, too much of something is never good. As mentioned above, CO is a powerful driver of climate change. This is because CO is a so-called greenhouse gas, acting as the windows in the greenhouse, trapping heat inside, and thereby adding to increased temperature on earth with a wide array of adverse effects on our climate, and air quality.

If a person is exposed to too much CO2, the symptoms include headache, dizziness, restlessness, shortness of breath, elevated blood pressure, and confusion. If the CO2 reaches very high levels it can even affect general alertness, and even make you unconscious (CO2-narcosis).

What is it?

Pollen is actually not considered an air pollutant, but we get a lot of questions regarding pollen exposure, and whether our product can protect against this. So here we will try to give you a little background to what it is, and what it does.

Pollen is a naturally occurring substance produced by seed plants. Technically it’s a type of particulate matter. However, most intact grains of pollen are larger than 10 micrometers, and therefore typically get filtered out by the filtering system in our upper respiratory tract. However, pollen is an airborne allergen which can cause a lot of trouble and suffering for millions of people worldwide suffering from various allergies. 

Health effects?

The health effects from pollen are typically from allergic reactions and may include symptoms like hay fever, sneezing, congestion, irritation to the eyes etc. In extremely rare cases, the allergic reaction can run amok and cause a life threatening condition called anaphylaxis. Fortunately, this reaction is extremely rare from exposure to pollen, but more common with food allergies, medicines, and insect stings.