The particulate pollution coming from the diesel engines of buses and trucks can stiffen your arteries based on a single exposure. This poses a significant problem if you are already struggling with cardiovascular health – but it even causes problems in healthy people.

The study involved 12 non-smoking young men to cycle on exercise bikes while breathing air that had either been filtered or been contaminated with smoke from a diesel engine. The researchers found that exposure to the polluted air caused blood vessels to now expand or contract properly.

One aspect of this is the acute exposure from close proximity to the exhaust. However, keep in mind that a polluted city simply has a lot of these particles in the air, even if you aren't in the direct line of concentrated exposure. The researchers found that the risk could be averted by wearing a mask, the type that reduce occupational exposure to dust.

This news follows on the heels of other recent news that pollution exposure can trigger a heart attack. Pollution levels, especially on bad pollution days, should be taken into account by one and all as another type of potential and significant health stress.

Lead study author, Nicholas Mills says, “Stiff arteries can result in raised blood pressure and reduced blood flow in the heart. Arterial stiffness plays an important role in hypertension and is an independent predictor of mortality.”