take 10 minutes and watch this
anyway, the point is that nitrogen dioxide directly weakens and kills the type II epithelial cells that line your alveoli
These are the exact same cells SARS-Cov2 attacks because they express ACE2 on their surfaces
So, the common pollutant we are all breathing weakens you to infection
In China, tons of people die every year from lower respiratory infections
This is directly facilitated by high levels of NO2
We don’t hear this being discussed in the media, but you can clearly see in the video, the air quality in those areas suffering from high infection rates is absolutely horrible
first,…nitrogen dioxide is actually produced naturally in amounts that exceed that which is produced by humans
They estimate between 20 and 90 million tons of nitrogen oxides on Earth each year are produced by volcanoes, oceans, biological decay, and lightning strikes
Human activities add another roughly 24 million tons of nitrogen oxides to our atmosphere every year
So we’ve evolved to tolerate certain levels, but exceeding what our bodies are used to handling opens us up to infections
I should also point out the role our endocannabinoid system plays in mediating infections
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocannabinoid_system
The cannabinoids our bodies naturally manufacture are neurotransmitters, and their role in mediating infection is that they suppress the creation of pro-inflammatory cytokines
The cytokines are the molecules that are toxic to cells ( They kill them ) and their role is to kill the infected cells to prevent the virus from replicating
What happens during infection is that you have a massive build up of toxic cytokine molecules that cause extensive damage in the area ( This is why severe SARS-Cov2 patients get permanent scars in the lung tissues )
This damage further weakens surrounding cells, and also interferes with the immune response, locally, so what ultimately happens is that the infection speeds up
However,….when you suppress the natural cytokine response, you actually interfere with the infection, indirectly
( There’s tons of published work online about this, just look up ” cannabinoids, immune system ” )
AC