New research by scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that “Elevated levels of air pollutants are associated with bone damage among postmenopausal women” and the effects “were most evident on the lumbar spine, with nitrous oxides twice as damaging to the area than seen with normal aging.” Study author Diddier Prada, MD, PhD explains that the “findings confirm that poor air quality may be a risk factor for bone loss, independent of socioeconomic or demographic factors. For the first time, we have evidence that nitrogen oxides, in particular, are a major contributor to bone damage and that the lumbar spine is one of the most susceptible sites of this damage.”