As seen in Aquatics Int.
We are seeing more and more of these studies come out about how damaging chlorine is to those who swim on a regular basis. A couple months ago some research was done on boys who swam competitively and how hormones were affected with exposure to certain chlorine levels.
Airway disorders are common in regular chlorinated swimming pool attendees, particularly competitive athletes, but the impact of intense swimming training on airway function and structure remains unclear.A new study shows competitive swimmers training at indoor chlorinated pools may have lungs similar to people with mild asthma.
Researchers, led by Valerie Bougault at the Lille 2 University of Health and Law in France, compared data from more than 20 elite swimmers in Canada with 10 healthy people, and 10 mild asthmatics.
“Tissue samples from swimmers’ lungs had nearly six times as many immune cells associated with asthma and allergies as the lung tissue of healthy subjects, a similar amount to what was found in the group with mild asthma,” according to a report published by Reuters.
However, there is no evidence that changes in the swimmers’ lungs lead to actual asthma. Changes may be the result of inhaling disinfection byproducts, or some other factor.
For information on non chlorine residential swimming pools and swim spas contact Diamond Spas on our oxidation solutions.
