Outdoor exercise (cough, cough) not all about fresh air

Health experts have a new warning for outdoor fitness buffs - exercise well away from roads and freeways.

Pollutants from diesel exhaust are present in higher concentrations near roadways, and recent studies found people exerting themselves nearby can suffer severe, short-term lung damage.

One study, conducted in metropolitan London, examined mildly to moderately asthmatic adults as they walked in a local park and along a heavily traveled roadway. Walking along the road for two hours, inundated with diesel exhaust, resulted in decreased lung function - three times greater than that observed after two hours in a park. Signs of inflammation were evident after the road walk, but mostly absent after exercise in the park.

"(Symptoms include) coughing, chest tightness, trouble breathing and also usually burning eyes and congested noses," said Bradley Chipps, a Sacramento, Calif., pediatric pulmonologist and allergist.

California Air Resources Board scientist Susan Gilbreath described a study, originally funded by the ARB, that found children playing in a high-ozone environment were three times more likely to develop asthma.

Gilbreath suggests altering exercise routes to avoid congested roadways. Chipps added that exercising in the morning, before the daily commute hours, is the best way to avoid noxious pollutants.

Or, people can seek out alternatives.

"Swimming is good - it's the least asthmagenic exercise that we know of. Or you can do a spinning or aerobics or some kind of class indoors," Chipps said.