Bengaluru Study Finds Polluting Cooking Fuels Trigger Brain Damage in Rural Women
A ground-breaking study by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has found that rural women exposed to polluting cooking fuels are at a significantly higher risk of cognitive decline, including memory loss and early signs of dementia. Based on MRI scans from ageing adults in Karnataka’s Srinivaspura town, the research suggests that household air pollution, largely from solid fuels like wood or dung, may be shrinking brain structures critical for memory—posing an overlooked but urgent public health crisis in India.
Focusing on over 4,100 ageing adults from the town of Srinivaspura in Karnataka, the research is part of the larger CBR-SANSCOG (Centre for Brain Research – Srinivaspura Aging, Neuro Senescence, and COGnition) cohort. Researchers conducted MRI scans on a significant subset of nearly 1,000 participants to identify structural changes in the brain linked to prolonged exposure to indoor smoke from cooking. One of the most striking findings from the study is the observed shrinkage in the hippocampus—a brain region associated with memory and known to degenerate early in Alzheimer’s disease. This shrinkage was found to be more prominent in women, who tend to spend more time near household stoves, especially in poorly ventilated kitchens using solid fuels like wood, crop residue, or dung cakes.
The research team, which included scientists from the University of Chicago and Indian public health experts, noted that women in rural India face disproportionately higher exposure to harmful particulate matter and toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen. These pollutants, the study explains, induce neuroinflammation and oxidative stress—key contributors to brain ageing and cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive impairment, as defined by the study, affects essential brain functions including reasoning, speech, and memory. While not a diagnosis of dementia in itself, the impairment significantly raises the risk of developing full-fledged neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s or other dementias.
The researchers call for community-driven solutions, especially those that involve women’s participation in promoting awareness and safe kitchen practices. With dementia cases projected to surge in the coming decades, interventions that cut exposure to domestic air pollution may offer a simple but powerful preventative measure. This study not only highlights the unseen neurological toll of indoor pollution but also brings women’s health and environmental justice to the forefront of India’s clean energy transition.
