Houseplants To Your Health! One Solution To Indoor Air Carcinogens
Posted by Lynne Eldridge MD at 11/15/2007 5:00 AM 
Categories: environment and cancer, houseplants, cancer prevention, indoor air quality, carcinogens, top houseplants
Categories: environment and cancer, houseplants, cancer prevention, indoor air quality, carcinogens, top houseplants
Oh - The Air Inside Is Frightful! But I Have A Gift Delightful...
Indoor air quality is something we need to consider carefully, as we close our windows against the frightful weather outside during the holidays - at least in northern climates.
Many of us have looked at the smog reports posted in the paper - not realizing that the air inside our household havens, can expose us to far more carcinogens.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air is ranked 4th in environmental causes of cancer. With one in two men in the US, and a third of women expected to develop cancer (in addition to skin cancer), during their lifetime, this is not a risk we can ignore.
Our first recommendation is to eliminate common household carcinogens (described in our book, "Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time: Practical Advice for Preventing Cancer"), but many carcinogens are hard to eliminate without drastic changes in our lifestyle. For those carcinogens, we have a simple solution - houseplants!
Thanks to research done by Dr. Wolverton at NASA, we know that many houseplants can clean up common carcinogens in our homes. A single spider plant can absorb nearly 90 percent of formaldehyde emissions in an average sized room! And, we even know the "magic number!" Fifteen houseplants in six-inch containers, per 2000 square feet of living space.
The Top Plants for absorbing indoor air carcinogens include:
1. Ferns (esp. boston fern)
2. Palms (esp. parlor palm, dwarf date palm, bamboo palm, lady palm)
3. Rubber plant
4. Spider plant
5. English ivy
6. Janet Craig (Dracaena)
7. Chrysanthemum
8. Philodendron
9. Peace lily
10.Gerbera daisy
11.Weeping fig (ficus)
Beyond cancer prevention, houseplants have been shown to decrease cold symptoms, shorten hospital stays, and even increase work productivity.
So during the holidays, as you venture out of your tightly sealed home to find the perfect gift for someone you love, consider an attractive houseplant to show your love, lower their risk of cold symptoms, and perhaps even lower their risk of developing cancer.
For further information on cancer prevention, and simple steps to lower risk, check out Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time.
Indoor air quality is something we need to consider carefully, as we close our windows against the frightful weather outside during the holidays - at least in northern climates.
Many of us have looked at the smog reports posted in the paper - not realizing that the air inside our household havens, can expose us to far more carcinogens.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air is ranked 4th in environmental causes of cancer. With one in two men in the US, and a third of women expected to develop cancer (in addition to skin cancer), during their lifetime, this is not a risk we can ignore.
Our first recommendation is to eliminate common household carcinogens (described in our book, "Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time: Practical Advice for Preventing Cancer"), but many carcinogens are hard to eliminate without drastic changes in our lifestyle. For those carcinogens, we have a simple solution - houseplants!
Thanks to research done by Dr. Wolverton at NASA, we know that many houseplants can clean up common carcinogens in our homes. A single spider plant can absorb nearly 90 percent of formaldehyde emissions in an average sized room! And, we even know the "magic number!" Fifteen houseplants in six-inch containers, per 2000 square feet of living space.
The Top Plants for absorbing indoor air carcinogens include:
1. Ferns (esp. boston fern)
2. Palms (esp. parlor palm, dwarf date palm, bamboo palm, lady palm)
3. Rubber plant
4. Spider plant
5. English ivy
6. Janet Craig (Dracaena)
7. Chrysanthemum
8. Philodendron
9. Peace lily
10.Gerbera daisy
11.Weeping fig (ficus)
Beyond cancer prevention, houseplants have been shown to decrease cold symptoms, shorten hospital stays, and even increase work productivity.
So during the holidays, as you venture out of your tightly sealed home to find the perfect gift for someone you love, consider an attractive houseplant to show your love, lower their risk of cold symptoms, and perhaps even lower their risk of developing cancer.
For further information on cancer prevention, and simple steps to lower risk, check out Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time.
Thanks for this article. I am in the process of beginning my own blog and came across yours. I will get some of these plants in our own home. I always tell my patients the reason I became a family doctor is to help prevent cancer and heart attack rather than trying to treat it once it happens.
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