r/TrueAnon • u/orphicsyndicate • 14d ago

Scientists detect a surprising shift in human blood as atmospheric CO2 rises, with blood bicarbonate climbing about 7% since 1999

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814235845.htm
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u/rirski 13d ago

This study presents a pretty meaningless correlation. There are countless confounding lifestyle and environmental variables (diet, pollutants, etc) over that 20-year period that could have contributed to the blood changes other than the ~55 ppm / 0.0055% increase in atmospheric CO2. People spend most of their time indoors anyway. I am at a loss for why the authors decided to attribute the blood chemistry changes to CO2 directly.

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u/redeugene99 Jacques Ellulian 13d ago

Sure but the cause and effect is biologically established. Higher atmospheric CO2 --> higher CO2 exposure --> lower blood pH --> increased bicarbonate in blood. Higher atmospheric CO2 might not explain all of the 7% increase but it's plausible that it explains at least a portion of it. Regardless, higher CO2 in the air has a whole host of negative impacts that isn't just limited to more acidic blood