Although eliminating microplastic intake altogether may be unrealistic, a recent study found that one slight shift can dramatically reduce exposure.
A newly published paper in the Genomic Press found that switching from bottled water to filtered tap water reduces your microplastic intake by roughly 90%, or from 90,000 particles each year to just 4,000.
Growing evidence shows that humans are storing increasing amounts of microplastics in their bodies. One study concluded that around 0.5% of the weight of the average human brain is attributed to plastic. In another study, 80% of participants were found to have microplastics in their blood.
Not only does the problem of microplastic appear to be growing, but new research shows the increasing dangers.
Last year, Italian researchers from the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli investigated plastic’s impact on cardiovascular health. They found that people with microplastics or nanoplastics in their plaque tissue had twice the risk of having a heart attack or a stroke, as well as dying from any cause.
“Bottled water alone can expose people to nearly as many microplastic particles annually as all ingested and inhaled sources combined,” said Dr. Brandon Luu, an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Toronto and one of the study’s authors. “Switching to tap water could reduce this exposure by almost 90%, making it one of the simplest ways to cut down on microplastic intake.”
Microplastic exposure happens when particles break off from a plastic water bottle’s inner surface and mix into the water. This phenomenon worsens when the bottle is agitated or heated.
And it is not just water, either.
While plastic bottles may be the biggest culprit for exposure, food containers are also problematic.
Microwaving food in a plastic container for just a few minutes can release over four million microplastic particles per square centimetre. A recent study found that even minor exposure to hot food served in plastic containers is linked to higher rates of congestive heart failure.