Our Bodies Are Full Of Microplastics

Our bodies are made of lots of elements, including carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, sodium, sulfur, and you name it. But a disturbing finding is that it also consists microplastics. These are tiny crumbs of plastic which trickle through our body and take up residence in some tissue or organ in our body.

There are studies that show that microplastics and their smaller counterparts, nano plastics have reached almost every corner of our body, including lungs, liver, heart, guts, brain, and even testicles and placenta.

Dr Heather Leslie, a leading expert in international (nano-macro) plastic research based in Netherlands and her team was the first to detect these particles in human bloodstream. The work gained momentum and more such research came into being. They delved into more questions, including:

The soil we walk on, the water we drink, food we eat and the air we breathe, all carries microplastics. These are particles as small as 1 nanometer and as large as 5 millimeters. Some have built up over the years, while others arrive daily, shedding from trees or our clothes, food packaging, and other products.

As per Leslie, all of us are being "microdosed" with microplastics, all round the clock. There is no way to track how much is coming or going out of the body.

Research has also found microplastics in stool and urine of humans. Experts suggest that if the review of animal data is to be believed, most of what we ingest or inhale leave the body during the trip to the bathroom. Only a small portion gets absorbed, however, there is still a lot of uncertainty.

Once the microplastics are in our body, instead of passing through us, it moves across the thin membrane, often lining our gut and finding their way to the bloodstream.

The larger the particle will be, the less likely it is to cross the biological barrier. However, there is no guarantee that it will never cross. Furthermore, airborne plastics can also be inhaled. Once these particles are absorbed in our bloodstreams, they get coated in proteins and fats, create a corona or a crown-like appearance. These foreign elements also find its way to breast milk, semen and can even cross the blood-brain barrier.

There is yet no one definite answers. Humans encounter pollutants throughout their life, given that, researchers are still trying to find out the best models for analyzing microplastics.

However, several studies do suggest that there could be warning signs. However, there is yet to established a direct causal link.

A group of Italian researchers found that people with microplastics in the plaques in their arteries were more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or to die. Other small studies have found higher levels in people with inflammatory bowel disease and liver disease. The review published from the University of California San Francisco also included observational research linking microplastics to reproductive health and chronic sinusitis.