What do you think? You're also eating microplastics

A study conducted by John Hopkins University in the United States found that a person who consumes seafood can consume up to 11,000 microplastic particles in a year. This doesn't seem like much, especially if we think that our body ends up eliminating everything through our intestinal system. However, today we cannot assume that all the plastic that comes in comes out without having an effect on our health.

How much do we know about the microplastics absorbed in our organs and how do they affect our health?

There has been a lot of talk about microplastics in recent years regarding how they affect marine life in the oceans, but first of all let's understand what microplastics are and where they come from.

Microplastics are defined as tiny fragments of plastic of less than 0.5 centimeters that do not fully degrade and that, due to their tiny size, are easily consumed by organisms such as plankton, fish, turtles and whales.

Around 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been generated since the 1950s and of these, only 9% are recycled!

Most of it ends up in the oceans and affects marine species that, in turn, we humans consume. In 2016, an FAO report found the presence of microplastics in 800 species of marine animals.

As if that weren't enough, another study conducted in 2018 by Greenpeace and Incheon National University in South Korea revealed that 90% of the salt produced contains microplastics.

Due to the nature of these particles, it is easy to deduce the toxicity they may have and therefore the problems and organs they may affect are: the cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, neurological, reproductive and respiratory systems.

In 2016, a study conducted by the Medical University of Vienna and the Austrian state environmental agency performed analyses using feces and found the presence of the following components: propylene, which is found in milk and juice containers, and PET, from which most plastic bottles are made.

Plastics are in our intestines. It's confirmed.

However, something much more alarming occurs according to Philipp Schwabl, gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the Medical University of Vienna and lead author of the study: Microplastics can also enter the lymphatic system, the liver and even the blood system.

Science is not yet studying how this would affect human health and what consequences it would have. In other words, the consequences of the physical presence of microplastics in human organs, as well as their toxicity, have not been studied.

For now, it's best to reflect on how often we buy or are exposed to foods that are contained in plastic containers, or where the fish and seafood that we frequently consume come from.

To combat this problem that affects us all, let's try to avoid the consumption of single-use plastics, recycle everything we discard, and when possible, we will have to join volunteer activities in rivers, beaches and seas to clean them of plastic waste.

Because the most certain thing is that today, most of us humans are already eating microplastics without realizing it.

Sources:

Chevalier, Stéphanie: “Where do ocean plastics come from?” , World Economic Forum, 2019. https://es.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/de-donde-proceden-los-microplasticos-de-los-oceanos/

“How do microplastics affect us?” Iberdrola, 2020. https://www.iberdrola.com/medio-ambiente/microplasticos-amenaza-para-la-salud

Criado, Miguel Ángel: “Microplastics have already reached the human intestine”, World Economic Forum, 2018. https://es.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/los-microplasticos-ya-han-llegado-al-intestino-humano-00bf0e0c-a51e-4a90-9116-2bb150865097/

“Plastic and Health: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet”, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), 2019. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Plastic-Health-Spanish.pdf