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Here, there and in the bathroom? Microplastics that we find now in our shit
Microplastics are found everywhere, from the depths of the ocean to our beer. It is not surprising that these tiny pieces of plastic are found in our poop. But what does it mean for our health?
You may have known this on a subconscious level, but the research is now on: Microplastics are in our poop.
Researchers from the Vienna Medical University and the Environmental Agency in Austria studied diets and stool samples from eight participants from around the world. A certain amount of microplastics was present in the feces of each of them.
So we can now add that in the long list of places where microplastics have been found – next to all, our and the. It is now proven that microplastics are also in us, science knows less what it means for human health.
Plastic People
Plastic is everywhere. Production has been steadily increasing since the 1950s and an estimated 33 billion tons of plastic are produced on the planet by 2050.
Microplastics are defined as plastic particles measuring 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter or less. [19659004] These tiny particles can either be intentionally made in the form of microplastics, like some exfoliating beads in facial scrubs, or come from larger plastic items, such as fibers from our clothes thrown into the machine. to wash or pieces of glbad pieces.
On average, researchers in this study found 20 microplastic particles per 10 grams of stool. The small plastic particles ranged in size from 50 to 500 micrometers.
"Plastics play a major role in everyday life and humans are exposed to plastic in many ways," said Philipp Schwabl, principal investigator of the study. "Personally, I did not expect every sample to be tested positive," he told DW.
In total, nine types of plastic were identified in the stool samples. The most commonly used plastics were packaging, fabrics (polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate).
"It is very likely that during various stages of food processing or after packaging, food is contaminated with plastics," Schwabl said. . "Most participants drank liquids contained in plastic bottles, but ingestion of fish and seafood was common."
What is health?
From algae to microplastics, to humans. The tiny plastic particles have even penetrated the tissues of the mussels after they have pbaded through their digestive system, with sharp-edged fragments causing inflammation in their tissues.
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"What does this mean for us, especially for patients, with gastrointestinal diseases," said Schwabl. "Although the highest plastic concentrations in studies in the 39 animals have been found in the intestine, the smallest microplastic particles are able to penetrate the bloodstream, the lymphatic system and can even reach the liver. "
Microplastics have even been found in the body. bottled water – perhaps The study team says that microplastics can affect human health by altering the tolerance and immune response of our gut, especially when toxic chemicals and pathogens stick to plastics and are then transmitted to the body and accumulate.
Some scientists worry about this "hitchhiking effect", as well as toxicity some plastics (such as BPA), which can induce immune responses and interfere with hormones, among other adverse effects.
is needed to clarify the impact of microplastics on the health of humans and other living things.
What We Do not Know
A recent study conducted by Alistair Boxall, a professor of environmental science at the University of York, on microplastics revealed that the health effects resulting from laboratory tests were often found using microplastic concentrations much higher than those actually observed.
Microplastics of various shapes and sizes are omnipresent in our environment
"Although these phenomena occur in the environment and we detect them in water, we detect them even in salt and in water. drinking water, I think. the evidence that they actually cause harm to animal health or human health does not really exist, "Boxall told DW.
Boxall, who also studies the effects of pollution, has stated: "There are other chemicals in the environment. that we should be concerned with more than microplastics in terms of human health. "
Although microplastics may have infiltrated our digestive tract, we still do not know that they are anything …
Schwabl agrees with the need for more in-depth investigations.
"Now that we have the first evidence for the presence of microplastics in humans, we must continue research to understand what this means for human health," he said. [19659004] You Are What You Eat
The participants in this study were mainly European (from Finland, Austria, Italy, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands), with a Japanese. Future studies could include a wider range of participants from different cultures of the world, thus expanding the diversity of diets examined.
Another research topic would be to compare microplasti found in the stools of vegetarians compared to meat eaters and pescetarians. None of the participants in this study were vegetarians and six ate fish during the study.
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