I heard a lot about microplastic getting into our bodies through fish and other food. But what are exactly consequences of having microplastic in body? Problems with fertility? High cancer risks? Lower immunity? What are exactly consequences of microplastic in our bodies? Should I avoid certain food? Or should I make blood test to check how much microplastic I have in my body?
In: Biology
>Problems with fertility? High cancer risks? Lower immunity
There have been studies with strong evidence linking microplastics with all of these health issues, and there is still a lot of research yet to do.
Microplastics harm our body in 3 main ways.
1. Plastic is made out of petrol and other chemicals like BPA, phthalates and PFAS which can cause cancer by damaging our DNA inside our cells if these chemicals get inside us, (remember, DNA is basically the instructions and blueprints that tell our cells how to do their entire job). When microplastics get inside our body, they can “leech” or slowly ooze out these chemicals into our blood stream and cells. giving us small doses of harmful, poisonous chemicals every day
2. Microplastics are a physical object. Plastic is bendable (that’s where the word plastic comes from, it’s greek, *plastikos*, means “to mould or shape”) but plastic can also be sharp and hard, and microplastic, while microscopic and tiny, is the same. It can have hard sharp edges that cause physical damage inside our bodies on a microscopic level. From microabraisions and tiny cuts from larger bits of plastic, all the way down to tiiiiiiiny cellular damage – bruising and scraping to cell walls, often in our digestive track and lungs.
3. Allergic reactions – Our body knows that we are not supposed to have plastic inside us, so our immune system will try to attack it. Our immune system is designed to attack viruses and bacteria. All the tools and weapons our immune system has are good for killing little living germs and bugs, not un-alive bits of plastic. So our immune system reacts and reacts, but can’t get rid of the “invader”. This makes us sicker and sicker over time, and can cause the immune system to start to attack itself, and get weaker in the long term from all that damage.
All three of these things combined make microplastics very dangerous for our health, and a very real issue we should be trying to globally address. But sadly, there is not much we as individuals can do to make it better for ourselves, outside of political and buyer activism and pressure on larger systems. Microplastics are already everywhere!
But don’t be too alarmed, as I said, we have lots of research yet to do, we may find safe and effective ways to filter or remove microplastics from our body. There are currently species of mushroom that like to eat plastic, so some scientists are studying what they can do with these mushrooms, and there is a lot of other amazing research too.
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