A new study has linked microplastics to heart attacks and strokes. Here’s what we know
The results have renewed concerns about plastics’ potential effects on human healthAn analysis of artery-clogging plaques in 257 patients found that the , researchers report March 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The extent of that enhanced risk is “stunning,” says Aruni Bhatnagar, a cardiovascular researcher at the University of Louisville in Kentucky who was not involved with the work. When it comes to factors that drive cardiovascular disease, “very, very, very few things have that much of a risk.”The study has gained attention worldwide and renewed concerns about the effects of plastics on human health. It’s also one of a growing number of reports that have found microscopic particles of plastic inside our bodiesಌ’ ti𝐆ssues, including the lungs, liver and blood (SN: 3/24/23).
But the question of whether these particles, called micro- and nanoplastics, actually harm people remains unanswered. The plaque study places the particles at the scene of the crime, Bhatnagar says, but there’s not enough evidence for an indictment just yet. Though the new results are “certainly cause for concern,” he cautions, “we have to be careful not to create mass hysteria.”Science News spoke with toxicologists and cardiovascuꦍlar disease researchers about the implications of the new study, the potential health effects of plastics — and how cautious we should be about making conclusions. Here are aꦛ few takeaways.
Plastic is everywhere and enters our body through multiple routes
When plastic toys, pipes, food containers and other objects inevitably break down over time, they can shed infinitesimal particles into our environment. Scientists have already documented how broadly these plastic smithereens have scattered.Particles speckle even extreme locations, from the depths of the ocean to nearly the 𝓰peak of Mount Everest (SN: 11/20/20). Microplastics, which are smaller than 5 millimeters (about the size of a peppercorn) and nanoplastics, which are roughly one𒐪 five-thousandth that size, can get into our water, accumulate in soil and waft along whisper💙s of wind.
These specks of plastic pollution can travel into our bodies via food and drink, the air we breathe and even directly through the skin. And our exposure to microplastics will only go up, says environmental toxicologist Matthew Campen, as old plastics deteriorate and enter the ecosystem and new plastic production continues to surge. In February, Campen’s team at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque reported that. Unpublished work from his lab has also uncovered plastic in human brain and testicular tissue. The plaque study adds to a rapidly emerging picture of how plastics may affect our health, Campen says. Scientists examined plaque samples from patients who had undergone surgery to clean out their carotid arteries, blood vessels in the neck that carry blood to the brain. “We found that more than half of patients had evidence of at least one type of plastic,” says study coauthor Francesco Prattichizzo, a cardiovascular researcher at IRCCS MultiMedica in Milan. These patients’ plaques all contained polyethylene, a ubiquitous material used in everything from cling wrap to cutting boards. And in 12 percent of the patients, scientists also found polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. Of 150 people with evidence of these plastics, 30 died or experienced a nonfatal stroke or heart attack within roughly the next three years. That’s compared to eight out of 107 people whose plaques appeared to be plastic-free, the team reports. “Are we supposed to be finding plastics in plaque? Heck no, it’s very bizarre,” says study coauthor Sanjay Rajagopalan, a cardiologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. The findings do raise all sorts of interesting questions, though, he says, namely — what’s the plastic doing there?