Image Credit: Ken Welsh / Design Pics 
Humans are likely wreaking havoc on their gut biomes by eating a weekly average of 5 grams of microplastics, roughly equivalent to the weight of a credit card, Austrian scientists are warning.
According to researchers at the Medical University of Vienna, the micro and nanoplastics (MNPs) absorbed via food sources, water and the air we breathe could act as vectors to transport toxic substances throughout the body, which could damage the digestive tract, have carcinogenic (cancer causing) consequences, and lead to an array of potential adverse health effects.
“Experimental studies indicate that ingested MNPs passing through the gastrointestinal tract lead to changes in the composition of the gut microbiome,” researchers at the university summarized, adding they’ve noted “that such changes are associated with the development of metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity or chronic liver disease.”
“In addition to the effects on the gut microbiome, scientists also described specific molecular mechanisms that facilitate the uptake of MNPs into gut tissue. Using specific analyses, it was shown that MNPs in the gastrointestinal tract could increasingly be taken up into tissue under certain physicochemical conditions and activate mechanisms involved in local inflammatory and immune responses,” they wrote, adding, “Nanoplastics in particular are associated with biochemical processes that are crucially involved in carcinogenesis.”
In their research paper, scientists noted numerous ways microplastics enter the body “either directly through the food chain or indirectly via the ingestion of inhaled and regurgitated particles.”
Clothes fibers such as polyester, for example, end up in wastewater after being machine washed; those particles can then re-enter the food chain after being ingested by marine life, or through sea salt, or drinking water.
“Recent studies have also indicated the presence of MPs in some terrestrial food items, such as edible fruit and vegetables and store-bought rice,” researchers warn, adding additional research in that field is still necessary.
Plastics leaching from plastic water bottles are also major contributors to the incidental ingestion of MNPs, with plastics in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles known to have carcinogenic and estrogenic effects, scientists say.
Researchers also made note of the high incidence of microplastics in bottles used to feed babies.
Recently, a dataset was published concerning plastic particle release from infant feeding bottles, demonstrating values ranging from 14,600 to 4,500,000 MPs (> 1 µm) ingested per capita per day. Unfortunately, sterilization of baby milk exacerbates the issue whereby the process of mixing milk powder with hot water at a minimum of 70 °C, shaking and cooling down to feeding temperature, induces thermal and mechanical stress to the bottle material that might further aggravate MNP release (WHO/FAO 2007).
Overall, the microplastics could be a contributing factor to chronic disease and illness, says Center for Biomarker Research scientist Lukas Kenner.
“A healthy gut is more likely to ward off the health risk. But local changes in the gastrointestinal tract, such as those present in chronic disease or even negative stress, could make them susceptible to the harmful effects of MNPs,” Kenner stated.
The study comes as scientists announced they’ve identified microscopic plastic particles in the bloodstreams of test subjects, warning the toxic substances can travel throughout the body and damage human cells, or bio-accumulate in organs and lead to death.
Scientists had previously found endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to plastics such as Bisphenol A (BPA) in the bloodstreams of 86 percent of teenagers.
The gender-bending chemical BPA “mimics the female sex hormone estrogen, and has been linked to low sperm counts and infertility in men, as well as breast and prostate cancer,” reports the Daily Mail.
Scientists have also warned BPA and other chemicals found in everyday household products and food packaging, including phthalates and parabens, could also be responsible for male infertility problems, causing penises to shrink worldwide, in addition to a host of genital defects.
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