United States: Modern life requires plastic components to the extent that the medical profession expresses concern about increasing numbers of plastic particles throughout the human body.
Microplastics qualify for dimensions below the sesame seed range.
More about the news
As experts suggest, nanoplastics are quantified in size as so small that they make their way into the cells within the human body.
Current scientific research has discovered these plastic particles throughout various human body systems, including lungs, kidneys, livers, and bladders, in addition to other organs.
New research conducted in Nature Medicine uncovered dangerous plastic concentrations inside brain tissue samples from dementia patients as well as subjects who did not have dementia.
The researchers obtained autopsy tissues, which revealed that brain tissue had seven to 30 times more plastic particles than liver and kidney tissue, aarp.org reported.
Alarming levels of microplastics found in human brains.
— Alejandro Retamal (@Alejandropu7) February 13, 2025
A new study finds that microplastics and nanoplastics accumulate at higher levels in the brain than in the liver and kidney.https://t.co/tCz6wcbqKE
What more have the researchers revealed?
Medical research on brain tissue revealed recently deceased participants from 2024 showed fifty percent more plastic content than patients who passed away in 2016.
The estimated weight measurement of seven grams equaled the mass of a typical plastic spoon.
According to Matthew Campen, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico and a lead author of the Nature Medicine study, “I have yet to encounter a single human being who says, ‘There’s a bunch of plastic in my brain, and I’m totally cool with that,'” aarp.org reported.
Research data exhibits how the 2024 plastic readings surpass those from 2016, which scientists correlate to the rising global plastic output.
Tiny plastic particles known as microplastics are generated through two means: the decomposition of big plastic products and the manufacturing of small plastic materials that were incorporated into beauty items until 2019, when the US government issued its ban.
How do particles enter our body?
The tiny particles find their way into human systems through combined air-breathing and both liquid and solid food consumption, as well as skin exposure.
“We now hypothesize that most of the plastics we are seeing like these are actually extremely old degradation products,” Campen added.
Furthermore, as the expert suggested, the dead brain tissues from dementia patients revealed microplastic measurements that were approximately five times higher compared to brain tissues from people without dementia.
Researchers have yet to determine if exposure to microplastics raises dementia risk or if dementia causes the brain tissue to accumulate microplastics.
As Gary Small, M.D., chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center and behavioral health physician in chief at Hackensack Meridian Health, noted, “The findings for dementia thus far don’t prove a causal relationship,” aarp.org reported.
“We do know that with dementia, there’s damage to the blood-brain barrier, which means that potential toxins [including microplastics] from the bloodstream can leak into the cerebrospinal fluid to get to the brain. So maybe we’re seeing higher counts because of that leakage,” he noted.
“Or it could be that the nanoplastics are causing damage,” he continued.