Recent research detailed in the journal Nature Medicine reveals an alarming rise in microplastic concentration in human brains over a 27-year study period. Conducted by a team led by toxicologist Matthew Campen, findings indicate that average brain tissue contains approximately seven grams of plastic, akin to one plastic spoon. Not only the brain but also the liver and kidneys show significant plastic presence, raising serious health implications. There’s an urgent need for thorough investigation into how microplastics affect human health, especially as higher concentrations correlated with dementia cases emerged during the study.
These results highlight a critical need to better understand the routes of exposure, uptake and clearance pathways and potential health consequences of plastics in human tissues, particularly in the brain.
There's much more plastic in our brains than I ever would have imagined or been comfortable with.
The concentration of microplastics was roughly six times higher in brain samples taken from people who had dementia, indicating a possible link.
The fragments of plastic themselves are pretty tiny, at less than 200 nanometers, or about 400 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
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