Several studies have revealed that microplastics or nanoplastics are linked to heart attack, stroke and even cancer.
According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, people with nanoplastics in their carotid artery tissues were twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke over the next three years than people who had none.
Carotid arteries lie on each side of the neck and carry blood to the brain. Fatty cholesterol plaques can similarly clog them as the arteries leading into the heart. This process is called atherosclerosis. The new study analysed tissues removed from the neck arteries of 257 people who underwent carotid endarterectomy.
Raffaele Marfella, the study’s lead author and a professor of internal medicine and director of the department of medical and surgical sciences at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli in Naples, Italy, said, “To date, our study is the first that associated the plastic contamination with human diseases.
“Our study convincingly highlights the presence of plastics and their association with cardiovascular events in a representative population affected by atherosclerosis,” she added.
What are microplastics or nanoplastics?
Microplastics are polymer fragments ranging from less than 0.2 inch to 1/25,000th of an inch. Anything smaller is nanoplastic and has to be measured in billionths of a metre. Experts worry that nanoplastics are a bigger threat to human health.
In research around pregnant mice, plastic chemicals were found in the brain, heart, liver, kidney and lungs of the developing foetus 24 hours after the mother ingested or breathed in plastic particles. Other studies have also shown that nanoplastics and microplastics can lead to oxidative stress, tissue damage and inflammation. Moreover, other animal studies have proved that these harmful particles can change heart rate and impede cardiac function.
Furthermore, researchers have found nanoparticles in human blood, lung and liver tissues, urine and faeces, mother’s milk and the placenta. However, they have yet to prove what effect these polymers can have on the body’s organs and functions.
Another study published in the journal Chemosphere showed that microplastics and nanoplastics remain in the cell for much longer than previously assumed, as they are passed on to the newly formed cell during cell division. The study also revealed that these harmful particles can lead to the metastasis of tumours by increasing the migration of cancer cells to other regions of the body.
(With inputs from agencies)