Microplastics

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First, a microplastics primer: Scientists are still exploring exactly how microplastics interact with the human body, but at a basic level, the toxic properties trigger inflammation and oxidative stress, which are both responsible for damaging cells and tissues.

Microplastics also function as endocrine disruptors, interfering with hormonal systems that regulate reproduction, metabolism, and development. “Most concerning, though, is microplastic’s ability to cross protective barriers in our body, including the blood-testis barrier and placental barrier, allowing them to accumulate in reproductive organs, where they can directly damage reproductive cells and interfere with normal fertility and development,” says Falcone.

Fortunately, anthocyanins operate through several mechanisms to protect against microplastic damage. First and foremost, anthocyanins are potent antioxidants, meaning they neutralize the oxidative stress that occurs when microplastics enter the body, thereby minimizing the risk of cellular damage, Falcone says. They also reduce microplastic-induced inflammation, ultimately lowering the risk of gastrointestinal issues, cancer, and organ damage, Church adds.

Additionally, anthocyanins may interact with steroid receptors to regulate hormone functions that microplastics can disrupt, according to Falcone. “Essentially, anthocyanins provide a multilayered defense system against microplastics.”

Tiny, microscopic bits of plastic have been found almost everywhere researchers look — including throughout the human body.

Microplastics and their even tinier cousins, nanoplastics, are probably flowing through your blood and building up in your organs like the lungs and liver.

Now, a new study is connecting the dots on microplastics' mysterious correlation with heart attack and stroke risk.

"There is some microplastics in normal, healthy arteries," Dr. Ross Clark, a University of New Mexico medical researcher who led the study, told Business Insider before he presented his findings at the meeting of the American Heart Association in Baltimore on Tuesday.

"But the amount that's there when they become diseased — and become diseased with symptoms — is really, really different," Clark said.

Clark and his team measured microplastics and nanoplastics in the dangerous, fatty plaque that can build up in arteries, block blood flow, and cause strokes or heart attacks.

Compared to the walls of healthy plaque-free arteries, plaque buildup had 16 times more plastic — just in the people who didn't have symptoms. In people who had experienced stroke, mini-stroke, or vision loss, the plaque had 51 times more plastic.

Synthetic chemicals called phthalates, found in consumer products such as food storage containers, shampoo, makeup, perfume and children’s toys, may have contributed to more than 10% of all global mortality from heart disease in 2018 among men and women ages 55 through 64, a new study found.

“Phthalates contribute to inflammation and systemic inflammation in the coronary arteries, which can accelerate existing disease and lead to acute events including mortality,” said senior author Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a professor of pediatrics and population health at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. He also is director of NYU Langone’s Division of Environmental Pediatrics and Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards.

“Phthalates are known to disrupt testosterone,” Trasande said, adding that in men, “low testosterone is a predictor of adult cardiovascular disease.”

Phthalates have been linked in earlier studies with reproductive problems, such as genital malformations and undescended testes in baby boys and lower sperm counts and testosterone levels in adult males. Studies have also linked phthalates to asthma, childhood obesity and cancer.