Understanding the health risks of microplastics

If you are a consumer of health-related news you cannot have avoided the increased focus on the harms of microplastic exposure.

What kick-started the focus was a headline grabbing new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2024 that examined the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in human arterial plaque. Researchers analysed plaque samples from 304 patients and they detected microplastics, predominantly polyethylene, in the arterial plaque of these patients. Notably, individuals with microplastics in their arterial plaque were found to have a 4.5 times higher risk of experiencing a heart attack, stroke, or death within the subsequent three years compared to those without such microplastic presence. Very scary data indeed. Since then, various health influencers have competed in extrapolating this study and recommended implementing more and more extreme lifestyle measures to avoid plastic.