Human brains average about 0.5% plastic by weight

[Hip]

Microplastics are infiltrating brain tissue, studies show: ‘There’s nowhere left untouched’

24 of the brain samples, which were collected in early 2024, measured on average about 0.5% plastic by weight.

“It’s pretty alarming,” Campen said. “There’s much more plastic in our brains than I ever would have imagined or been comfortable with.”

The study describes the brain as “one of the most plastic-polluted tissues yet sampled”.

The human brain weighs about 1.4 kg, so that means there is an average of 7 grams of microplastic powder in the brain, which is about 1 heaped teaspoon of powder.

researchers looked at 12 brain samples from people who had died with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. These brains contained up to 10 times more plastic by weight than healthy samples

 

[southwestforests]

Hmm ... polystyrene ...

Adding to the concerns about accumulation in the human body, the Journal of Hazardous Materials published a study last month that found microplastics in all 16 samples of bone marrow examined, the first paper of its kind. All the samples contained polystyrene

Plastic models are generally polystyrene, a few are ABS, but most plastic model kits, and a lot of the plastic bodies of model trains, are polystyrene.

And I've been doing plastic models for just over half a century ...
Sawing, filing, sanding, that plastic ...
And I even have a stash of polystyrene sheets and shapes ...



But, hey, at least I still can't fix a shaving cut with plastic model cement ...

 

[Hip]

Where does most of the plastic found in the human body come from?

Perplexity.ai gives the following answer:

The plastic found in the human body primarily comes from our everyday exposure to microplastics through various sources:

Ingestion
A significant amount of microplastics enter our bodies through the food and drinks we consume:

• Seafood: Marine animals often ingest microplastics, which then make their way up the food chain to humans.
• Bottled water and other beverages: Plastic particles can leach from packaging into liquids.
• Food packaging: Microplastics can transfer from plastic containers and wraps to our food.

Inhalation
The air we breathe is another major source of microplastic exposure:

• Airborne particles: Microplastics are present in the air we breathe, especially in urban environments.
• Indoor dust: Household dust often contains microplastic particles that can be inhaled.

Skin absorption
While less studied, there's growing concern about microplastics entering our bodies through the skin:

• Personal care products: Items like anti-wrinkle creams can contain millions of plastic particles that may potentially pass through the skin.

 

[southwestforests]

Bottled water and other beverages: Plastic particles can leach from packaging into liquids.

That bit brings to mind that about a decade and a half back I had to stop drinking our little county seat farm burg's tap water with its very high mineral content and switch to bottled water in order to stop having kidney stones.

And with the musculoskeletal problems and neurological problems with my hands I am thankful juices and such come in lightweight, durable, plastic bottles instead of glass bottles.

So, basically, I'm in a no-win situation on that bit.

 

[Dysfunkion]

I keep away from as many plastics as I can but it's everywhere and everything is made of it. I have very bad reactions upon contact with certain kinds of it if it touched food or possibly certain areas of my skin. Usually I'll know I been "plastic'd" because I'll very mentally dull, emotionally flat lined, and I'll get pressure in my head, and usually as the base of my spine. It's a real specific one, usually this will happen if I get something new for the ktichen that's made of plastic and wrapped in it but then forget to wash it beforehand. The worst incident I've had of this one was from accidentally forgetting to wash a new drip coffee maker.

 

[linusbert]

this year they seam to use new plastics. they have often a aromatic smell and i seam to be allergic to it.
its everywhere, cleaning robots, bibles, food fresh container seals.
it smells through packaging. it fills the whole room. i dont understand how noone is complaining.
maybe bio plastics or something.
i am now getting everything non-plastic as much as possible. but somehow industry keeps to push for plastics. its so annoying.
everyone knows and warns about plastic for decades.. and they do more and more.
i hope someone in power starts to behave responsible and stops this.

how to detox this? how to get rid of that plastics?

 

[Dysfunkion]

this year they seam to use new plastics. they have often a aromatic smell and i seam to be allergic to it.
its everywhere, cleaning robots, bibles, food fresh container seals.
it smells through packaging. it fills the whole room. i dont understand how noone is complaining.
maybe bio plastics or something.
i am now getting everything non-plastic as much as possible. but somehow industry keeps to push for plastics. its so annoying.
everyone knows and warns about plastic for decades.. and they do more and more.
i hope someone in power starts to behave responsible and stops this.

how to detox this? how to get rid of that plastics?

I know which kind you're talking about and the one's I can actually smell are the worst offenders, some will almost have some kind of slippery residue and it's almost impossible to get off if enough gets on your hands (I notice this the most with a lot of silicone products). Another terrible thing is, is that these products are often made as cooking utensils even the silicone one's with that weird powdery, slippery residue that gets all over everything. If I have bad reactions to that just touching me I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if I heated it up and ingested any (and I'm not going to find out even for science).

I guess activated charcoal might be able to get some of it out but otherwise I have the same question on detoxing it as I seem to have a major plastic problem myself. Lived in a very toxic environment when I was younger and essentially everything I used was plastic or heated plastic never mind the mold problems in my old home. No one ever talks about the plastic elephant in the room. We always hear about heavy metals/mercury, mold, bacteria, and viruses but rarely is plastic ever brought up.

 

[linusbert]

We always hear about heavy metals/mercury, mold, bacteria, and viruses but rarely is plastic ever brought up.

right?!
everybody, newspaper, scientists, people, just everyone talks about how bad plastic is, but somehow nobody cares. i dont get it. its like a running gag.

I know which kind you're talking about and the one's I can actually smell are the worst offenders, some will almost have some kind of slippery residue and it's almost impossible to get off if enough gets on your hands (I notice this the most with a lot of silicone products).

YES! i got one of those plastic kitchen utils.. i put it shortly in hot water, (it was supposed to hold multiple hundred degrees C) it immediately smelled, i never will use it again.

silicone-like stuff , and power cords, usb cabels, hdmi etc and stuff is really bad. almost every new product got this. it feels bad.
heck, even NORMAL people report this on apple forums. that their cable smells like crap (they describe it as mold) and their new laptops too. and i can confirm, i got one of those stink macbook airs too.
how is this even possible?!
some people explain it must be some recycle plastic or some environmental friendly plastics. and apple really brags about how environmental and recycled their stuff is.
its such a shame.

10 years ago, if you bought almost any non-chinese product, it basically never smelled. maybe had the new smell for a few days, but thats it.

 

[BrightCandle]

For the longest time I preferred metal, wood and glass just because its what was cheap and available. Now everything is plastic and the impact of it just keeps going up and up. Its madness we aren't dealing with this given we know the impact on human hormones at the very least is concerning. We have polluted the entire planet with this tiny bits of plastic and we need to urgently clean it up and stop using this material.

The world feels increasingly like a deathcult where government seems uninterested in fixing all that is killing us. We are going to genuinely destroy our species and take much of the worlds animals with us to protect short term profits of the billionaires.

 

[kushami]

Yuck.

The sad thing is, we could have prevented this, and we could even stop it now. But animals and plants have no defence against our actions, and our stupidity is punishing them.

I’m about to turn 50, and just today I was saying to my dad that I never expected to see environmental destruction accelerate in my lifetime.

 

[kushami]

Also, the exposure must be even worse for people in poorer countries working in plastics factories or dodgy recycling and rubbish dumps under conditions that would be illegal in Western countries. But we happily import the stuff they make.

 

[Wishful]

I'm guessing that the .5% refers to dry brain weight rather than wet. I am wondering whether they are measuring the contents of the blood vessels in the brain rather than in or around the brain cells themselves. Are microparticles getting past the BBB? From my admittedly inadequate understanding of the BBB, that seems unlikely. Particles in the blood vessels, not interacting with the brain seems much more likely.

It's not impossible that there might be some benefits to plastic microparticles in the body. That's far less likely than harmful effects, but it is at least possible.

 

[linusbert]

Yuck.

The sad thing is, we could have prevented this, and we could even stop it now. But animals and plants have no defence against our actions, and our stupidity is punishing them.

I’m about to turn 50, and just today I was saying to my dad that I never expected to see environmental destruction accelerate in my lifetime.

that is true and sad. didnt even think about it before.
but in regards of saving the "climate" they are destroying the planet. they come up now with bio plastics which is kinda made from plantoils. whats the point of this? why not plant a tree and use that as material?? the tree also takes up lots of co2 in progres of growing.

It's not impossible that there might be some benefits to plastic microparticles in the body. That's far less likely than harmful effects, but it is at least possible.

maybe killing of microbes and pathogens

 

[Wishful]

Also, the exposure must be even worse for people in poorer countries working in plastics factories or dodgy recycling and rubbish dumps under conditions that would be illegal in Western countries.

Maybe the opposite. Those people might not have plastic carpets and clothing constantly shedding microparticles, and can't afford bottled water, packages foods, or bleeding-edge cosmetics. Contaminated foods (fish, animals) might be about the same.

 

[Wishful]

maybe killing of microbes and pathogens

I was thinking more along the lines of how shipwrecks and other junk in the sea forms thriving ecosystems. Adding shredded plastics to certain types of soils could make them more fertile by providing texture and places for microbes to thrive. Some microparticles in the body could bind up damaged proteins or some such thing. I think it's unlikely for random microplastics to be healthy for a body, but I can imagine that someday there might be a plastic microparticle designed to improve health in some way.

 

[Wishful]

Adding shredded plastics to certain types of soils could make them more fertile by providing texture and places for microbes to thrive.

I just came across an article about a similar effect of adding ground waste glass to soil: https://newatlas.com/science/plant-growth-glass-particles/

"The faster growth rate was likely due to the fact that all of the pots with 100% soil developed a fungus which is known to stunt plant growth. That fungus didn't occur in any of the pots that contained any amount of glass particles – the scientists are currently trying to determine why this was the case."

Unexpected responses such as that do occur, so since we don't know what effects microplastics might have in the body, similar unexpected benefits might occur. That doesn't mean that I'm happy about being a lab rat in this ongoing global-scale experiment.

 

[southwestforests]

Might be interesting to determine how much of that microplastic particle content in the human body comes from plastic clothing; nylon, rayon, acetate, acrylic, olefin, polyester, spandex.

 

[Florida Guy]

I'm guessing that the .5% refers to dry brain weight rather than wet. I am wondering whether they are measuring the contents of the blood vessels in the brain rather than in or around the brain cells themselves. Are microparticles getting past the BBB? From my admittedly inadequate understanding of the BBB, that seems unlikely. Particles in the blood vessels, not interacting with the brain seems much more likely

Yes I was wondering about the bbb myself. If it can filter out large molecules, it should be able to keep out plastic. But even being in the blood vessels could be harmful. I wish they still offered drinking water in glass bottles. I would pay the extra cost

 

[southwestforests]

And now, since I'm full of pizza and raspberry tea, and there's a Georgie cat between this keyboard and me,
I'm feeling a bit ornery ...

On the flip side ...

What is your design for a household light switch which uses no plastic?

What is your design for a microwave which uses no plastic?

What is your design on how to ship temperature sensitive medications, either wholesale or mandatory mail order pharmacy, without using plastic bottles, plastic tape on the box, plastic foam insulation?

What is your design on how to create clean and cleanable railroad grain and other foodstuffs hopper cars without using a plastic interior lining?

What is your design for an automobile airbag which uses no plastic?
What is your design for the fracturing cover for the airbag compartment which uses no plastic?

What is your no-plastic design for lightweight, high-refracting, unbreakable, glasses lenses such as mine?

What is your no-plastic design for safety glasses for factory machinists?

What is your no-plastic design for medical labs and for protective garments and eyewear for lab techs?

What are you going to do while driving home from the grocery store and you hit a rather jarring pothole and the corner of the metal can of ammonia hits and breaks the glass gallon jar of bleach?

What is your design for computer chips and transistors and such which use no plastic?

 

[linusbert]

I was thinking more along the lines of how shipwrecks and other junk in the sea forms thriving ecosystems. Adding shredded plastics to certain types of soils could make them more fertile by providing texture and places for microbes to thrive. Some microparticles in the body could bind up damaged proteins or some such thing. I think it's unlikely for random microplastics to be healthy for a body, but I can imagine that someday there might be a plastic microparticle designed to improve health in some way.

i'd rather see it like this, someday there will be plastic eating microbes migrating to human brain and leeching of the plastic residues in our brains thereby changing human behaviour. resident evil'ish

I wish they still offered drinking water in glass bottles. I would pay the extra cost

wait a minute? you do not have access to glas bottles anymore? which country are you living in?
in germany there is still access to glas , but the plastic lobby is going hard.

On the flip side ...

on the flip flip flip side... whats worth of all that convenience, when planet earth is not hospitable to life anymore or everyone is sick his whole life.... like us?