Microplastics and Chronic Disease
A study not yet published has linked microplastics and chronic specifically hypertension, strokes, and diabetes. Interestingly, higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, and stroke far found in coastal and lakefront areas where higher concentrations of microplastics are found in the environment. The study did find a link between the concentration of microplastics and more chronic disease.
We wrote about the impact of microplastics on health two months ago in this article. It is becoming an increasing concern among researchers that explains some of the proliferation of chronic disease we now see.
Microplastics can be 1 to 100 nanometers in size. To put that in perspective a human hair is 80,000 nanometers wide. Levels of Microplastics found in the human brain have increased 50% between 2016 and 2024.
The study is out of the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and was presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.
How Microplastics Cause Chronic Disease
It is not entirely known how microplastics cause chronic disease, but when they are in the body, microplastics are another form of toxin our bodies are subjected to. Studies in cell cultures, marine wildlife, and animal studies indicate that microplastics cause oxidative damage, DNA damage, and change gene activity, all of which are known risks for cancer development.
The Case Western Reserve researchers looked at 154 factors associated with chronic disease including income, employment rate and air pollution and found microplastics to be in the top 10 for predicting noncommunicable disease prevalence.
Why So Much Chronic Disease?
Over the last several decades, we have seen a proliferation of chronic diseases that have become so frequent we know refer to their presence as “normal”.
Microplastics may be a cause, but not likely the only cause.
Here is a list of things we now consider “normal”
- A 6-year-old with chronic allergies.
- A 9-year-old with ADHD.
- A 12-year-old with migraines.
- A 16-year-old with depression and anxiety.
- A 22-year-old male with low testosterone.
- A 30-year-old on blood pressure meds.
- A 40-year-old with restless leg syndrome and chronic fatigue.
- A 60-year-old with Bell’s Palsy.
- A 70-year-old with Alzheimer’s, but “it’s just genetics”? These conditions did not used to exist to the extent they do today.
- Morbid obesity in every age group.
Why?
I am going to devote an entire article in the future to this topic.
