It is also not yet known what specific health risk this amount of microplastics inside a person’s bloodstream could potentially have, the study says. Widmer added that although there is some evidence that the chemicals in microplastics can have negative effects on human health, it’s unclear what the full impacts are, and more research needs to be conducted. The study also looked at brain samples from individuals with dementia and found higher levels of microplastics, which it said may have accumulated in blood vessel walls and immune cells. Widmer said the study does not prove that microplastics cause diseases, nor does it explain how they enter the brain. “[The authors are] not saying that this finding means that microplastics cause dementia,” she said. “They’re not saying that in any way, shape, or form. It’s a finding that’s there, and more follow-up research needs to be done to know what to make of it.” The study also found microplastic levels in the brain may possibly have increased by 50% since the last time a similar study was conducted in 2016, which it says could indicate rising environmental exposure to microplastics. Polyethylene, the most common type of plastic – which is found in everything from plastic containers to flooring material to medical devices – made up 75% of the microplastics found in brain samples, the study showed. The authors say that detection methods used may have missed tinier particles or misidentified materials, and the small sample size also limits conclusions about if, how, and when the body handles these plastics. “This whole field is really in its infancy,” Widmer said. “While there is evidence that the microplastic burden in human tissue is high, these numbers may not be exact, and the authors recognize that.” Brain tissue may contain higher amounts of microplastics than other organs: Study originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
