Wellness Unmasked: Microplastics in Your Body: Hidden Health Risks and How to Fight Back
3/17/202626 mincomplete
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4:29Welcome to Wellness Unmask. I'm Dr.
4:32Nicole Sapphire. And today, we're going to talk about a new study that is just
4:36revealing again how many microplastics we are exposed to every single day.
4:41Now, the conversation about microplastics, this is not a conspiracy theory.
4:46This isn't some crazy futuristic conversation like, oh, one day maybe we'll learn about microplastics.
4:54No, absolutely not. Our exposure to microplastics, it's a real problem.
5:00And I'll be honest, I'm a little bit disappointed because the updated Maha report, they'd
5:05mentioned it. And all they said was, you know what we're going to do?
5:08We're going to put a lot of money into studying microplastics.
5:12I don't need any more studies because I'm telling you, it's a problem.
5:18I'll break down for you guys briefly some of the studies that I'm talking about.
5:22And you tell me, do you think we should spend...
5:24millions of dollars to study it more?
5:26Or should we spend millions of dollars to try and decrease how much we consume?
5:32So the study that just came out in the last week, now mind you, this
5:35isn't some groundbreaking study. It's not brand new, but it's a new study.
5:40And it's a study out of the UK.
5:42And they decided to look at a whole bunch of different beverages and they tested
5:47them. They wanted to see at the bottom of the beverages.
5:51So after they were consumed, you know, if it's tea or if it's coffee and
5:55there's still some grinds or whatever's left at the bottom, they tested that little bit
6:00of fluid leftover. It was about 155 samples of various different beverages all throughout UK
6:07supermarkets and coffee shops. They found microplastics inside every single one and the contamination or
6:16the amount of microplastics in each varied.
6:19And so it actually does make a difference in what you are consuming.
6:24You know, when most people hear the term microplastics, they're thinking like soda bottles breaking
6:30down in the ocean or the garbage on the side of the road.
6:34And somehow these particles are getting into everything.
6:37But no, no, no. The reality is far more unsettling than that.
6:42These studies are showing that tiny plastic particles, tiny, tiny, tiny plastic particles are entering
6:48our bodies through what we eat, what we drink, and even the air we breathe.
6:52They're showing up in places that really we should all be flabbergasted at how many
6:58microplastics are in what we're consuming.
7:01So the study out of Birmingham looked at just beverages and what they found was
7:06the highest amount of microplastics were in hot tea.
7:11Now, if you watch me on Fox and Friends, you follow me on social media.
7:15This is not breaking news to you because I've already told you about it.
7:19Tea bags are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to exposure to microplastics.
7:24They also think when a beverage is warm, this causes the microplastics to kind of
7:30break off from wherever they are and enter into the liquid.
7:34So hot tea, you have the tea bag and it's hot.
7:37The amount of microplastics are the highest than any other beverage.
7:42There's another study. It took place, I think, in like 2024.
7:46It found microplastics in nearly 89 % of healthy adults.
7:51These are just from regular blood samples.
7:54They take someone's blood, they looked at it under a microscope, and lo and behold,
7:59there's plastic in our blood.
8:00In fact, about four particles per milliliter of blood.
8:04And maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, but you have a lot more than
8:07a milliliter in your body circulating.
8:10And it's not like you're just being exposed once or twice to microplastics.
8:13This is cumulative. They're going to continue to grow and in number as you live.
8:20So again, it may sound small, but research are discovering that people with the higher
8:24levels, they also had more inflammatory markers in their blood.
8:30They also had higher risk of blood clotting.
8:32So it's pretty obvious that if you have plastic circulating in your blood, your blood
8:39and your body are like, what is this foreign body?
8:41We're going to send our inflammatory markers, our inflammatory cells.
8:45It's going to trigger the clotting cascade, which happens with inflammation, and you're going to
8:50have systemic inflammation and maybe an increased risk of clotting disorders.
8:55I mean, that's a problem.
8:57Another study further quantified it.
8:59So when I just say microplastics are bad, people are really trying to look at
9:03exactly how bad it is or what the number is.
9:06I personally don't care about the numbers.
9:08Microplastics are bad. The average load in this one study showed 1 .6 micrograms of
9:14plastic per milliliter of blood.
9:17And that's made up of plastics from water bottles, polyethylene, from like packaging materials.
9:25In other words, the same plastics that hold our food and hold all of these
9:31other things together, it's just circulating in our bloodstream.
9:34It's pretty scary. They looked at a placenta in 2021.
9:38They looked at various placentas and they found microplastic fragments in the placenta.
9:45So if a pregnant woman has microplastics in their blood, of course, it's going to
9:49go through the placenta to get to the baby because that's exactly how babies get
9:54their nutrition and their blood straight from the mother.
9:57Why do you think that the microplastics in the mother's blood aren't going to actually
10:00get there? So is it surprising that the placentas have plastics?
10:04No. In fact, that essentially is saying that babies are getting microplastics exposed to them
10:11before they even take their first breath.
10:15But it's even more than that.
10:17So we've talked about just checking someone's blood.
10:20We've checked placentas. By the way, we've also done autopsies.
10:26Now, mind you, there haven't been a ton of autopsies looking at microplastics, but there
10:31have been some and some studies have reported on it.
10:35One of them, they were looking at the lungs, found an average of three microplastics
10:40particles per sample, when some much more than that.
10:43Again, I'm not going to get stuck on the numbers because I don't think the
10:46numbers matter. I just want to hear, are there microplastics there or they're not?
10:52One thing that they found was they found microplastics, again, in the lung, also in
10:56the liver and in the kidneys.
10:58Now, I'm not really surprised that these particles are depositing in the lungs because if
11:03you're breathing in things, we know that pollution, toxins, cigarette smoke, everything, as you breathe
11:10it in, it gets stuck into the lungs.
11:13And so that's why you see those pictures of like gross black lungs from smokers
11:18because, yeah, those toxins get stuck there.
11:20So if you're breathing in plastics, they're getting stuck there too.
11:24Your kidney and your livers, they are meant to filter your bloodstream.
11:29And so it makes sense to me that you're going to find plastics in the
11:33liver, plastics in the kidney, because they're trying to filter it all out.
11:37Here's the thing that I found a little bit concerning.
11:41And by a little bit concerning, I'm like, oh my gosh, hold the phone, alarms
11:45are going off. This one post -mortem research study, meaning, again, on cadavers, people are
11:52already dead, it revealed that micro and nanoplastics, or, you know, just small pieces of
11:58plastic, can actually reach the human brain.
12:01This is a big deal.
12:03The brain is supposed to be protected by the blood -brain barrier, and not everything
12:07is supposed to get there.
12:09But what they found was there were 7 to 30 times more microplastics in brain
12:17tissue than in the liver and the kidneys.
12:21That's a problem. Liver and kidneys, supposed to be filtering it out.
12:24But what's happening? Microplastics getting to the brain, staying in the brain.
12:29And then they took it a step further, because I guess you can argue, well,
12:33what's the big deal? Microplastics are just in the brain.
12:36And if it's not causing a problem, then what's the big deal?
12:39Why not have microplastics in the brain?
12:41Okay, I guess we can talk about that hypothetical.
12:45But guess what? What they decided to do was they looked at the post -mortem
12:50patients who had the microplastics in the brain.
12:52And yep, you guessed it, the patients who had a history of dementia had more
12:58microplastics in their brain. So what does this mean?
13:01I don't know. Well, we don't really have definitive answers about health outcomes.
13:05And you hear, again, like Maha and other people saying, well, we're just going to
13:09study it some more to figure out what it is.
13:12But here's what I'm telling you.
13:15I'm telling you that we already have studies that show patients with dementia have more
13:21microplastics in their brain. We have blood studies showing that patients who have microplastics in
13:27their blood, which let's be honest, it's most of us at this point, have inflammatory
13:32markers, clotting disorders, or clotting cascades been activated.
13:36When our whole goal is to try and decrease our risk of chronic inflammation, if
13:42we are continuing to consume these microplastics, all we're doing is putting microplastics into our
13:48bloodstream. It's getting deposited into our various organs.
13:52And it's increasing our risk of chronic disease.
13:55I mean, inflammation in itself is linked to diabetes and cancers and autoimmune diseases.
14:00Obviously, we've been talking a lot about dementia, but maybe there will be a link
14:05to certain brain cancers. I guess that is one reason to study it.
14:10But my biggest concern is we can't wait 10 to 20 years to continue to
14:16study. We have to start taking some action now to do everything we can to
14:20decrease our exposure to microplastics.
14:22I mean, I can't even begin to think about how awful it was, how long
14:27it took for people to finally say, huh, you know what, cigarette smoking, that's probably
14:32not good for us. Because it went for a couple of decades of thinking it
14:36was fine. In fact, there were even some commercials back in the day where it
14:40was recommended to help open up your lungs.
14:43We're still dealing with the consequences of that because of how detrimental it was for
14:48our human health. I don't want microplastics to be there.
14:52We're already behind. If you think that you don't have microplastics in your blood, you
14:57do. I'm sorry to tell you that, but you do.
14:59It's probably in your brain, too.
15:01The best we can do at this point is everything we can to decrease any
15:06more microplastics that we are exposed to.
15:08Now, the reality is, can we ever get to a zero exposure of microplastics?
15:14No. Unless you're going to go live in a bubble, and it can't be a
15:19plastic bubble. It'd have to be a glass bubble.
15:22But unless you're going to just go and live in Antarctica by yourself and have
15:25your own water supply and whatnot, you will always have some low -level exposure.
15:30We have just become a society where we are incredibly dependent on plastic products.
15:36But there are some key things that you can do to absolutely decrease the amount
15:41of microplastics that you and your family are exposed to.
15:44Again, I'm not sharing this to just scare you, but I want to empower you
15:47because if I'm trying to do stuff in my own home, I like to share
15:51it with you. So, again, we can't eliminate this exposure entirely, but we can reduce
15:55it. Some of the biggest ways we can decrease our exposure to microplastics, first and
16:01foremost, I know, but let's stop using tea bags.
16:06This breaks my heart. I love hot tea.
16:09I love hot tea in the morning.
16:10I love hot tea at noon.
16:12And I love hot tea at night.
16:13I love the various herbs, but I got to tell you, plastic tea bags, terrible.
16:19absolutely terrible. And by the way, iced tea still has microplastics in it, but less
16:25than hot tea. So try to go with loose leaf tea.
16:28I know that gets a little cumbersome.
16:30What I have started doing at work, because I used to have tea every single
16:35afternoon. I am known to have turmeric and ginger tea in the afternoon.
16:40I love it. It's a great way to kind of kick off the afternoon.
16:44Turmeric is naturally anti -inflammatory.
16:47But so instead of the tea bag, I actually am using liquid herbs.
16:54It's nice that I actually happen to make tinctures that are liquid herbs.
16:58I didn't actually, when I created them, it didn't occur to me that I would
17:01be using them in this way.
17:03But as I have continued to learn more about microplastics, it has become my favorite
17:09thing is to now take liquid herbs and put them in hot water.
17:13And that is my new way of consuming herbal tea.
17:17You can have herbs that decrease your inflammation, give you energy, help calm you down,
17:23whatever it is. You can try it with liquid herbs or just natural herbs.
17:27You can get herbs from the grocery store or again, loose leaf tea.
17:31And that's only if you're a tea drinker.
17:33Coffee drinkers, try not to use plastic cups, plastic tops.
17:38If you're going to your coffee shops and all of that, you have to know
17:42that all of those to -go cups, they're all lined with some sort of plastic
17:46inside. So if you're putting a hot beverage in it, yes, that microplastic particles are
17:52going to come off. You're going to drink it.
17:55It's going to get into your blood and then it's going to sit in all
17:58of your organs for who knows however long and who knows what it is going
18:03to do. So maybe bring your own stainless steel or glass bottle, trying not to
18:08use those disposable bottles. And plastic bottles are obviously a big no -no, especially if
18:15they've been sitting out in the sun or if they've gotten warm, because as you
18:19warm up the plastic, it tends to have the little microplastic particles go into the
18:24liquid. Another big thing, stop microwaving things in plastic containers.
18:29Let's do it. Let's stop.
18:30Exact same concept. The heat accelerates the breakdown.
18:34It gets into the food and then you consume it.
18:37So put it into a glass, try and warm it up on the stovetop.
18:42And also this sounds kind of funny as well, but consider washing your synthetic clothing
18:48less often. Now I have three boys.
18:51I can't, I cannot have them re -wear things.
18:54But in that whole athletic athleisure wear that everyone's into these days, there is actually
19:02chemicals in it that are plastics that are being shown to stay on our skin
19:07and absorb that way. The reality is the skin is your biggest organ.
19:12You absorb a lot from your skin.
19:15So while we think of microplastic consumption as something we eat or drink, we also
19:20have to think about what we're putting on our bodies.
19:22Because whether it's your clothing, whether it's lotions, whether it's an oil you put on,
19:31your body is absorbing all of this.
19:33So just check the ingredients before you put stuff on.
19:36Again, I'm not telling you to avoid everything, but I'm just saying we could all
19:40probably do a little bit better in reducing our exposure.
19:46And a big thing is, and it's also just a good thing in general, is
19:51keep your air clean. So make sure you're changing your HVAC filters regularly.
19:55I have a couple of air purifiers in rooms of my house, mainly because one
19:59of my kiddos has pretty significant seasonal allergies.
20:03But microplastics are in the air from the pollution, from car exhausts.
20:08And another thing that I thought was very random, but I thought of recently as
20:14I was preparing for this episode, you know, that feeling when you get into your
20:18car and it's been hot.
20:19And as soon as you open the door and you sit down inside, it almost
20:24smells like a little chemically, little synthetic -y something going on there.
20:29Well, if that sounds familiar, you are right.
20:33Because again, if you have closed your doors, closed your windows, and your car has
20:39heated up, you have a lot of plastic in your car.
20:42So you're aerosolizing a lot of that plastic.
20:45So one thing that you can do if it's not raining out, you can crack
20:49your window to try and let some of that airflow.
20:51And as soon as you get in the car, you can also roll down your
20:54windows and just try and kind of let everything escape the car.
20:57So I guess here's the takeaway.
21:02I would love to say that the government or whomever is going to start focusing
21:08on microplastics and push for smarter policies to really curb the whole single -use plastics
21:15and all of that. But the reality is, I don't think it's very high on
21:19their priority. And let's be honest, these single -use plastics and utensils, they're cheap.
21:25And it's going to take a lot of fighting with the industry to get rid
21:29of it. So all I can say is, we can do things on our own
21:34to decrease our exposure and hopefully decrease the inflammation and the disease that is probably
21:39going to ensue from it.
21:40I guess my takeaway is just basically this.
21:43The plastic problem, it's not just some pipe dream that we hear about, about keeping
21:47the ocean. clean it's actually just everywhere it's in our blood it's in our lungs
21:51it's even in our brains and as we continue to see more people diagnosed with
21:55cancer and dementia and others now's the time to take every step we can to
22:01limit exposure both individually but also collectively teach your kids teach your friends if your
22:06friends make fun of you for carrying a glass water bottle the joke's on them
22:10because when it comes to microplastics the evidence is clear they're already in us the
22:15question is what are we going to do about it thanks for listening to wellness
22:19unmasked on america's number one podcast network iheart follow wellness unmasked with dr nicole sapphire
22:24and start listening on the free iheart radio app wherever you get your podcasts and
22:29we'll catch you next time hi this is dr nicole sapphire from wellness unmasked are
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