Feb 5, 2025 01:41 AM
The microplastic concerns elevate to the brain
https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-mic...-elevateto
INTRO: This issue of Ground Truths sums ups a worrisome new report on brain accumulation of microplastics, increasing over time assessed, with much higher levels in people with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. It comes on top of a new study in the experimental model showing microplastics impair brain blood vessel flow and induce blood clots. While these reports do not establish cause-and-effect, they add to a growing body of deeply concerning evidence on the toxic effects of these pervasive substances for our health.
Last March a landmark prospective study of microplastics found nearly 60% of patients undergoing an artery operation (carotid endarterectomy) 58% had microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in their plaque. Their presence was linked to a subsequent 4.5 -fold increase of the composite of all-cause mortality, heart attack and stroke. I reviewed it in a previous Ground Truths here. An important quote from Philip Landrigan, who wrote the NEJM editorial on the publication :The finding of microplastics and nanoplastics in [atherosclerotic] plaque tissue is itself a breakthrough discovery that raises a series of urgent questions.”
More recently, in October, Richard Thompson and colleagues wrote a review of 20-years of microplastic pollution research in Science... (MORE - details)
https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-mic...-elevateto
INTRO: This issue of Ground Truths sums ups a worrisome new report on brain accumulation of microplastics, increasing over time assessed, with much higher levels in people with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. It comes on top of a new study in the experimental model showing microplastics impair brain blood vessel flow and induce blood clots. While these reports do not establish cause-and-effect, they add to a growing body of deeply concerning evidence on the toxic effects of these pervasive substances for our health.
Last March a landmark prospective study of microplastics found nearly 60% of patients undergoing an artery operation (carotid endarterectomy) 58% had microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in their plaque. Their presence was linked to a subsequent 4.5 -fold increase of the composite of all-cause mortality, heart attack and stroke. I reviewed it in a previous Ground Truths here. An important quote from Philip Landrigan, who wrote the NEJM editorial on the publication :The finding of microplastics and nanoplastics in [atherosclerotic] plaque tissue is itself a breakthrough discovery that raises a series of urgent questions.”
More recently, in October, Richard Thompson and colleagues wrote a review of 20-years of microplastic pollution research in Science... (MORE - details)