Microplastics on the Brain! By Mrs Vera West
I have been covering the micro and nano plastics health risk to humans. Previously there were reports of such plastics reaching human organs such as the kidneys, liver and heart. But now researchers have found through autopsies, plastics reaching the brain, with some brain samples containing almost a teaspoon full of plastic. The plastic, found in dead dementia patients were concentrated in the walls of arteries and veins of brain and in the brain's immune cells. This is a major health threat to all of us: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03453-1.
https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/new-study-bioaccumulation-of-microplastics
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rising-levels-microplastics-brain-dementia/
"There's much more plastic in our brains than I ever would have imagined or been comfortable with," said Matthew Campen, a doctor and researcher at the University of New Mexico who is the lead author of the study.
The median concentration in brain samples collected from people who died in 2024 was nearly 5 micrograms of plastic per gram of brain tissue, tallying almost 0.5% by weight.
This total was 50% higher than it was just eight years prior, from brain samples acquired in 2016 (for various reasons, most brain samples become available these two years).
This suggests the concentration of microplastics found in human brains is going up as plastic waste and microplastic pollution increases.
"You can draw a line — it's increasing over time. It's consistent with what you're seeing in the environment," Campen said.
The paper also looked at 12 brains from patients who died with different types of dementia; half of them had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. These brains all contained more plastic by weight than healthy samples — roughly three to five times more, on average."
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