Dr. Ovadia says microplastics may have negative effects on testosterone in men and estrogen and progesterone in women. This could mean reduced muscle mass and libido for men.
Photo: Pete Linforth from Pixabay
by Tim DitmanOSF Healthcare
Photo provided
Philip Ovadia, MD
Where do microplastics come from? What harm can they do?
Dr. Ovadia says microplastics can be purposefully manufactured as part of a product. Toothpaste and skin exfoliants are examples. Or, microplastics can occur when larger plastic products, like water bottles, break down. The microplastics can then get into our environment, such as ocean water or our foods and drinks. “There’s even some evidence that these things can spread in the air, and we can breathe them in,” Dr. Ovadia adds. Dr. Ovadia points to three areas where ingesting microplastics could be cause for concern.- Intestines: Dr. Ovadia says microplastics can irritate our intestines, leading to inflammation of tissue and a condition called leaky gut. “That’s when we get a breakdown of the barrier that lines our intestines. That allows some things in our food that aren’t supposed to get across into our bloodstream to get into the bloodstream. Many of these things set off inflammation in the body,” Dr. Ovadia says.
- Endocrine system: Dr. Ovadia says microplastics may have negative effects on testosterone in men and estrogen and progesterone in women. This could mean reduced muscle mass and libido for men. For women, it could mean changes in the menstrual cycle, an increased infertility risk and, for young women, earlier start of puberty.
- Blood vessels: Dr. Ovadia points to a 2024 study where experts looked at plaque removed from the carotid artery (located in the neck) of study participants. “For over half of the people, there was evidence of microplastics in those plaques. Furthermore for the people who had those microplastics, over the next three years they had a four-and-a-half times increased risk for a heart attack, a stroke or dying,” Dr. Ovadia says. “It doesn’t prove that the plastics are causing the problems,” Dr. Ovadia adds. “But it’s certainly concerning data. And I, as a heart surgeon, start to worry. If we see these in plaques in arteries in the neck, are they also in the plaques in arteries of the heart patients I operate on?”
Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
What should I do?
So, do we need to panic about microplastics? Should the health concerns be akin to smoking? Not now, Dr. Ovadia says. He reiterates that studies on this topic are in the early stages, and experts don’t fully understand microplastics’ impact on our health. “It’s an unknown risk at this point,” he says. But, there are small, everyday steps you can take to reduce the risk of microplastics entering your body.- Drink from a glass or stainless steel bottle, not a plastic bottle.
- Use a good water filtration system. That could be built into your home’s water supply, or you could purchase a filter to attach to your faucet or water bottle.
- Make food choices that minimize your exposure to plastic wraps and containers. Think the to-go boxes you get at a restaurant. Instead, eat more fresh, non-packaged food. Find these in the outer aisles of the grocery store.
- “Eat the things that grow in the ground, and eat the things that eat the things that grow in the ground,” Dr. Ovadia says with a smile. “That’s how I always explain it to people. Try eating more whole, real food. That will minimize your exposure to microplastics.”
- Look into the cosmetics and toiletries you use. Dr. Ovadia admits the jargon on a label can be difficult to understand. Instead, research the brands themselves. If, for example, a toothpaste brand is pledging to reduce microplastics in their products, it’s a green flag.
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DALLAS — The impact of particulate matter air pollution on death and disability is on the rise worldwide, according to new research published today in the 
To examine the impact of extreme temperatures with and without high levels of fine particulate pollution, the researchers analyzed 202,678 heart attack deaths between 2015-2020 that occurred in Jiangsu province, a region with four distinct seasons and a wide range of temperatures and fine particulate pollution levels. The deaths were among older adults with an average age of 77.6 years; 52% were older than age 80; and 52% were male. Particulate exposure on the day of each death and one day before death were included in the analysis.
Extreme temperatures were gauged according to the daily heat index (also referred to as apparent temperature) for an area, which captures the combined effect of both heat and humidity. Both the length and extremeness of heat waves and cold snaps were evaluated. Heart attack deaths, or case days, during these periods were compared with control days on the same day of the week in the same month — meaning that if a death occurred on a Wednesday, all other Wednesdays in the same month would be considered control days. Particulate levels were considered high on any day with an average level of fine particulate matter above 37.5 micrograms per cubic meter.
"Our findings provide evidence that reducing exposure to both extreme temperatures and fine particulate pollution may be useful to prevent premature deaths from heart attack, especially for women and older adults," Liu said.
Compared with control days, the risk of a fatal heart attack was observed at the following levels:
