Most are aware of microplastics, but are you aware of the long term health effects they may pose? -- Domino H.c, 7th grade
When you bite into some food that came wrapped in plastic, do you ever think about how that plastic might affect the food, or the consequences of eating it? What happens to your food is that it is contaminated with microplastics. Microplastics—hence the name, means small (micro) bits of plastic that often ends up in your food, which if consumed in large quantities is incredibly unhealthy.
Microplastics can cause your endocrine system (glands that support metabolism, growth, and hormones) to dysfunction. They can also affect reproduction and overall long-term health effects.
And to make matters worse is that you may have consumed an unhealthy dose of microplastics due to certain food companies.
“Products from Blue Bottle Coffee, Salt & Straw, Tartine, and the Stanford University dining hall also contained startling levels of plastic compounds, as did food from California chains like In-N-Out and Sweetgreen. Salmon and steak from Whole Foods had more plastic chemicals than most fast-food burgers, the study found. Even baby food, infant formula, and breast milk from a hospital had harmful chemicals in them,” says the San Francisco standard.
But what's even more concerning, is the amount of microplastics found in boba. For example boba chains, like Boba Guys, have boba containing more microplastics than healthy to consume in a year. Microplastics are sometimes even found in more natural things, such as animal protein, breast milk, lungs, rainwater, and much more food you would assume to be microplastics free.
Lilah Aparton, a 7th grader, in Lit Arts says that microplastics may actually evolve the human digestive system for the future generations. “I think that so many harsh chemicals might actually cause our systems to evolve, since our bodies might get used to so many microplastics, the digestive system might get stronger and adapt to it in the long term,” Aperton muses, “unfortunately in the short term it would be awful.”
On the other hand, Alice Stewart, a 6th grade Lit arts student, argues that microplastics will do more harm than good in the future, “I feel like it's mostly like plastics are not something humans are meant to consume, so if a person consumed a ton of plastic they would be really unhealthy, but still even like a little it's unhealthy to consume.” Stewart argues.
But how do you prevent microplastics from entering your digestive system? To be quite honest, there's no way you can 100% prevent the consumption of microplastics, since they are in quite literally everything. But you can lower your intake. Washington University, in St Louis, suggests “The first thing we should do is avoid single-use plastics, especially food and beverage packaging and to-go containers that shed microplastics into what we eat and drink. It has been shown that bottled water has higher levels of microplastics than tap water. Avoid highly-processed foods. Studies have found more microplastics in processed meats (like chicken nuggets) versus minimally processed options (like whole chicken breast). Swap plastic cutting boards for wooden or other non-plastic options.“
All in all though, consuming a surplus of microplastics—although unhealthy, isn’t the end of the world. “Since I do drink a lot of boba, I probably could have like triple the normal amount. But even though microplastics are pretty toxic, I don’t think they're as toxic as people believe. I have probably had years where I have had ten times the normal amount but I’m still fine,“ Aparton adds.
So you can lower your intake, even having had a ton of microplastics last year, and expect better health.
Microplastics can cause your endocrine system (glands that support metabolism, growth, and hormones) to dysfunction. They can also affect reproduction and overall long-term health effects.
And to make matters worse is that you may have consumed an unhealthy dose of microplastics due to certain food companies.
“Products from Blue Bottle Coffee, Salt & Straw, Tartine, and the Stanford University dining hall also contained startling levels of plastic compounds, as did food from California chains like In-N-Out and Sweetgreen. Salmon and steak from Whole Foods had more plastic chemicals than most fast-food burgers, the study found. Even baby food, infant formula, and breast milk from a hospital had harmful chemicals in them,” says the San Francisco standard.
But what's even more concerning, is the amount of microplastics found in boba. For example boba chains, like Boba Guys, have boba containing more microplastics than healthy to consume in a year. Microplastics are sometimes even found in more natural things, such as animal protein, breast milk, lungs, rainwater, and much more food you would assume to be microplastics free.
Lilah Aparton, a 7th grader, in Lit Arts says that microplastics may actually evolve the human digestive system for the future generations. “I think that so many harsh chemicals might actually cause our systems to evolve, since our bodies might get used to so many microplastics, the digestive system might get stronger and adapt to it in the long term,” Aperton muses, “unfortunately in the short term it would be awful.”
On the other hand, Alice Stewart, a 6th grade Lit arts student, argues that microplastics will do more harm than good in the future, “I feel like it's mostly like plastics are not something humans are meant to consume, so if a person consumed a ton of plastic they would be really unhealthy, but still even like a little it's unhealthy to consume.” Stewart argues.
But how do you prevent microplastics from entering your digestive system? To be quite honest, there's no way you can 100% prevent the consumption of microplastics, since they are in quite literally everything. But you can lower your intake. Washington University, in St Louis, suggests “The first thing we should do is avoid single-use plastics, especially food and beverage packaging and to-go containers that shed microplastics into what we eat and drink. It has been shown that bottled water has higher levels of microplastics than tap water. Avoid highly-processed foods. Studies have found more microplastics in processed meats (like chicken nuggets) versus minimally processed options (like whole chicken breast). Swap plastic cutting boards for wooden or other non-plastic options.“
All in all though, consuming a surplus of microplastics—although unhealthy, isn’t the end of the world. “Since I do drink a lot of boba, I probably could have like triple the normal amount. But even though microplastics are pretty toxic, I don’t think they're as toxic as people believe. I have probably had years where I have had ten times the normal amount but I’m still fine,“ Aparton adds.
So you can lower your intake, even having had a ton of microplastics last year, and expect better health.
