Study flags new heart attack risk: Is the plastic water bottle harming you?

Dr Nishith Chandra, Principal Director, Interventional Cardiology, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi, explains how microplastics from your food impacts your heart health

According to recent studies, one litre of bottled water contained an average of 240,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics.

Next time you pick up plastic bottled water, or order vegetables online that come wrapped in cling films or have sea fish, remember that the water you drink or foods that you eat are just sending microplastics that have leached into them into your body. What’s worse, a recent study has found that when these microplastics float in your bloodstream, they may raise your risk of heart attack and stroke by 4.5 times.

A new study from the University of Campania, Italy, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), has found microplastics, which are breakaway slivers of plastic less than five millimetres, inside people’s arteries. Doctors examined plaque or fatty deposits inside the arteries of 304 patients and found that over 50 per cent of them had microplastics embedded in them. These developed in the carotid arteries, which are the main blood vessels that supply blood to the neck, face and brain. Not only this, the clogging particles upped the risk of blockages and heart attacks within just three years.

 

The findings are significant because now it is clear that microplastics are an additional risk factor after known ones like high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, obesity and diabetes. The most worrying part is that we ingest microplastics unconsciously through everything that we put in our mouth.

 

How microplastics cause blockages

Once microplastics enter your arteries, they trigger the immune system to attack them as foreign bodies. These may result in chronic inflammation, which over time damages the lining of blood vessels. This may result in tears and dislodge even the minutest plaque, triggering a blockage. Inflammation also naturally constricts arteries, obstructing blood flow. Over a certain period of time, this would narrow down enough to trigger a heart attack.

 

Animal studies have shown microplastics can alter heart rate and impede cardiac function.

According to recent studies, one litre of bottled water contained an average of 240,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics. So junk those 20 litre water refill cans.

 

How easily can microplastics enter our bodies

We often swallow microplastics when we eat fruits and vegetables that come wrapped in protective film and drink water from a plastic bottle. Water is the easiest carrier as it courses through plastic pipes and shreds some fibres in the process. Plastics in lakes, rivers and seas mean that they break down in water which is ingested by fish, particularly shellfish, and stay with them when we cook and eat them. We accidentally swallow these without so much as casting a second glance.

 

How to get rid of microplastics

In an age of convenience, it might be difficult to go off microplastics completely but some changes need to be made by Indians, who are prone to developing heart disease at least a decade earlier than other populations. Choose packaging of natural fibres, use trusted water filters, buy vegetables offline directly, and replace plastic disposables with alternatives like glass, steel or even silicone. Do not microwave food in plastic containers. Check labelling of personal care products containing microplastics like polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP).

https://indianexpress.com/article/health-wellness/heart-attack-risk-plastic-water-bottle-harm-new-study-9209201/