Eating from plastic takeout containers could lead to an early death, a new study warns.
Researchers in China found eating from plastic containers like Tupperware causes inflammation in the gut, which travels to and damages the circulatory system.
This could significantly increase the risk of heart failure, which kills 500,000 Americans a year and makes up one in seven deaths.
In the two-part study, researchers asked 3,000 people how often they ate from plastic takeout containers and whether they had heart failure or risk factors like high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, heart attack, or heart disease.
Overall, they found that high exposure to plastics led to a 13 percent increased risk of developing heart failure.
They then exposed lab rats to water that was poured into plastic containers and contaminated with harmful chemicals. These are known as leachates.
The team found that rats exposed to contaminated water for three months had ‘modified gut microbiota metabolites, particularly those linked to inflammation and oxidative stress.’
The rats also suffered damage to their heart muscle tissue, which led researchers to suspect that the inflammation in the gut entered the bloodstream and damaged the heart.
A new study suggests exposure to plastics in food containers can cause inflammation in the gut that travels to the heart, causing heart damage
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The researchers wrote: ‘It is essential to avoid using plastic containers for high temperature food, reduce the use of plastic products in daily life, and implement timely plastic pollution control measures.’
Microplastics are tiny particles that get into our blood, accumulate in our organs and cause untold damage.
They leach into the food we eat, the water we drink and air we breathe and have been linked to heart disease, dementia and several forms of cancer.
The study, published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, evaluated 3,179 adults, the majority of whom (55 percent) were women.
The average age was 73, and two-thirds lived in a rural area.
Just over half had high blood pressure, while 20 percent were diagnosed with coronary artery disease, which causes arteries that supply blood to the heart to become blocked.
Another five percent had an arrhythmia, an abnormal heart rate that can weaken the heart over time, and three percent had suffered a heart attack.
One in 100 participants had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
The rest of the participants had no pre-existing heart conditions.
The participants were given a 12-question survey about their exposure to plastics. They were asked if they used plastic items like shopping bags, tea bags, water bottles, lunch boxes, takeout containers, and utensils
After accounting for factors such as age, sex, and ethnicity, the team found that high exposure to plastics overall led to a 13 percent increased risk of developing heart failure.
Those over age 73 were at an 18 percent increased risk of heart failure, while participants under age 73 had a 10 percent higher likelihood.
The above graphic shows packaging and other food items that could contain harmful microplastics linked to diseases like cancer
The above CDC map shows rates of deaths from heart failure by US county
Women were also more likely than men to develop heart failure, with an increased risk of 14 percent compared to 11 percent.
Participants who lived in cities were also also seven times more likely to develop heart failure from plastic exposure than people in rural areas.
This could be because people in urban areas have more access to takeout and shopping centers that use plastic.
In the second part of the study, researchers took 32 mice and divided them into three groups based on how long they were exposed to contaminated water per day: one minute, five minutes, and 15 minutes.
After three months, researchers collected stool samples from the mice to analyze changes to the gut microbiome. Once the mice were euthanized, the team removed their hearts to take blood and look at the structure.
The researchers wrote that stool analysis showed an increase in harmful gut bacteria that has been shown to damage cells and lead to inflammation.
The rats’ heart muscles were also weakened and damaged, which the experts said could have been from gut inflammation spreading through the bloodstream and attacking blood vessels and arteries, increasing the risk of the heart weakening over time and failing.
There were several limitations, with the main one being the study finding a correlation between plastic exposure and heart damage rather than a direct cause. The team also did not take tissue samples from human participants.
The researchers said further research is needed to hone in on the exact mechanism of long-term microplastic exposure and heart damage.
