A new study shows microplastics in the gut could be linked to an array of health issues such as depression and colorectal cancer.
By Carly Nairn
Microplastics are seemingly everywhere now: in soil, food packaging, health care products and tap water. Perhaps it should be no surprise then that microplastics have been found in humans’ gut microbiome — and results are concerning.
A new study presented at the United European Gastroenterology Summit in Berlin, Germany, found the microbiome in our guts, including the helpful bacteria needed to digest food, can be infiltrated with different kinds of microplastics and may contribute to a diverse number of ailments — everything from depression to colorectal cancer — due to their presence.
The study by a team of international scientists sampled microbiome cultures from human stool and utilized a cutting-edge research program project called microONE to better understand the effects of microplastics in the human digestive system. The study tested five common plastics: polystyrene, polypropylene, low-density polyethylene, poly (methyl methacrylate) and polyethylene terephthalate.
“Our experiments on the impact of microplastics on the human gut microbiome were conducted in a bioreactor model with free-running pH conditions,” lead author Christian Pacher-Deutsch, a researcher at the Medical University of Graz in Austria and CBmed, the institute where the microONE project is conducted, said in an email.
The researchers found an increase in acidity when more microplastics were present, potentially changing metabolic activity. Additionally, they noted the bacterial composition shifted, with certain bacteria commonly found in the gut either decreasing or increasing, depending on microplastic type. Most changes occurred within a key group of gut bacteria known as Bacillota that is important for overall digestive health.
“We were surprised by the strong differences between plastic types and their characteristics,” Pacher-Deutsch said. “This poses an interesting challenge in future research, since different particle shapes, sizes and types can all have various impacts.”
Moreover, microplastics in the digestive system may have lasting influence because a person’s health issues can start in the gut.
“The gut microbiome influences all parts of our body, including the brain,” said Pacher-Deutsch. “Since the effects of microplastics lead to changes in bacterial behavior, associations with depressive disorders cannot be ruled out and need to be studied in more detail.”
So what can the average person do to steer clear of microplastics?
“We know from a plastic fasting study that we conducted that avoiding plastics is basically impossible,” said Pacher-Deutsch.
However, a person can implement certain measures into their daily lives that can reduce the overall exposure, such as using wooden cutting boards, drinking from glass bottles instead of reusing plastic ones, switching to plastic-free dental care products or buying unpackaged stuff at the farmer’s market, he said.
But overall, microplastics are here to stay, and Pacher-Deutsch is ready.
“While this gives us important information on bacterial behavior, which is essential for under understanding of the mechanisms, further research to translate those findings to the human body is still necessary,” he said. “Microplastic research is only starting, and we will be busy researching this topic for a long time to fully understand all interactions.”
