More and more in my private practice and recently on radio I'm being asked more about microplastic dangers & disease risks and talking much more about toxins that we can experience more in the summer than any other season. There are however a couple big ones which I'm going to spend some time with in upcoming articles. The first is microplastics, and the number one most dangerous source of this is plastic bottles especially when they've been out in the sun as well as plastic lined cans. Its been known for many years how dangerous plastic can be to human health however it's now starting to get the attention it's going to take to make changes to food and beverage containers especially those consumed by huge segments of the population.
There are very significant concerns around microplastics, not just for humans but for any other living creature we share the planet with. Some of the earlier ones that appeared in the research literature raised concerns over the potential ability of micro plastics to accelerate oxidation or cellular damage in the human body. No small concern is that this alone can promote or accelerate diseases and shorten our life spans. There are also some significant concerns about the ability of microplastics
to significantly affect neurologic diseases as they may actually disrupt nerve signaling on some levels. More recently, concern has been raised where studies have shown that microplastics are appearing in blood clots in humans. There appears to be significant evidence now that if you have underlying vascular disease or heart disease and are prone towards having clot formation miroplastics may actually worsen your risk. There is much more to this, way beyond the scope of this article.
So what can you do? The highest level of Micro Plastics comes from plastic bottles. This is much worse if the bottles are allowed to sit in the sun or otherwise damaged. Also, aluminum cans are lined with plastic as well so you are not totally free there. The obvious solution is to use glass wherever possible, and start to insist upon it from those you buy your products from.
We also know a huge source of plastic in foods is plastic packaging. One of the worst things you can ever do with plastic packaging is heat it, warm it or stick it anywhere near cooking food. The biggest danger perhaps is with microwave food products. With any of these, you are far safer with all plastic removed to place these on porcelain or ceramic dishes or bowls before microwaving them.
Lastly, plastic cutting boards and synthetic kitchen tools have started to replace wood at alarming rate. Both of these may pose significant dangers and should be in my opinion eliminated immediately.
They're also a number of concerns regarding Micro Plastic because the longer they are in the environment, the smaller they become and potentially more dangerous they can be.
This is on reason why I am a huge advocate of drinking water that I personally filter and then placing it in a metal or glass bottle.
And sadly, this is just the tip of the iceberg and this really is to start to spread the word on how it just dangerous these are to human health. Together let's all start to insist daily on positive changes regarding environmental and food packaging with plastics that needs to come sooner rather than later.
