The dangers of microplastics in water bottles

Microplastics accumulate in the brain

Water in bottled water contains over 100 million nanoplastics* per 1 mL. If we assume that the average person drinks an average of 2 liters of water a day, we will ingest 120 trillion nanoplastics per year. Recently, a study was published in an international environmental journal showing that microplastics** accumulate in the fetal brain through the umbilical cord, negatively affecting neurodevelopment.

*Nanoplastics:Plastics smaller than 1 μm

**Microplastics: 1μm~1000μm

The content of the paper was shocking. Based on the discovery of microplastics in the human placenta in December 2020, the researchers conducted an experiment in which pregnant mice were exposed to microplastics throughout their lives. The offspring rats born from that rat are It is said that microplastics have been found to accumulate in various parts of the brain not only immediately after birth, but also in adulthood. This is the result of continuous delivery of microplastics through the mammary glands, placenta, and umbilical cord of the mother, and in fact, it was found that microplastics were contained in the breast milk of laboratory mice.

Effects of microplastics on the brain

Microplastics act as neurotoxic substances in the brain that cause cell death and deterioration of brain function. In fact, in several animal studies, microplastics have been shown to reduce the number of neural stem cells in the hippocampus, which are involved in memory, and to delay behavioral development in animals by increasing free radicals and oxidative stress in the body.

In addition, microplastics can cause imbalances in the nerves of the brain, which can lead to anxiety and depression. There are two types of nerves in our brain: excitatory nerves and inhibitory nerves. When the two nerves are balanced, you can act and think normally, but when the nerves are imbalanced, symptoms such as anxiety and depression may occur. According to the experimental paper introduced earlier, mice with microplastics accumulating in their brains showed a decrease in genes related to inhibitory neurons, and behaviors such as moving around corners or corners, unlike the free-moving control group.

Effects of microplastics on the human body

Our brain is surrounded by a solid barrier called the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier plays an important role in protecting the brain and nerves from toxic substances that invade from the outside. The problem is that microplastics can very easily break the blood-brain barrier and enter our brains. In addition, when it enters the brain, it cannot be washed away, so it continues to accumulate. These infiltrated microplastics accelerate the aging of blood vessels and adversely affect the health of blood vessels in the brain in the long term.

What We Need to Do Moving Forward

We use a lot of plastics to live a comfortable life, but the use of plastics can actually damage our health. Since we do not know what side effects microplastic exposures may lead to, further research is needed and policies are needed to minimize the use of microplastics at the national level. On a personal level, we need to consider the environment and health and try to reduce the use of plastic as much as possible.