Today, plastic pollution has even penetrated the air we breathe. Now, an alarming new study has highlighted some disturbing facts for heart patients. Their arteries may contain more plastic particles than actual plaque.

Researchers in Italy made his surprising discovery and found that more than half of the people studied had microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics embedded within their plaques, blocking their arteries.

The study focused on patients scheduled for surgery because of plaque buildup in their arteries, specifically the carotid arteries that supply blood to the brain.

Researchers carefully examined the plaques removed during these surgeries using advanced methods such as pyrolysis, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, stable isotope analysis, and electron microscopy.

These cutting-edge technologies are designed to decipher the chemical composition of materials and capture images of even the smallest particles, allowing scientists to identify microplastics and nanoplastics (collectively called MNPs) within arterial plaque. ) can be effectively detected.

The results were amazing. Almost 60% of patients tested had plastic particles stuck in plaque in their arteries. Most notably, polyethylene, a substance used in the manufacture of shopping bags and packaging materials, was found in the plaque of 58.4% of patients.

In addition, polyvinyl chloride, a material found in a wide range of products such as pipes and vinyl records, was found in 12.1% of the samples.

Detection of these substances was confirmed visually with an electron microscope, revealing jagged particles dispersed throughout the plaque, intertwined with cells responsible for removing debris.

Some of these particles were found to contain chlorine, a component of polyvinyl chloride, indicating that different types of plastics are entering the vascular system.

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