Microplastics exist in the environment and throughout our bodies. New research shows that the buildup of these tiny plastic particles in your blood vessels increases your risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.

When plaque builds up in arteries (a disease called atherosclerosis), blood vessel walls thicken, reducing blood flow to parts of the body and increasing the risk of stroke, angina, and heart attack. Plaque is usually a mixture of cholesterol, fatty substances, waste products from cells, calcium, and a blood clotting protein called fibrin. A new study now focuses on around 300 people with atherosclerosis who had small plastic particles (microplastics and nanoplastics) embedded in plaques in their carotid arteries, the main blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to the brain. I’m guessing. People with plastic-containing plaque are more than four times as likely to develop a heart attack or stroke, or die from any cause, over the next three years, according to a study published March 7 in the journal It was said to be expensive. New England Medical Journal.

Researchers have long known that chemicals in plastic can leach and cause health problems, including interfering with hormones and other parts of the endocrine system.

“But this is the first time we’ve seen a human health effect caused by the particles themselves,” says Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and public health epidemiologist at Boston University. Although he was not involved in this research, he has devoted much of his career to his research. Effects of toxic chemicals on human health. Landrigan helped spearhead lead poisoning research that led the U.S. government to remove lead from gasoline and paint.

“Until now, the belief has always been that the particles are there, but we don’t know anything about what they’re doing. This paper changes that.” It is hoped the study will spur further research into how plastic may be damaging other organs, such as the brain, kidneys and reproductive organs.

Giuseppe Paolisso, a cardiologist at Italy’s University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli and one of the study authors, said they were unable to determine how the tiny plastics got into blood vessels. They can enter the body in a variety of ways, including inhaling it from the air or consuming it from the food or water supply.

“What we can say is that our data could serve as a warning that we should try to use less plastic and more glass in our daily lives,” Paolisso said. says.

Kenneth Spaeth, an occupational physician at Northwell Health in New York who was not involved in the study, said many researchers already know that microplastic and nanoplastic particles are “essentially ubiquitous in the body.” He said research shows. “Given what these particles are made of, it has long been suspected that they might play a role in affecting our health.” So this finding isn’t necessarily all that surprising. It’s not a big deal, but it’s important, he says.

Most of the current data scientists have about the effects of microplastics and nanoplastics in the body is based on animal studies, said Aaron Aday, a cardiologist and vascular medicine specialist at Vanderbilt University. That’s what it means. “We knew that these microplastics and nanoplastics could enter the bloodstream and invade certain organs, but we knew that microplastics and nanoplastics could enter the bloodstream and invade certain organs, but we also know that microplastics and nanoplastics can be removed from the plaques of people with serious diseases. “This is a pretty big step forward in terms of what we’ve discovered,” he says. “This is certainly a breakthrough study in linking them to human disease.”

The relationship between microplastics and heart disease

The study involved 304 adults who underwent a procedure called carotid endarterectomy, in which surgeons remove plaque buildup in the carotid arteries. When plaque builds up in these arteries, the risk of stroke can increase if parts of the plaque break off and block small arteries, restricting blood flow.