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UNM study shows microplastics are increasing over time in human brains

Distinguished and Regents’ Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UNM Matthew Campen (foreground), and Marcus Garcia (seated, second from left) conducted research, with partners from around the country providing input and materials, that found micro and nano plastics are increasing in our bodies as time goes on, doubling every 10 to15 years. They found an average of nearly 7 grams of plastic in the human brain; a plastic spoon weighs on average 5 grams.
Jett Loe
/
University of New Mexico newsroom
Distinguished and Regents’ Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UNM Matthew Campen (foreground), and Marcus Garcia (seated, second from left) conducted research, with partners from around the country providing input and materials, that found micro and nano plastics are increasing in our bodies as time goes on, doubling every 10 to15 years. They found an average of nearly 7 grams of plastic in the human brain; a plastic spoon weighs on average 5 grams.

Scientists from the University of New Mexico discussed their recently published research paper Monday wherein they found microplastics are steadily increasing in our bodies over time.

The research looked at brains going all the way back to 1997 from different parts of the country, and found a consistent rise in levels that doubles every 10 to 15 years.

Distinguished and Regents’ Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Matthew Campen, the paper’s lead author, said they found micro and nano plastics throughout the brain, liver, and kidneys, and found three to five times higher levels of plastics in the brains of dementia patients. He stressed dementia causes the higher plastic accumulation, though, not the other way around.

They also found that the body does seem to be able to clear some of these plastics.

“Our findings provide some reason for optimism,” he said. “The observation that plastics are not higher in older individuals compared to younger individuals suggests that our bodies do clear or eliminate these micro, nano plastics.”

Brains with dementia have diminished clearance abilities and damaged blood brain barriers, he said, which leads to the higher plastic levels. He also said the brain in general doesn’t clear plastics as readily as other parts of the body.

When asked for the average amount of plastic in the human brain, Campen cautioned that number could be either under- or over-estimated because of current technological limitations.

But he held up a plastic spoon, which is about 5 grams, and said their estimates of 4000 to 4900 micrograms per gram of brain tissue work out to almost 7 grams.

“But of course, that's obliterated into billions and trillions of nano plastic particles,” he said. “The methods are still being developed and considered by other scientists around the world, and we're working hard to get to a very precise estimate, which I think within the next year, we'll have a tremendous advancement in understanding what these levels truly are.”

Campen said effective environmental policies could help address plastic pollution in general, which could help with the increase researchers have seen over time. He pointed to clean air policies from the 1970s that not only helped with people’s health, but didn’t hurt the country economically.

The research suggests that nanoplastics may be transported through the body via dietary fats, like those found in meats and dairy products, though he didn’t suggest any lifestyle changes, saying more research is needed.

Daniel Montaño is a reporter with KUNM's Public Health, Poverty and Equity project. He is also an occasional host of Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Let's Talk New Mexico since 2021, is a born and bred Burqueño who first started with KUNM about two decades ago, as a production assistant while he was in high school. During the intervening years, he studied journalism at UNM, lived abroad, fell in and out of love, conquered here and there, failed here and there, and developed a taste for advocating for human rights.
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