Coffee Cups Release TRILLIONS of Plastic Particles. What's the Health Impact?
Channel: Lifespan News
Date: 2022-05-08

Studies show that everyday objects such as baby bottles and tea bags can release plastic particles into the environment and into our bodies. Now, new research shows the scale of this problem. Items such as single-use coffee cups can release trillions of microscopic plastic particles into hot liquid. Separately, scientists have found that exposure to plastic nanoparticles can drive cellular senescence and dysfunction.

Researchers at the US government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have now published some alarming data in the journal Environmental Science and Technology which showed that common consumer products can release trillions of nanoparticles into hot water when they are used. 

The researchers analyzed two types of products - food-grade nylon bags like those used for slow cooking, and hot beverage cups lined with low-density polyethylene. They exposed the products to hot water and then analyzed the released particles. They found that most of the released particles were between 30-80 nanometers in size, and that the nylon bags released seven times more particles than the beverage cups. 

The research into the effects of plastic nanoparticles on human health is still in its infancy. There have been indications that particles in the blood can lead to ailments such as pulmonary hypertension, but much remains unclear.

Now in a new study, scientists in Korea investigated the effect of plastic nanoparticles on cellular senescence, a major driver of aging. The researchers used endothelial cells taken from a pig’s coronary artery, subjecting them to various concentrations of 25-nanometer particles of polystyrene, one of the most ubiquitous types of plastic. In the first experiment, the nanoparticle solution induced senescence in the cells in a concentration-dependent manner.  Exposing specimens of arterial tissue to nanoparticles for 24 hours significantly hampered their reactivity – a measure of how well an artery responds to stimuli by contracting and relaxing. 

A major question is whether the concentrations that were used in this study bear any resemblance to real-life concentrations of plastic nanoparticles in our blood? Unfortunately, they do.

But there are a lot of different types of plastics, and not all of these studies are focused on the same kinds. Perhaps different types of nanoparticles impact us differently, but we don’t know that yet.

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
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Plastic Nanoparticles in Cellular Senescence and Dysfunction - https://www.lifespan.io/news/plastic-nanoparticles-in-cellular-senescence-and-dysfunction/

Common Single-Use Consumer Plastic Products Release Trillions of Sub-100 nm Nanoparticles per Liter into Water during Normal Use - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c06768

NIST Study Shows Everyday Plastic Products Release Trillions of Microscopic Particles Into Water - https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2022/04/nist-study-shows-everyday-plastic-products-release-trillions-microscopic

Effects of polystyrene nanoplastics on endothelium senescence and its underlying mechanism - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202200174X?via%3Dihub

Chemokines accumulate in the lungs of rats with severe pulmonary embolism induced by polystyrene microspheres - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14607960/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/20/plastic-pollution-mariana-trench-deepest-point-ocean - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/20/plastic-pollution-mariana-trench-deepest-point-ocean

Microplastics found near Everest’s peak - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/microplastics-found-near-everests-peak-highest-ever-detected-world-perpetual-planet

You’re literally eating microplastics. How you can cut down exposure to them. - https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/youre-literally-eating-microplastics-how-you-can-cut-down-exposure-to-them/2019/10/04/22ebdfb6-e17a-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html

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