Microplastics have become one of the world’s fastest-growing environmental concerns. These tiny pieces of plastic are created as larger plastic items slowly break down over time.
Even smaller particles, called nanoplastics, are so tiny that they cannot be seen without powerful scientific equipment.
Today, these particles are found almost everywhere, including the air we breathe, the water we drink, and many of the foods we eat.
Scientists have also discovered them inside the human body, including the lungs, blood, placenta, and breast milk. This has raised an important question: could these tiny plastic particles be affecting human health?
A new study led by researchers from Sapienza University of Rome, together with scientists from the University of Verona and the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli,” suggests that microplastics and nanoplastics may be linked to heart disease.
The findings were published in the European Heart Journal and provide some of the strongest clinical evidence so far that these particles may be associated with serious cardiovascular problems.
The researchers studied 61 patients who were treated at hospitals in Rome and Verona. Some had recently experienced a serious heart attack, some had chronic ischemic heart disease, and others had normal coronary arteries.
Blood samples were collected both from the arteries supplying the heart and from other parts of the body. The team also gathered information about whether participants smoked and how much air pollution they had been exposed to over the previous two years.
Using highly sensitive laboratory techniques, the scientists searched for microplastics and nanoplastics in the blood.
They found a striking pattern. Among patients who had suffered a heart attack, plastic particles were detected in 84 percent of cases. In comparison, plastics were found in only 40 percent of people with chronic heart disease and 32 percent of those with healthy coronary arteries.
Heart attack patients also had a greater variety of different plastic materials in their blood. The most common plastic detected was polyethylene, which is widely used in food packaging, plastic bags, bottles, and many everyday consumer products.
The study also found strong links between environmental exposures and plastic particles in the bloodstream. People who smoked were about six times more likely to have microplastics in their blood than non-smokers.
Those exposed to higher levels of fine air pollution, known as PM2.5, were also more likely to have detectable plastic particles. Every participant who both smoked and lived with higher levels of air pollution had plastics in their blood, compared with only 12.5 percent of people who neither smoked nor experienced higher pollution exposure.
The researchers believe smoking and polluted air may allow these tiny particles to enter the lungs more easily before passing into the bloodstream. Once circulating through the body, the particles may contribute to inflammation and damage to blood vessels.
Previous laboratory studies have suggested that microplastics may trigger oxidative stress, inflammation, and injury to the lining of blood vessels, all of which are known to play important roles in heart disease.
Even so, the researchers emphasize that this study does not prove that microplastics directly cause heart attacks.
The research only shows a strong association between higher plastic levels in the blood and more severe cardiovascular disease. Because the study included only 61 patients, much larger studies will be needed to confirm these findings and determine whether plastic exposure is truly a cause of heart disease or simply linked to other risk factors.
An accompanying editorial published with the study notes that evidence from previous research is beginning to point in the same direction. Scientists have already detected microplastics inside fatty plaques within arteries, where their presence has been linked with a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.
Experimental studies have also shown that plastic particles can promote inflammation and damage blood vessels in laboratory models.
Overall, this study adds another important piece to the growing evidence that environmental pollution may influence cardiovascular health in ways scientists are only beginning to understand.
While traditional risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol remain the most important causes of heart disease, reducing exposure to air pollution, avoiding tobacco, and limiting unnecessary plastic pollution may also become part of future strategies for protecting heart health.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies that herbal supplements could harm your heart rhythm, and how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk.
For more health information, please see recent studies that apple juice could benefit your heart health, and results showing yogurt may help lower the death risks in heart disease.
Source: Sapienza University of Rome.
