Microplastics in your food are contributing to these two health issues: study

You may already know that microplastics lurk in your takeout containers and your junk food. But alarming fresh research indicates that the effects of these tiny particles are from far teeny.

A new study in mice suggests that microplastics found in food and drink could be interfering with blood sugar levels and damaging the liver. Researchers at the University of California in

Davis found that animals who consumed polystyrene nanoplastics — the kind of plastic used in food packaging — developed glucose intolerance and signs of liver injury, two serious health

issues that may have long-term consequences. EXPLORE MORE The findings — which were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition on Sunday — raise red flags about

what all that invisible plastic might be doing to the human body. “With the growing concern around micro- and nanoplastic exposure, we wanted to evaluate the impact of this exposure on

health,” lead author Amy Parkhurst, a doctoral candidate at UC Davis, said in a press release. Parkhurst and her team fed mice a standard diet spiked with a daily dose of polystyrene

nanoparticles, mimicking the way people are exposed to the plastics through food and drinks. The dose was chosen to reflect real-world human exposures — which could range from tens of

thousands to millions of particles per year, according to previous estimates. Compared to their plastic-free peers, the mice that ate nanoplastics had trouble regulating blood sugar — a

condition known as glucose intolerance, which can be a warning sign for diabetes. The plastic-dosed mice also had higher levels of a liver enzyme called ALT — a common marker for liver

injury. On top of that, the study found that the plastics made the gut more “leaky,” allowing harmful substances to enter the bloodstream and potentially stress the liver even more. While

the findings come from mice, not humans, they add to a growing pile of research raising questions about how microplastics — which are now found everywhere from bottled water to seafood —

might be affecting our health. “We can’t control for all the plastics the mice are exposed to,” Parkhurst noted, but “our study design allowed us to see dose-correlated changes, since the

nanoplastics-dosed group would have a higher exposure.” Parkhurst emphasized that more research is needed to understand how these particles affect people and whether they pose similar risks

in the long term. Still, the message is clear: What’s too small to see might not be too small to hurt.