Microscopic pieces of plastic floating in British waters are linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes in worrying new research published today.
Experts suggested that small pieces of plastic, known as microplastics, could enter the body through drinking water and the environment, and release harmful toxins in its tissues.
In the study, researchers discovered that people who live in quiet regions with very high concentrations of microplastics in the water were more likely to suffer from a stroke, type two diabetes and heart disease.
The researchers Discovered that those who live in regions along the Atlantic coast – such as Cornwall, Devon, Pembrokeshire and the outer Hebrides – had a higher prevalence of these diseases than those on the Pacific coast.
The Atlantic Ocean also appeared to contain more microplastics than the Pacific Ocean.
Dr. Sarju Ganatra, senior author of the study and medical director of Sustainability at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, said: “This is one of the first large -scale studies suggesting that life in the neighborhood of waters can be connected heavily with microplastics.”
While the experts only studied American provinces, they discovered that those who live along the Atlantic coast – who borders on the west coast of England – have experained a very high levels of pollution that were linked to a number of diseases.
In this area, every sample of seawater, about the size of a bathtub, could contain more than 10 plastic particles according to the study.
Scientists, who compared levels of small pieces of plastic in water in different parts of the US, discovered that the areas with the highest levels had increased speeds of strokes, heart attack and diabetes
The study showed that those who live in provinces with very high levels of microplastic pollution had nine percent more strokes and were 18 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, a condition that is known to double the risk of heart disease including heart attacks.
Residents who live in these quiet regions also encountered an increased risk of seven percent on coronary arteries (CAD), a structure of plaque in the arteries that can lead to a stroke or heart attack.
Researchers discovered that residents who live on the coast in Charlotte County, Florida, who borders on the Gulf of Mexico – another ocean that was completely with microplastics – have almost double the risk of heart disease than in the interior.
While the study focused on pollution in seawater, Dr. said Ganatra: ‘Pollution is not limited to the sea.
“Microplastics are everywhere: in drinking water, in the food we eat, especially seafood, and even in the air we breathe.”
The experts admitted that the new study cannot prove directly that microplastics cause the increased speed of cardiometabolic diseases and that further research was needed.
Dr. However, Ganatra warned that “microplastic pollution influences us all, regardless of where we live.”
The study showed that the increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases – including heart attack, stroke and diabetes – even when factors such as age, access to doctors and other environmental reasons were justified.
Experts say that you can reduce your exposure to microplastics by changing plastics in your home for natural materials, metal and glass
Dr. Ganatra added that scientists only start to understand the full impact of microplastics on health.
He said: ‘This study contributes to a growing number of evidence that the waste we have thrown away in the environment often finds its way back to us. It is time to switch from consciousness to action.
“We urge policy makers to see plastic pollution as an environmental crisis and a potential health crisis.”
In the study, experts compared the microplastic content in seawater by looking at the number of individual pieces found in a cubic meter liquid in 152 coastal track along the Pacific, Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Areas with the highest levels of microplastics contain 10 or more plastic particles in every sample of seawater.
In areas with the lowest pollution, scientists described as ‘perhaps a small dot in 200 bathtubs of water’.
This is not the first study that links microplastics to cardiometabolic diseases, whereby some research even suggests that the problem can get worse.
In January, Chinese researchers discovered that microplastics lead to deadly blood clots forming in the brain, which increases the risk of stroke.
The study contributes to growing evidence that these toxic particles links to serious health risks, including heart attacks, blood clots and dementia. Microplastics – small fragments of industrial processes or humiliating plastics – are now widespread in the ocean, the food chain and the water supply
It is thought that microplastics enter the body through the consumption of food products, drinking water and even the air.
Within the body, these ‘whimsical’ pieces of plastic plastic can hang on the plaque along the blood vessels, block the arteries and lead to an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
Research that was published earlier this year showed that Victims of Stroke have more than 50 times the amount of microplastics in their arteries compared to healthy individuals.
The scientists divided 50 of the test participants through the level of plaque structure they had in their carotid arteries-the most important blood vessels on either side of the neck that deliver blood to the head and brain.
Participants with high levels of Plaque turned out to have almost 16 times more microplastic structure in their necks, the researchers revealed.
Those who had experienced symptoms of this structure or now temporarily losing the eyesight or a stroke-more than 50 times the amount of microplastics had like people without plaque.
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