The average American kitchen is filled with items that release microplastics into food and drinks, such as on plastic cutting boards or the insides of tea bags.
Microplastics, or fragments of plastic smaller than five millimeters, are found in oceans, the air, food and even drinking water.
People are constantly inhaling and swallowing them, increasing the risk of whole-body inflammation, neurological effects, DNA damage, and a weakened immune response.
Microplastics are different from PFAS, “forever chemicals” derived from plastics, which take years to break down in the environment and the human body. Microplastics are nearly as ubiquitous, taking hundreds of years to break down in the environment.
There is now mounting evidence showing which everyday items in your kitchen are likely to contain the most microplastics.
Researchers in Pakistan found that every cup of tea brewed using a plastic tea bag released approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics
Experts also recommend opting for glass or bamboo cutting boards without plastic, as plastic cutting boards also leach microplastics into food.
Research shows that people worldwide consume an average of five grams of microplastic per week, depending on age and gender.
Many types of plastic are used worldwide, with more than 20 percent of these types classified by the EU as being of concern due to their persistence, accumulation in human tissue or toxicity.
The next time you brew a cup of tea, remember that most tea bags are made from unsustainable polypropylene plastic and are not biodegradable. In some cases, with the exception of tea, plastic is responsible for about 25 percent of the tea bag.
Not only do tea bags pose a threat to the environment, but according to 2023 research from the Dow University of Health Sciences in Pakistan, they also release a huge amount of microplastics when mixed with hot water.
Researchers found that each cup of tea brewed with a plastic tea bag consumed approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics.
Tea bags may also contain other harmful substances, including fluorine compounds, arsenic, radium salts, aluminum, copper, lead, mercury, cadmium, barium, and nitrates.
Even paper tea bags can release microplastics from the sealant needed to seal the bags.
Paper cups containing tea and other hot drinks also release microplastics. Although they seem like a suitable alternative to plastic and polystyrene cups, paper cups are not without danger.
The inside of the cups is lined with a sealant, usually up to 10 percent high-density polyethylene (HDPE), to insulate them and prevent leakage.
A disposable paper cup (100 ml) with a plastic liner can rinse about 25,000 microscopic microplastic particles in the hot liquid it contains.
Toxic heavy metals such as lead (Pb), chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd) have also been found in the foils used in tea bags. There are concerns that these metals may leach into the hot water during brewing.
Just like the plastic lining of paper cups, plastic ice cube trays can also release microplastics into the ice.
Plastics, which are resistant to water and ice, tend to float on the surface of water and ice. When water freezes, these plastic particles pushed out of the ice because they don’t mix well with water.
As more people become aware of the dangers of microplastics in the home, new, plastic-free alternatives have emerged.
Silicone and metal ice cube trays are promoted as a sustainable alternative to plastic containers.
Even plastic food containers that are suitable for microwaving leak microplastics into the food stored in them.
In 2023, a team of researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln discovered that microwaving baby food in plastic containers can release more than two billion nanoplastics and four million microplastics per square centimeter of the container.
The health issues associated with consuming microplastics are still being investigated. However, one of the team’s experiments found that three-quarters of cultured kidney cells were dead just two days after coming into contact with the particles.
The researchers concluded that toddlers who consumed microwaved dairy products and infants who drank microwaved water/drinks absorbed the ‘greatest’ relative concentrations of plastic.
Experts also recommend opting for plastic-free cutting boards made of glass or bamboo, as plastic cutting boards also leach microplastics into food.
A 2023 peer-reviewed study found that cutting on polypropylene cutting boards released more microplastics (5-60 percent greater mass and 14-71 percent more microplastics) than polyethylene cutting boards.
Using a polyethylene cutting board can lead to an annual exposure of seven to approximately 51 grams of microplastics per person, while a polypropylene cutting board can lead to a exposure of 49.5 grams.
In terms of quantity, polyethylene sheets can release between 14.5 and 72 million microplastics annually, while polypropylene sheets can release almost 80 million microplastics.
Microplastics are almost unavoidable, as they affect every aspect of our lives. That is why more and more research is being done on how they can affect human health.
For example, eleven brands of bottled water, collected from around the world, were tested for microplastics and 93 percent showed symptoms of contamination.
Additionally, a study of human placentas published earlier this year found evidence of microplastics in every sample, with concentrations ranging from 6.5 to 790 micrograms per gram of tissue.
After polyethylene, PVC and nylon were the most commonly found plastics.
Plastic contains thousands of chemicals, including carcinogens, hormone disruptors, neurotoxins and persistent organic pollutants.
When microplastics enter the body, they are seen as foreign invaders, triggering an immune response similar to fighting a virus or bacteria.
But unlike viruses or bacteria, the body cannot break down microplastics, leading to persistent inflammation. This chronic inflammation is a major concern because it is linked to diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, which are the leading causes of death.