Inflammatory Bowel Disease Linked To Microplastics In Your Gut
IBD Epidemic
Comments by: Jacob Moore
While it is not the subject of breaking news stories or daily conversation, Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBS is a condition that has become vastly more common around the world. According to a study conducted by Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, IBS started to affect more and more people in the United states and Europe starting as early as the 1890’s, and began to stabilize in the 1970’s. Recently, the condition has become more prevalent in Asia, Africa and South America. This has led researchers to wonder what is causing this increase.
The increase in cases of IBD has seemingly started in the western world and spread outward. Many things, both good and bad, have followed this same pattern in the age of globalization. This includes something you might not expect, Plastic. Many western countries, like the USA, export their plastics all over the world for recycling or disposal, despite having better facilities to do the job. This article cites a team in China that believes they have found a connection between these two phenomena, The spread of Plastics and IBD.
Plastic Problem
Scientists around the world have been ringing alarm bells about microplastics, tiny particles now found in pregnant people’s bodies, in the deepest reaches of the Earth’s oceans and unfortunately, your gut. For years it’s been unclear how these tiny pollution particles affect human health, but continued research is starting to zero in on the consequences.
Case in point, a new study by scientists in China found a link between microplastics and IBD, or inflammatory bowel disease. The report, published this week, examined fecal samples from patients with IBD for the presence of microplastics.
“We found that the fecal [microplastic] concentration in IBD patients was significantly higher than that in healthy people,” the authors wrote in the study. “In total, 15 types of [microplastics] were detected in feces.”
Entry Point
According to Science Alert, it’s not clear whether people with IBD have more trouble filtering plastic out of their body, causing the increased levels, or whether the plastic itself causes the disease. What is clear, though, is that there’s some kind of link between chronic gut issues and microplastics exists, and it’s strong.
There are many ways that microplastics get into our bodies, according to Discover Magazine. Plastic we throw away breaks down in the sun, ocean water and in the wind. Then we breathe in dust, drink water from plastic bottles or from the tap, and we eat meat — shellfish in particular. All these can contain microplastics and chemicals.
Scientists say we’re reaching an irreversible tipping point in the fight against plastic pollution. Once chemicals and particles enter our bodies, they may be with us for generations, and it’s not exactly easy to comb the Earth for microscopic particles.
Bleak? Maybe, but knowledge is power.
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