Vienna.It has long been feared that the plastic problem not only has a negative impact on the environment and wildlife, but also on us humans. Now it's official: a study conducted by the Federal Environment Agency in Austria and the Medical University of Vienna has discovered microplastics in humans.
The study participants came from Austria, Italy, Russia, Poland, Japan, the Netherlands, Finland and the UK. The study participants had to record in a food diary which foods they had consumed. All of them stated that they had eaten food packaged in plastic and drunk from plastic bottles in the week before the test. In addition, most of the participants had eaten fish or seafood.
After one week, they gave a stool sample. The result: In each sample Microplastics were found. For every 10 grams of stool, there were around 20 microplastics with a size of less than five centimeters.
Nine different types of plastic were found in the stool. Polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were found most frequently.
The exact cause of the microplastics in the participants' intestines is still unknown. A larger study with a larger number of participants is needed to be able to make such statements. It is also still unclear what microplastics in the human gut actually mean for our health.
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