December 11, 2025 • 26 mins
Summary: Microplastics are showing up in our water, food, air—and in human tissues. In this episode, I unpack what the best studies actually show (and don’t), why risk is plausible but not proven, and the realistic steps you can take today without panic.
In this episode, I cover:
- What microplastics are and why they’re everywhere—from packaging and clothing to tire dust—and why production is still projected to rise ~70% by 2040 (OECD).
OECD+2
OECD+2 - The signal that caught my attention: patients with microplastics in carotid artery plaque had a markedly higher 3-year risk of heart attack, stroke, or death (NEJM). Association, not proof—but concerning.
The Guardian+3
New England Journal of Medicine+3
PubMed+3 - What’s turning up in the brain: autopsy work suggests rising microplastic loads in brain tissue, though causality remains unknown (Nature Medicine coverage).
Nature+2
Nature+2 - Everyday exposure: a liter of bottled water can contain ~240,000 plastic particles—mostly nanoplastics—using newer detection methods (NIH Research Matters).
TIME+3
National Institutes of Health (NIH)+3
NCBI+3 - Indoor vs. outdoor air: estimates suggest we inhale tens of thousands of microplastic particles daily, with higher indoor concentrations (PLOS One).
PLOS+1
My takeaways for you (progress, not perfection):
- Respect the signal without catastrophizing. Human data are early, but cardiovascular and neurologic signals merit attention.
New England Journal of Medicine+1 - Make the easy swaps: store food in glass, don’t microwave plastic, favor loose-leaf tea over plastic-based tea bags, and replace plastic cutting boards with wood or glass. (These trim exposure; they don’t eliminate it.)
- Air matters: consider a HEPA purifier for main living/sleeping areas and vacuum regularly; natural-fiber clothing sheds fewer synthetic particles.
- Water choices: where safe, use tap water with a quality home filter and a reusable (non-plastic) bottle—especially given the nanoplastic findings in some bottled waters.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Listener corner: You asked for more quick-hit myth busters (yes, we’ll do “Does chicken soup speed recovery?”), and thanks for the reminder to wear a
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Microplastics are everywhere in our water, our
food, and yes, inside ourbodies.
A 2024 study found that patientswho had microplastics in their
brain arteries had a fourfoldhigher risk of heart attack,
(00:22):
stroke, or death.
But before you panic, let's lookat what the science actually
says, what we know, what wedon't, and what you can
realistically do about it.
(00:45):
Hi, I'm Dr.
Bobby Du Bois, and welcome toLive Long and Well, a podcast
where we will talk about whatyou can do to live as long as
possible and with as much energyand vigor that you wish.
Together we will explore whatpractical and evidence-supported
(01:06):
steps you can take.
Come join me on this veryimportant journey, and I hope
that you feel empowered alongthe way.
I'm a physician, Iron Mantriathlete, and have published
several hundred scientificstudies.
I'm honored to be your guide.
(01:28):
Welcome, my dear listeners, toepisode 57.
Microplastics, potential problemwith no easy solution.
Now, microplastics areeverywhere, figuratively and
literally, in the news, onsocial media, and hyped in ads
(01:51):
selling you special waterbottles and home air filters.
And literally, microplastics arein what we breathe and in almost
anything you can eat.
How do we get here?
Now, microplastics can't be goodfor you, but how worried should
(02:12):
you be?
And what, if anything, can wedo?
Let's find out where theevidence takes us.
But before diving in, I want toshare some listener feedback.
When I did the episode on thefive-second food rule, whether
it's ODK to eat that French frythat fell on the floor, people
(02:33):
really like that episode.
And people said, please do moreof them.
And somebody recommended that Ido one on chicken soup and
whether it will help you getover your cold faster.
So I've added it to the list.
Another listener pointed outthat I missed something, and I'm
(02:53):
really appreciative of thatlistener.
So when I talked about what wecan do to reduce our risk of
cancer, I mentioned suntanlotion and wearing long sleeve
shirts to try to reduce the riskof skin cancer.
But I forgot to mention wear ahat.
And so many people do forget towear a hat when they're in the
(03:16):
sun.
So thank you, listener, forpointing that out.
And I love feedback.
Send more.
Positive, negative, it's allgreat.
As always, please tell yourfriends.
If you haven't, please write areview and send suggestions for
how I can do a better job foryou.
As I've said, I'm trying tocreate a safe space for
(03:40):
information.
What does the evidence reallytell us?
I may be wrong at times, but I'mnot driven by any financial
motive, as I don't havesponsors, don't have paid
subscriptions, and I don't owncompanies in this healthcare
space at all.
Okay, on to the good stuff.
Part one (04:00):
a bit of history about plastics, which may give you a
sense of how the heck did we gethere?
So plastics originated in about1907 with the creation of the
first synthetic polymer, and itwas called Bakelite.
Over the ensuing decades, theystarted to make various items
(04:25):
from this new plastic.
But in World War II, that reallyramped up, and many different
aspects of military hadplastics.
The one you might think of asparachutes.
They have nylon, which helpsthem.
And why?
Because it was lightweight, itwas strong, and it could be
mass-produced.
(04:47):
Well, in the 1950s, there was anexplosion in manufacturing of
plastics and their use.
So in the 1950s, there was about2 million tons of plastic
produced each year.
Now we make about 500 milliontons a year, and it's expected
(05:08):
to increase by 70% over the nextdecade and a half.
And here's a big number.
There are 500 billion plasticbottles sold each year, and many
of those do end up in the ocean.
So why plastics?
Well, they're cheap, they'relight, they're durable, they're
(05:31):
disposable, and compared towood, glass, or metal,
obviously, which are muchheavier, more expensive, and
generally not as disposable.
We sleep on pillows filled withplastic, we use plastic
toothbrushes, we type on plastickeyboards, we drink and eat from
plastic containers, and we driveon tires made of plastic.
(05:54):
It's in our disposable cups,it's throughout our coffee
maker, except for maybe thething at the bottom which
collects the coffee, it's on ourstraws, it's in our house pipes,
so plastics are everywhere.
And to give you a punchline,it's kind of realistically
unavoidable to remove them allfrom our lives.
(06:18):
Okay, part two.
What are microplastics?
And, you know, frankly, howcommon are they?
So they're differentdefinitions, but microplastics
are very small plasticparticles, and they range from
about five millimeters or aquarter of an inch or so, down
to one nanometer, which is areally, really, really tiny
(06:42):
size.
Now, microplastics fall in twocategories.
One are called primarymicroplastics.
This is where you create verysmall plastics for a very
special purpose.
So microbeads of plasticpreviously were in cosmetics, or
we might find them in plasticglitter, or we might use them in
(07:05):
various manufacturing processes.
So here we're creating them in avery, very small size.
The other, and probably the morecommon one, are secondary
microplastics, and that's formedwhen we break down bigger
plastics like bottles or tiresthat begin to wear away, or it
(07:25):
even comes off our clothing, aswe'll talk about.
Now, plastics are everywhere,but microplastics, the breakdown
of many of these plastics, arereally everywhere.
They've been found in theAntarctic tundra, they've been
found in tropical coral reefs,they're in our air, they're in
our food, they're in ourbeverages, and sadly, they're in
(07:50):
most all of our tissues in thebody.
There was a 2018 study wherethey looked at 259 bottles of
water from 11 brands from aroundthe world.
And what they found is of the259 bottles, guess what?
(08:10):
Only 17 of them had nomicroplastics.
And the amount of microplasticsin each of those bottles ranged
from like 325 to 10,000.
Okay, but it gets worse becausethere was a study not long ago
that used a new technique tofind even tinier, tinier
(08:33):
microplastic particles down atthe nanometer level.
And what did they find?
There were 240,000 pieces ofthis little tiny plastic per
liter of water.
Okay, now you might be thinking,all right, so maybe I should
never drink water.
(08:53):
Probably unavoidable, but youknow, there's a thought.
But they're in the air, too.
And it's felt that we inhaleabout 68,000 tiny particles each
day of microplastics.
Now, here's a question for youbefore I give you the data.
(09:14):
Do you think that microplasticexposure is worse outdoors or
indoors?
Think about this for a moment.
You know, outdoors, you got allthe air from cars and tires and
all that kind of stuff.
But indoors, you know, you gotcarpets, and and maybe because
(09:34):
the air is kind of staleindoors, maybe there's more
indoors.
All right.
Well, it turns out that the airoutside has far fewer uh
microplastics than indoors.
Outdoors, maybe there's oneparticle per cubic meter, that's
a meter on three sides,outdoors, and there's about a
(09:57):
50-fold higher amount indoors.
People have estimated, andagain, don't, you know, don't uh
think this is absolutely provenbecause there are lots of
different views and differentarguments about this, but people
kind of say we get about acredit card size amount of
(10:17):
plastic in our bodies everyweek.
Okay, so I hope I've shared withyou, probably scared you, that
plastics and microplastics areeverywhere.
So now the critical part is partthree.
What are the harms?
Now, the body of literature onthis to tell us how bad these
(10:40):
are for us is really tiny.
And they're all observationalstudies.
So it's you know, they certainlydidn't randomize people to say
you're gonna get lots ofmicroplastics and you're not.
We're gonna wait 20 years andsee who has problems.
Now, of course, those kind ofstudies were never done.
So, in these studies, I want tostep back and share with you a
(11:05):
saying that I may have saidbefore with you and you may have
heard, and that is the absenceof evidence about harm is not
the same as the evidence ofabsence of harm.
Now, I know it's a little hardto grab that, so let me sort of
(11:26):
break that down a little bit.
Okay, so the absence of evidencemeans we don't have studies that
really, really nail down theissue of harms.
So that's the absence ofevidence.
Now, it may turn out that thatthis topic or other topics, you
know, maybe there's a lot ofharm, maybe there's very little
(11:48):
harm, but we don't have goodevidence.
So we have the absence ofevidence.
Now, that's not the same asevidence of absence, meaning we
have really good studies andthey show us that there really
aren't harms.
So, why am I explaining this?
So, if you don't have goodstudies, people might say, well,
(12:10):
there's never been a studyshowing bad harm for
microplastics.
Again, you need to say to them,the absence of good evidence is
not the same as the evidence ofabsence.
So at the end of all this,there's going to be a lot of
we're not sure.
So, to give you an example ofhow really there's just not a
lot of good studies out there,or any studies out there, there
(12:32):
was a systematic review a yearago.
And in that they found 28 animalstudies.
And you know how I feel aboutanimal studies, um, but there
were only three humanobservational studies.
And the studies with people hadlike 40 people, 80 people.
They weren't very big.
So we really are lacking in alot of information about this.
(12:57):
But in the studies that havebeen done, they find
microplastics in every part ofour bodies, in our brain, in our
blood, in our reproductiveorgans, in our GI tract, and
even in the placenta.
And people have talked aboutmicroplastics might affect our
reproductive abilities, it mightreduce sperm quality.
(13:20):
Again, there's lots of theories,but not a lot of really
definitive evidence in people.
There are a couple of areaswhere we're starting to get some
evidence, and it's pointing in abit of a worrisome direction.
First, the lungs.
They've done studies where theytake biopsies of lungs and they
(13:41):
lavage the lungs, meaning theyput fluid in our lungs, they
suck it out, and they look at itunder the microscope.
But what they found is themicroplastics go deep, deep,
deep into the lung, likely inall the different nooks and
crannies of your lung.
And it's felt, now this ismostly done in vitro, meaning in
(14:03):
the lab, not in people, thatthese little particles in the
lung cause inflammation.
And that will be a recurringtheme that these particles might
cause inflammation.
Now, another aspect of kind ofhaving it in our air, maybe in
our lungs, comes from someinteresting studies that they
(14:26):
measured the amount ofmicroplastics in the ocean.
And they did it from variouscoastal communities.
And it turned out that some ofthose coastal communities, the
ocean had very littlemicroplastics, and in other
communities, again, oceancommunities, the ocean had a lot
more microplastics.
(14:46):
So what did they find?
They found that when thosecoastal cities had lots of
microplastics in the ocean rightthere, there was a 10 to 20%
higher risk of diabetes, heartdisease, and stroke.
Again, this is association.
It may not tell us exactly whatthe answer is.
(15:08):
Maybe in this places wheremicroplastics were higher,
people didn't exercise, they atepoorly, or any of a number of
things.
But it's suggestive that beingexposed to that in those
communities was problematic.
Okay, now we're going to move toa different topic, and that's
the brain.
(15:28):
And here we're starting to getsome uh data that worries me.
I care about my brain, youprobably care about your brain,
we want to help our brain.
So there was a reallyinteresting study where they
looked at autopsy findings.
They looked to see were theremicroplastics in the brain on
autopsy?
(15:49):
And as you might anticipate,there's no way for us to know
other than autopsies.
You're not just going to take abunch of folks and say, I'm
going to drill a hole in yourhead, I'm going to take a biopsy
and we'll see how much plasticis there.
So they did this study wherethey looked at autopsies and
they looked at them in 2016 andthen in 2024.
And they asked the question (16:11):
are we finding more microplastics
eight years later?
Meaning, on the people who died,were they somehow having a
larger burden, meaning that thisproblem is growing?
What do they find?
About a 50% increase in theamount of plastic in the brain
(16:32):
between 2016 and 2024.
That's not a good direction.
We would like it to be goingdown, not up.
When people have sort ofguesstimated, well, how much
plastic is in the brain, peoplesay, well, maybe it's about a
teaspoon size amount of plasticmicroplastics in the brain.
(16:53):
Okay, now we're going to get tothe Humdinger.
This is the worrisome study.
This is the one that keeps me upat night.
Again, not a huge study, butthey took 250 people who had a
carotid end arterectomy.
That's a surgery that goes intothe blood vessels that enter
(17:14):
your brain, that feed yourbrain, when they have plaque,
when they have narrowing, andthey scrape off the plaque so
that there's more blood flow tothe brain.
And for certain people, it canreduce the risk of stroke.
Okay.
What did they find?
They found that 150 of the 250people had microplastics in the
(17:40):
vessels that were feeding thebrain.
Okay, so you know, roughlytwo-thirds or so had
microplastics in those parts ofthe vessels that they scraped
off to make it the openingbetter.
Then they followed people forthree years after surgery.
(18:01):
Now, here is what getsfascinating and worrisome.
When you compared the patientswho had the endororectomy, but
there was no microplastics inthe plaque versus the people
that did have microplastics.
The people with microplasticshad a over four-fold increased
(18:23):
risk of a heart attack, astroke, or death.
So what that means was not onlydid the plaque that had
microplastics that was feedingthe brain cause brain concerns,
it also caused heart concerns.
Now, is that because there wasinflammation that went to the
(18:44):
heart?
Did it um does it reflect that,well, if they had microplastics
in their brain arteries, theyprobably had it in their heart
arteries.
We don't know.
Again, this is not a randomizedtrial, but it's very worrisome
that the only difference betweenthese patients that we know of
that had the carotid procedurewas whether they did or didn't
(19:08):
have plastics there.
And again, a huge increased riskof bad things.
Okay, now, where are we now?
We're at part four.
We've talked about what plasticsare, we've talked about how
common they are, and we'vetalked about the data that
suggests they're harmful.
Okay, now what can we do?
(19:31):
The solution section to thisepisode.
Well, there are some solutions.
The problem is none of them arevery easy, and probably none of
them are really going to work.
So sorry about that, but here iswhat we know.
There's really two ways to comeat this.
One is what could public policy,what could government, what
(19:54):
could governments around theworld do to help this problem?
And so there have beendiscussions around well, let's
limit the production ofplastics.
Let's eliminate single-useplastics like gloves or fast
food containers or grocery bagsor water bottles.
(20:15):
And if we eliminate that, thenthey won't go into the ocean,
they won't break up, they won'tend up in our food.
Or you could ban certainproducts, like those microbeads
and cosmetics.
Um, or you could askmanufacturers to make sure that
they can recycle things so thatthey might not have quite such a
(20:36):
burden of microplastics on theenvironment.
Or you could require that tiresin cars be made a bit
differently so that they didn'tshed as much microplastics.
Well, a few years ago, theybrought together 175 countries
to sign an agreement that wouldreally bring into place many of
(20:58):
the things I just talked about.
Well, those negotiations fellapart in 2025.
So it's not really clear wherethis is going to go.
In California, they did have abill to basically uh require
that all food packaging berecyclable.
Other states are thinking aboutbanning styrofoam uh um uh food
(21:24):
containers.
So there's a variety ofdifferent policy approaches.
Here's an interesting andperhaps uh uh unexpected uh data
point.
Many people say to save ourenvironment, we need to drive
electric vehicles.
Well, it turns out electricvehicles, of course, have tires.
(21:45):
Regular vehicles have tires.
Electric vehicles, because theyhave all these batteries, are
much heavier.
And so they wear out tires morerapidly than a conventional gas
car.
What does that mean?
There's more microplasticscoming off the tires of an
electric vehicle than agas-powered one.
(22:05):
So, again, no simple solutions.
All right.
So, what are the personalapproaches that you might take?
So maybe you know, governmentisn't about to step in.
And I do ask the question (22:18):
if we got rid of the single-use stuff,
we're not saying we're going todo away with tires.
We're not going to say we'regoing to do away with all
plastics.
So it's not clear to me, even ifthey pass that, what percentage
of microplastics would bereduced?
And would that reduction,whether it's 10%, 30%, whatever
it is, would that really make adifference?
(22:40):
So, what can you do personallyat home?
Well, you can avoid bottledwater, or at least water that
comes in plastic.
Cutting boards are actually abig source of microplastics.
Every time you cut a carrot on aplastic um cutting board, it
causes microplastics into theair.
(23:03):
Avoid microwaving plasticcontainers.
Try to store food in glasscontainers.
Here's one.
Use um loose tea because teabags actually are made from uh
plastics.
And when they're dunked in thehot water, it releases
microplastics.
(23:24):
You know, bring your mug to workso you don't have to use
disposable things.
Perhaps considering a homefilter, like a HEPA air filter,
vacuum regularly to try to getstuff up and out.
And wear clothes that are 100%natural, cotton or wool, because
all the synthetics or thesynthetic cotton wool blends
(23:47):
have obviously microplasticsthat will shed from them.
But again, I come back to thisissue of even if you avoided all
of these, you're gonna gooutdoors, you're gonna get in
your car, you're gonna bebreathing a lot of
microplastics, and you're gonnaend up with food and water that
has microplastics.
(24:08):
So I'm not sure you can reallyget rid of a substantial
percentage.
All right, let's wrap up.
Microplastics are everywhere inour environment, and sadly,
they're in our bodies.
Now, they can't be good for you.
I can't imagine a world where wewould say microplastics in our
(24:30):
body is a good thing.
Now, how harmful they are isn'tabsolutely clear.
Sure, I shared some informationthat it goes deep into the
lungs, it gets into the brain,and that it may increase the
risk of heart attack, stroke, ordeath.
But we really don't know yet.
It's an early phase of analysis.
(24:54):
Can you reduce exposure?
You can try to, but whetherthat's realistic that you can
reduce enough, I'm just notsure.
So, as always, I hope you livelong and well.
Think about microplastics, trywhat you can, and hope that it
(25:16):
reduces the risk sufficiently.
Until next time, goodbye.
Thanks so much for listening toLive Long and Well with Dr.
Bobby.
If you like this episode, pleaseprovide a review on Apple or
Spotify or wherever you listen.
If you want to continue thisjourney or want to receive my
(25:40):
newsletter on practical andscientific ways to improve your
health and longevity, pleasevisit me at Dr.
Bobby Livelongandwell.com.
That's doctor as a dr bobby livelongandwell.com.
Microplastics are everywhere in our water, our
food, and yes, inside ourbodies.
A 2024 study found that patientswho had microplastics in their
brain arteries had a fourfoldhigher risk of heart attack,
(00:22):
stroke, or death.
But before you panic, let's lookat what the science actually
says, what we know, what wedon't, and what you can
realistically do about it.
(00:45):
Hi, I'm Dr.
Bobby Du Bois, and welcome toLive Long and Well, a podcast
where we will talk about whatyou can do to live as long as
possible and with as much energyand vigor that you wish.
Together we will explore whatpractical and evidence-supported
(01:06):
steps you can take.
Come join me on this veryimportant journey, and I hope
that you feel empowered alongthe way.
I'm a physician, Iron Mantriathlete, and have published
several hundred scientificstudies.
I'm honored to be your guide.
(01:28):
Welcome, my dear listeners, toepisode 57.
Microplastics, potential problemwith no easy solution.
Now, microplastics areeverywhere, figuratively and
literally, in the news, onsocial media, and hyped in ads
(01:51):
selling you special waterbottles and home air filters.
And literally, microplastics arein what we breathe and in almost
anything you can eat.
How do we get here?
Now, microplastics can't be goodfor you, but how worried should
(02:12):
you be?
And what, if anything, can wedo?
Let's find out where theevidence takes us.
But before diving in, I want toshare some listener feedback.
When I did the episode on thefive-second food rule, whether
it's ODK to eat that French frythat fell on the floor, people
(02:33):
really like that episode.
And people said, please do moreof them.
And somebody recommended that Ido one on chicken soup and
whether it will help you getover your cold faster.
So I've added it to the list.
Another listener pointed outthat I missed something, and I'm
(02:53):
really appreciative of thatlistener.
So when I talked about what wecan do to reduce our risk of
cancer, I mentioned suntanlotion and wearing long sleeve
shirts to try to reduce the riskof skin cancer.
But I forgot to mention wear ahat.
And so many people do forget towear a hat when they're in the
(03:16):
sun.
So thank you, listener, forpointing that out.
And I love feedback.
Send more.
Positive, negative, it's allgreat.
As always, please tell yourfriends.
If you haven't, please write areview and send suggestions for
how I can do a better job foryou.
As I've said, I'm trying tocreate a safe space for
(03:40):
information.
What does the evidence reallytell us?
I may be wrong at times, but I'mnot driven by any financial
motive, as I don't havesponsors, don't have paid
subscriptions, and I don't owncompanies in this healthcare
space at all.
Okay, on to the good stuff.
Part one (04:00):
a bit of history about plastics, which may give you a
sense of how the heck did we gethere?
So plastics originated in about1907 with the creation of the
first synthetic polymer, and itwas called Bakelite.
Over the ensuing decades, theystarted to make various items
(04:25):
from this new plastic.
But in World War II, that reallyramped up, and many different
aspects of military hadplastics.
The one you might think of asparachutes.
They have nylon, which helpsthem.
And why?
Because it was lightweight, itwas strong, and it could be
mass-produced.
(04:47):
Well, in the 1950s, there was anexplosion in manufacturing of
plastics and their use.
So in the 1950s, there was about2 million tons of plastic
produced each year.
Now we make about 500 milliontons a year, and it's expected
(05:08):
to increase by 70% over the nextdecade and a half.
And here's a big number.
There are 500 billion plasticbottles sold each year, and many
of those do end up in the ocean.
So why plastics?
Well, they're cheap, they'relight, they're durable, they're
(05:31):
disposable, and compared towood, glass, or metal,
obviously, which are muchheavier, more expensive, and
generally not as disposable.
We sleep on pillows filled withplastic, we use plastic
toothbrushes, we type on plastickeyboards, we drink and eat from
plastic containers, and we driveon tires made of plastic.
(05:54):
It's in our disposable cups,it's throughout our coffee
maker, except for maybe thething at the bottom which
collects the coffee, it's on ourstraws, it's in our house pipes,
so plastics are everywhere.
And to give you a punchline,it's kind of realistically
unavoidable to remove them allfrom our lives.
(06:18):
Okay, part two.
What are microplastics?
And, you know, frankly, howcommon are they?
So they're differentdefinitions, but microplastics
are very small plasticparticles, and they range from
about five millimeters or aquarter of an inch or so, down
to one nanometer, which is areally, really, really tiny
(06:42):
size.
Now, microplastics fall in twocategories.
One are called primarymicroplastics.
This is where you create verysmall plastics for a very
special purpose.
So microbeads of plasticpreviously were in cosmetics, or
we might find them in plasticglitter, or we might use them in
(07:05):
various manufacturing processes.
So here we're creating them in avery, very small size.
The other, and probably the morecommon one, are secondary
microplastics, and that's formedwhen we break down bigger
plastics like bottles or tiresthat begin to wear away, or it
(07:25):
even comes off our clothing, aswe'll talk about.
Now, plastics are everywhere,but microplastics, the breakdown
of many of these plastics, arereally everywhere.
They've been found in theAntarctic tundra, they've been
found in tropical coral reefs,they're in our air, they're in
our food, they're in ourbeverages, and sadly, they're in
(07:50):
most all of our tissues in thebody.
There was a 2018 study wherethey looked at 259 bottles of
water from 11 brands from aroundthe world.
And what they found is of the259 bottles, guess what?
(08:10):
Only 17 of them had nomicroplastics.
And the amount of microplasticsin each of those bottles ranged
from like 325 to 10,000.
Okay, but it gets worse becausethere was a study not long ago
that used a new technique tofind even tinier, tinier
(08:33):
microplastic particles down atthe nanometer level.
And what did they find?
There were 240,000 pieces ofthis little tiny plastic per
liter of water.
Okay, now you might be thinking,all right, so maybe I should
never drink water.
(08:53):
Probably unavoidable, but youknow, there's a thought.
But they're in the air, too.
And it's felt that we inhaleabout 68,000 tiny particles each
day of microplastics.
Now, here's a question for youbefore I give you the data.
(09:14):
Do you think that microplasticexposure is worse outdoors or
indoors?
Think about this for a moment.
You know, outdoors, you got allthe air from cars and tires and
all that kind of stuff.
But indoors, you know, you gotcarpets, and and maybe because
(09:34):
the air is kind of staleindoors, maybe there's more
indoors.
All right.
Well, it turns out that the airoutside has far fewer uh
microplastics than indoors.
Outdoors, maybe there's oneparticle per cubic meter, that's
a meter on three sides,outdoors, and there's about a
(09:57):
50-fold higher amount indoors.
People have estimated, andagain, don't, you know, don't uh
think this is absolutely provenbecause there are lots of
different views and differentarguments about this, but people
kind of say we get about acredit card size amount of
(10:17):
plastic in our bodies everyweek.
Okay, so I hope I've shared withyou, probably scared you, that
plastics and microplastics areeverywhere.
So now the critical part is partthree.
What are the harms?
Now, the body of literature onthis to tell us how bad these
(10:40):
are for us is really tiny.
And they're all observationalstudies.
So it's you know, they certainlydidn't randomize people to say
you're gonna get lots ofmicroplastics and you're not.
We're gonna wait 20 years andsee who has problems.
Now, of course, those kind ofstudies were never done.
So, in these studies, I want tostep back and share with you a
(11:05):
saying that I may have saidbefore with you and you may have
heard, and that is the absenceof evidence about harm is not
the same as the evidence ofabsence of harm.
Now, I know it's a little hardto grab that, so let me sort of
(11:26):
break that down a little bit.
Okay, so the absence of evidencemeans we don't have studies that
really, really nail down theissue of harms.
So that's the absence ofevidence.
Now, it may turn out that thatthis topic or other topics, you
know, maybe there's a lot ofharm, maybe there's very little
(11:48):
harm, but we don't have goodevidence.
So we have the absence ofevidence.
Now, that's not the same asevidence of absence, meaning we
have really good studies andthey show us that there really
aren't harms.
So, why am I explaining this?
So, if you don't have goodstudies, people might say, well,
(12:10):
there's never been a studyshowing bad harm for
microplastics.
Again, you need to say to them,the absence of good evidence is
not the same as the evidence ofabsence.
So at the end of all this,there's going to be a lot of
we're not sure.
So, to give you an example ofhow really there's just not a
lot of good studies out there,or any studies out there, there
(12:32):
was a systematic review a yearago.
And in that they found 28 animalstudies.
And you know how I feel aboutanimal studies, um, but there
were only three humanobservational studies.
And the studies with people hadlike 40 people, 80 people.
They weren't very big.
So we really are lacking in alot of information about this.
(12:57):
But in the studies that havebeen done, they find
microplastics in every part ofour bodies, in our brain, in our
blood, in our reproductiveorgans, in our GI tract, and
even in the placenta.
And people have talked aboutmicroplastics might affect our
reproductive abilities, it mightreduce sperm quality.
(13:20):
Again, there's lots of theories,but not a lot of really
definitive evidence in people.
There are a couple of areaswhere we're starting to get some
evidence, and it's pointing in abit of a worrisome direction.
First, the lungs.
They've done studies where theytake biopsies of lungs and they
(13:41):
lavage the lungs, meaning theyput fluid in our lungs, they
suck it out, and they look at itunder the microscope.
But what they found is themicroplastics go deep, deep,
deep into the lung, likely inall the different nooks and
crannies of your lung.
And it's felt, now this ismostly done in vitro, meaning in
(14:03):
the lab, not in people, thatthese little particles in the
lung cause inflammation.
And that will be a recurringtheme that these particles might
cause inflammation.
Now, another aspect of kind ofhaving it in our air, maybe in
our lungs, comes from someinteresting studies that they
(14:26):
measured the amount ofmicroplastics in the ocean.
And they did it from variouscoastal communities.
And it turned out that some ofthose coastal communities, the
ocean had very littlemicroplastics, and in other
communities, again, oceancommunities, the ocean had a lot
more microplastics.
(14:46):
So what did they find?
They found that when thosecoastal cities had lots of
microplastics in the ocean rightthere, there was a 10 to 20%
higher risk of diabetes, heartdisease, and stroke.
Again, this is association.
It may not tell us exactly whatthe answer is.
(15:08):
Maybe in this places wheremicroplastics were higher,
people didn't exercise, they atepoorly, or any of a number of
things.
But it's suggestive that beingexposed to that in those
communities was problematic.
Okay, now we're going to move toa different topic, and that's
the brain.
(15:28):
And here we're starting to getsome uh data that worries me.
I care about my brain, youprobably care about your brain,
we want to help our brain.
So there was a reallyinteresting study where they
looked at autopsy findings.
They looked to see were theremicroplastics in the brain on
autopsy?
(15:49):
And as you might anticipate,there's no way for us to know
other than autopsies.
You're not just going to take abunch of folks and say, I'm
going to drill a hole in yourhead, I'm going to take a biopsy
and we'll see how much plasticis there.
So they did this study wherethey looked at autopsies and
they looked at them in 2016 andthen in 2024.
And they asked the question (16:11):
are we finding more microplastics
eight years later?
Meaning, on the people who died,were they somehow having a
larger burden, meaning that thisproblem is growing?
What do they find?
About a 50% increase in theamount of plastic in the brain
(16:32):
between 2016 and 2024.
That's not a good direction.
We would like it to be goingdown, not up.
When people have sort ofguesstimated, well, how much
plastic is in the brain, peoplesay, well, maybe it's about a
teaspoon size amount of plasticmicroplastics in the brain.
(16:53):
Okay, now we're going to get tothe Humdinger.
This is the worrisome study.
This is the one that keeps me upat night.
Again, not a huge study, butthey took 250 people who had a
carotid end arterectomy.
That's a surgery that goes intothe blood vessels that enter
(17:14):
your brain, that feed yourbrain, when they have plaque,
when they have narrowing, andthey scrape off the plaque so
that there's more blood flow tothe brain.
And for certain people, it canreduce the risk of stroke.
Okay.
What did they find?
They found that 150 of the 250people had microplastics in the
(17:40):
vessels that were feeding thebrain.
Okay, so you know, roughlytwo-thirds or so had
microplastics in those parts ofthe vessels that they scraped
off to make it the openingbetter.
Then they followed people forthree years after surgery.
(18:01):
Now, here is what getsfascinating and worrisome.
When you compared the patientswho had the endororectomy, but
there was no microplastics inthe plaque versus the people
that did have microplastics.
The people with microplasticshad a over four-fold increased
(18:23):
risk of a heart attack, astroke, or death.
So what that means was not onlydid the plaque that had
microplastics that was feedingthe brain cause brain concerns,
it also caused heart concerns.
Now, is that because there wasinflammation that went to the
(18:44):
heart?
Did it um does it reflect that,well, if they had microplastics
in their brain arteries, theyprobably had it in their heart
arteries.
We don't know.
Again, this is not a randomizedtrial, but it's very worrisome
that the only difference betweenthese patients that we know of
that had the carotid procedurewas whether they did or didn't
(19:08):
have plastics there.
And again, a huge increased riskof bad things.
Okay, now, where are we now?
We're at part four.
We've talked about what plasticsare, we've talked about how
common they are, and we'vetalked about the data that
suggests they're harmful.
Okay, now what can we do?
(19:31):
The solution section to thisepisode.
Well, there are some solutions.
The problem is none of them arevery easy, and probably none of
them are really going to work.
So sorry about that, but here iswhat we know.
There's really two ways to comeat this.
One is what could public policy,what could government, what
(19:54):
could governments around theworld do to help this problem?
And so there have beendiscussions around well, let's
limit the production ofplastics.
Let's eliminate single-useplastics like gloves or fast
food containers or grocery bagsor water bottles.
(20:15):
And if we eliminate that, thenthey won't go into the ocean,
they won't break up, they won'tend up in our food.
Or you could ban certainproducts, like those microbeads
and cosmetics.
Um, or you could askmanufacturers to make sure that
they can recycle things so thatthey might not have quite such a
(20:36):
burden of microplastics on theenvironment.
Or you could require that tiresin cars be made a bit
differently so that they didn'tshed as much microplastics.
Well, a few years ago, theybrought together 175 countries
to sign an agreement that wouldreally bring into place many of
(20:58):
the things I just talked about.
Well, those negotiations fellapart in 2025.
So it's not really clear wherethis is going to go.
In California, they did have abill to basically uh require
that all food packaging berecyclable.
Other states are thinking aboutbanning styrofoam uh um uh food
(21:24):
containers.
So there's a variety ofdifferent policy approaches.
Here's an interesting andperhaps uh uh unexpected uh data
point.
Many people say to save ourenvironment, we need to drive
electric vehicles.
Well, it turns out electricvehicles, of course, have tires.
(21:45):
Regular vehicles have tires.
Electric vehicles, because theyhave all these batteries, are
much heavier.
And so they wear out tires morerapidly than a conventional gas
car.
What does that mean?
There's more microplasticscoming off the tires of an
electric vehicle than agas-powered one.
(22:05):
So, again, no simple solutions.
All right.
So, what are the personalapproaches that you might take?
So maybe you know, governmentisn't about to step in.
And I do ask the question (22:18):
if we got rid of the single-use stuff,
we're not saying we're going todo away with tires.
We're not going to say we'regoing to do away with all
plastics.
So it's not clear to me, even ifthey pass that, what percentage
of microplastics would bereduced?
And would that reduction,whether it's 10%, 30%, whatever
it is, would that really make adifference?
(22:40):
So, what can you do personallyat home?
Well, you can avoid bottledwater, or at least water that
comes in plastic.
Cutting boards are actually abig source of microplastics.
Every time you cut a carrot on aplastic um cutting board, it
causes microplastics into theair.
(23:03):
Avoid microwaving plasticcontainers.
Try to store food in glasscontainers.
Here's one.
Use um loose tea because teabags actually are made from uh
plastics.
And when they're dunked in thehot water, it releases
microplastics.
(23:24):
You know, bring your mug to workso you don't have to use
disposable things.
Perhaps considering a homefilter, like a HEPA air filter,
vacuum regularly to try to getstuff up and out.
And wear clothes that are 100%natural, cotton or wool, because
all the synthetics or thesynthetic cotton wool blends
(23:47):
have obviously microplasticsthat will shed from them.
But again, I come back to thisissue of even if you avoided all
of these, you're gonna gooutdoors, you're gonna get in
your car, you're gonna bebreathing a lot of
microplastics, and you're gonnaend up with food and water that
has microplastics.
(24:08):
So I'm not sure you can reallyget rid of a substantial
percentage.
All right, let's wrap up.
Microplastics are everywhere inour environment, and sadly,
they're in our bodies.
Now, they can't be good for you.
I can't imagine a world where wewould say microplastics in our
(24:30):
body is a good thing.
Now, how harmful they are isn'tabsolutely clear.
Sure, I shared some informationthat it goes deep into the
lungs, it gets into the brain,and that it may increase the
risk of heart attack, stroke, ordeath.
But we really don't know yet.
It's an early phase of analysis.
(24:54):
Can you reduce exposure?
You can try to, but whetherthat's realistic that you can
reduce enough, I'm just notsure.
So, as always, I hope you livelong and well.
Think about microplastics, trywhat you can, and hope that it
(25:16):
reduces the risk sufficiently.
Until next time, goodbye.
Thanks so much for listening toLive Long and Well with Dr.
Bobby.
If you like this episode, pleaseprovide a review on Apple or
Spotify or wherever you listen.
If you want to continue thisjourney or want to receive my
(25:40):
newsletter on practical andscientific ways to improve your
health and longevity, pleasevisit me at Dr.
Bobby Livelongandwell.com.
That's doctor as a dr bobby livelongandwell.com.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.