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What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

nautil.us

241–250 of 341 posts

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s worrying about this is that we’re about 50 years into an unexplained epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease that nobody has a clear explanation for, and is also affecting lab animals fed controlled diets. It would be fascinating if this was all correlated with a common environmental contaminant, and the increasing use of various plastics could line up well.

It's pretty clear the epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease is largely caused by sugar https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM

And HFCS?

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and silicate is an environmental component that's well understood and our bodies have adapted to it because sand has been a thing forever. And glass is chemically inert.

Asbestos is a silicate…

I meant naturally occuring ones like sand. Even glass is kind of related. Didn't want to elaborate too much. But indeed it is.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#243
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But those groups are particular ones that are also exposed to other environments that affect health so any discrepancy will be hard to attribute. Also, doctors did not wear masks to the extend we did during Corona. They'd only wear them during some surgery, not the whole day including even outside.

Indeed. Nor were they wearing the same one again and again for months on end, and stuffing it in their jeans pocket in between.

True, I used a fresh one every day during the worst of it, but I have to say I've gone back to doing exactly what you describe. The only place I still need one is public transport and now that it's getting hot (Spain) I often go outside without a coat, so my pocket is the only place to leave it. And it seems like a waste to replace it after one 15 minute ride on the subway.

And I'm not the only one, I've seen a lot of people wearing ones that are all fluffy from long use and sometimes washing (some people really wash disposable masks). I'm sure that will increase shedding a lot.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is there so much in salt?

Likely because it is derived from seawater which is swimming in tiny plastic particles.

My understanding that a significant amount of salt that is not advertised as "Sea Salt" is still mined out of the ground.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#245
post #168
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you have to swallow a bird to catch the spider and I’ve heard it doesn’t end well.

You're supposed to let the spiders swallow flies, and the bird swallow spiders, then you swallow the bird. Not swallow them all in a row!

But then you need to swallow a cat to eat the bird…

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#246
Two simple things that you can do are to (a) don’t wash plastics in the dishwasher and (2) don’t microwave stuff in plastic containers. This last will require taking stuff out of the disposable container that many frozen meals come in to cook it. Some brands have a cardboard/waxpaper tray instead of a plastic one although there might be identical looking packaging that has different internals based on the store (I remember being surprised to discover that a frozen meal I bought at Whole Foods had the cardboard bowl while the same meal from a regular supermarket had a plastic bowl).

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But those groups are particular ones that are also exposed to other environments that affect health so any discrepancy will be hard to attribute. Also, doctors did not wear masks to the extend we did during Corona. They'd only wear them during some surgery, not the whole day including even outside.

On the contrary, there's been plenty of doctors and lab technicians wearing masks full time and for decades! Not to mention semiconductor workers. And industrial worker dealing with hazardous materials.

Like hanoz says above, what professionals wear is not really comparable to what people wear on the subway these days. It's the cheapest of the cheap Chinese crap, and usually used so long and mishandled that it is becoming really fluffy. Especially now that nobody really cares anymore and the use of them is incidental they end up being lugged around more than worn and not frequently replaced.

A fresh mask doesn't shed a lot but I've seen ones that are all hairy and stringy from being rubbed around in pockets with other stuff. I'm sure they shed a lot more material than a fresh mask.

And a lot of the types you mention would not wear masks like this but powered respirators (e.g. people working in clean rooms)

Personally I have major issues the masks for past medical trauma reasons but I really don't think they are healthy to keep around forever.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#248
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s worrying about this is that we’re about 50 years into an unexplained epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease that nobody has a clear explanation for, and is also affecting lab animals fed controlled diets. It would be fascinating if this was all correlated with a common environmental contaminant, and the increasing use of various plastics could line up well.

I don’t think it’s unexplained at all. People just don’t like the explanation. People simply eat too much and don’t move enough. The secondary reasons behind that are many but again pretty easy to see (more desk jobs, cheap high calorie foods, automobile ownership etc)

How does your theory explains

> and is also affecting lab animals fed controlled diets

?

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not at all clear that the current epidemic is caused by sugar. Lustig is a great speaker, and I’ll admit that when I first watched that I was quite convinced. His position, however, is still not representative of a consensus within the field, and for good reason. While sugar consumption is likely detrimental to one’s overall health. Simply cutting out sugar is not necessarily going to lead to better weight manag…

Sure, simply cutting out sugar but otherwise making poor dietary choices isn't going to lead to weight loss. Cutting out sugar tends to make it easier to eat healthy, though. Long term weight loss requires lifestyle changes. In my personal anecdotal experience, my weight gain and loss correlates to my caloric intake. When I've explicitly calorie counted, foods with refined carbohydrates are typically what blows up my…

I mean yes, that’s something of a tautology though.

Cutting down on calories necessarily means cutting down on fat, carbs, or both (technically protein as well, but protein doesn’t generally seem to be the issue.)

If you were to follow an explicitly low fat diet, it would be very difficult to eat junk food as well. Almost all junk foods are high in both fat and carbs at the same time.

You are right about refined carbs. Most public health organizations advise limiting one’s consumption of those.

Re: What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?

#250

Quoted post unavailable.

We had at least one such situation here:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/masks-early-pulmonar...

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/recalled-masks-were-worn-by-thou...

"coated in a substance called graphene oxide that’s linked to lung disease and is now banned in Canada, at least temporarily."

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