Microplastics, though invisible to the naked eye, pose a grave threat to our bodies and health, the extent of which is beyond measure.

Microplastics carry endocrine-disrupting chemicals through your bloodstream, but that’s not all…

Microplastics are a kind of ‘magnet’ for environmental pollutants, concentrating them on their surfaces, ‘ferrying’ them through our digestive tract and releasing them in a concentrated form in areas throughout the body where they can cause increased toxicity.

They damage our liver and kidneys. They can even breach the blood-brain barrier that’s supposed to keep harmful pathogens out.

And then there’s the damage they do to our hearts.

A recent study is giving us a warning about something a lot of us do that leaves us wide open to heart failure.

Hot plastic takeout containers could damage your heart structure

The authors of a study at Ningxia Medical University in China state unequivocally that “it is essential to avoid using plastic containers for high-temperature food.”

Their work was prompted by a survey of 3,179 Chinese adults where those who reported higher exposure to plastics were more likely to suffer congestive heart failure.

Over the course of three months, the researchers fed 24 rodents the chemicals that are leached from plastic containers when they are heated by boiling tap water. These include BPA and phthalates, both of which have a known connection to heart disease.

Rats who consumed a cocktail of plastic contaminants for just three months showed the following changes in their heart tissue:

• broken or misaligned fibers
• inflammatory cells
• mitochondrial swelling
• bleeding between myocardial cells (muscular heart tissue)

Whether or not the same occurs in the human body is unknown for now, but the findings suggest that you should think twice before bringing home hot food in takeout containers.

How can you protect yourself from microplastics?

So how do you steer clear of microplastics? Do you have to stop eating takeout food entirely?

You could, which would assure you that you’re not consuming volatile particles with your hot food.

But let’s face it – most of us aren’t going to do that.

Remember, your choices can significantly reduce your exposure to these harmful particles.

First, try to cook at home often, reserving takeout food for an emergency go-to.

Here are a few more tips:

• Don’t use Styrofoam. Polystyrene (what Styrofoam is made of) nanoparticles are able to cross the protective blood-brain barrier and enter the bloodstream. Research on mice showed that it happened in just 2 hours. Avoid hot drinks or food in this packaging!
• Don’t drink bottled water. Again, it is convenient, but the level of microplastics is about twice the level you’d get from drinking tap water.
• Wash plastic dishes by hand. High heat from your dishwasher can cause a release of microplastics from your dishes. This means that you should always wash your plastic dishes by hand.
• Eat fresh food. Packaged foods wrapped in plastic can shed microplastic flakes that contaminate your food. As much as possible, stick with fresh produce that isn’t wrapped or stored in plastic.

Sources:

Your Takeaway Food Packaging Could Increase Your Risk of Heart Failure — Science Alert

Effects of leachate from disposable plastic takeout containers on the cardiovascular system after thermal contact — Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Plastic Found In More Than 50% of Plaques From Clogged Arteries — Science Alert

Microplastics in take-out food containers — Journal of Hazardous Materials