The danger of microplastics is growing as more and more plastics find their way into food and threaten to affect our health in several ways. A new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open on Monday found that tiny plastic shards and fibres were found in the nose tissue of human cadavers. The microplastic pieces were said to be discovered in the olfactory bulb, the part of the nose that detects odors that sit at the brain base.
Not just brain, studies done in the past, have established that microplastics and nanoplastics are making their way into lung, liver, the testes and the penis, human blood, urine and feces, mother’s milk and even placenta. Microplastics also make their way into our body through food. Here are 5 foods that have the maximum amount of microplastics.
Sugar and salt The most common kitchen condiments hide a considerable amount of micro-plastics in them which may make their way into the food items by way of plastic packaging or storage in plastic containers. A study, titled 'Microplastics in Salt and Sugar' done by environmental research organisation Toxics Link , tested 10 types of salt that included table salt, rock salt, and sea salt apart from five types of sugar purchased from online and local markets. The study found microplastics in all the samples in different forms, including fibre, pellets, films and fragments and the size of these microplastics ranged from 0.
1 mm to 5 mm. Another study done in 2023 study found Himalayan pink salt mined fr.