What the Study Found
Using measurements from the National Centers for Environmental Information between 2015 and 2020, researchers analyzed microplastic water pollution within 200 nautical miles of 152 coastal counties along the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Each area’s microplastic pollution levels were categorized as low, medium, high, or very high.
The researchers then compared those measurements to the county-level disease rates, as determined by 2022 population data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Compared with those living near areas with “low” levels of coastal microplastic pollution, those who were close to areas with “very high” levels had:
- A 18 percent higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes
- A 9 percent higher risk of stroke
- A 7 percent higher risk of coronary artery disease
“Even after adjusting for demographic and social-environmental vulnerabilities, counties exposed to very high levels of microplastics in nearby ocean waters had significantly higher disease burdens. This suggests that microplastics may represent a novel environmental cardiometabolic risk factor — a critical addition to the broader public health conversation,” says the senior study author Sarju Ganatra, MD, the medical director of sustainability and the vice chair of research in the department of medicine at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, and president of Sustain Health Solutions.
How Do Microplastics Travel From the Water Into Your Body?
Microplastic debris from plastic waste can be found virtually everywhere, including in bodies of water.
The researchers involved in the new study theorize that people in coastal communities are apt to inhale microplastic particles from ocean water aerosolization, in which microscopic particles become suspended in the air.
“Studies have shown that microplastics can become airborne through mechanisms like sea spray, wind, or even urban dust, making inhalation a real concern — particularly near the coast where environmental concentrations are higher,” says Dr. Ganatra.
“Additionally, coastal residents may face greater exposure due to contaminated groundwater from seawater intrusion, higher seafood consumption, and proximity to recreational areas with high plastic debris,” he says.
While data suggests that living along the coast equates to higher marine microplastic exposure, Philip Kuriakose, MD, a hematologist who has studied microplastics in human blood, notes that the potential risks aren’t limited to specific geographic areas.
“[People] inhabiting inland areas have their own exposure risk to other non-marine sources of microplastics,” says Dr. Kuriakose, who is also a medical oncologist at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute in Detroit.
Future Microplastic Research Recommendations
Although the study adds to the available evidence linking microplastics to a variety of health issues, the results don’t add up to proving direct harm.
For example, Ganatra notes that the study didn’t measure specific microplastic exposure routes (for example by analyzing blood samples from coastal residents), which may limit how the findings translate to concrete health risks.
According to the microplastics researcher Sai Rahul Ponnana, a research data analyst at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cardiovascular Research Institute in Cleveland, the study used county-level data rather than a large-scale health record database, so the results may not offer a full picture of how microplastics impact health on an individual level.
Ganatra also says more research is required to better understand how microplastic exposure fits in — and adds up — with exposure to other environmental pollutants and traditional health risk factors.
What Can You Do to Lower Microplastics Exposure?
While you may not be able to completely avoid microplastics, especially if you live in a coastal area, there are some ways you may be able to limit your overall exposure — such as by reducing how often you purchase and use plastic items.
Kuriakose suggests taking microplastics as a potential risk factor for chronic disease seriously.
“For those living in coastal areas, it can only help to be aware of this risk and to be proactive — both in minimizing your own contribution to plastic waste and in remaining unflinching advocates for the population as a whole by choosing healthy lifestyle habits that decrease adding to the present problem,” he says.
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