Plastic is anything but fantastic. It is however an ease of ease that we often adopt: to do our shopping, hydrate or eat quickly between two meetings, it interferes everywhere in our diet, before being washed and rinsed sometimes, or thrown, often. Do we really get rid of it? According to science, in addition to being a crucial factor in global pollution and global warming, the use of plastic in our diet could have lasting consequences on our health.
This is what a study published in December 2024 suggests in the scientific journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. A team of Chinese researchers from the Ningxia Medical University, located in the city of Yinchuan (northern China), looked at the issue and their discoveries are worrying. The exposure of our plastic food could be the cause of intestinal microbiota disturbances, inflammation and also cardiovascular disease.
To arrive at this conclusion, experiments were carried out, once is not customary, on rats. The Futurism scientific media reports the modalities of experience. Part of the rodents of boiled water has been administered in a plastic container. The other lucky rats were part of a control group and drank neutral water.
Heart failure for all
You can imagine, the results are not good. “The data has revealed that high frequency exposure to plastics is significantly associated with an increased risk of congestive heart failure.” Precisely, Chinese scientists have noted on many rats exposed to polymers of important lesions in terms of heart muscle.
Even more worrying: in their experience, scientists separated animals into three groups. Some had access to “plasticized” water daily for fifteen minutes, others for five minutes and the last for one minute a day. None of these three groups stood out from the other two. The different rats had the same significant degree of symptoms. Data that could well demonstrate the ease with which plastic penetrates our diet.
Subsequently, the researchers tried to establish whether the symptoms observed on rats also applied to humans. They questioned 3,200 individuals about their use of plastic supports in their diet and their health. Here again, it would seem that frequent exposure to plastic is linked to an increased risk of heart failure. A report to be taken with tweezers since it does not take into account any other factor in the life of those questioned.
The plastic causal link on our well-being therefore remains to be established clearly. “Additional research is necessary to elucidate the impacts on the health of long -term exposure to plastic products, (…) in order to provide a theoretical basis for the development of appropriate safety measures in the future”explain the authors of the study. In the meantime, in doubt, it is better to find an alternative to the disposable plastic tray for your meal today. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for the planet.
