If one looks around, one finds that plastics come in contact with food at every stage from harvesting to consumption; whether it is packaging of raw food, or processing and packaging of processed food and drinks, cooking in non-stick cookware, reheating in microwave or using plastic cutlery and polystyrene plates, or for that matter, drinking water from the plastic bottle directly.
Once the food comes in contact with the plastics, regardless of the type, leaching or migration of plastics into the food is a given, especially when plastic containers are heated or exposed to acidic or fatty foods.
Many of these additives, such as phthalates and Bisphenol A (BPA), are known as endocrine disruptors.
Interestingly, this hormone imbalance can affect various bodily functions, including metabolism, and lead to problems like insulin resistance and fatty liver disease.
The gut is our “second brain,” a complex ecosystem of microorganisms known as the gut microbiome, which plays a vital role in digestion, metabolism, immunity, and even mental health.
Microplastics (under 5mm) and nanoplastics (smaller than 1 micrometre) can enter the body via food, water, and air, potentially causing gut health problems.
They do so by disrupting the gut microbiome, damaging intestinal cells and their protective barriers causing ‘leaky gut’, and triggering inflammatory responses which is a known risk factor for chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions.
The presence of microplastics in the gut can also induce oxidative stress. This occurs when there’s an imbalance between the production of harmful free radicals and the body’s ability to neutralise them with antioxidants.
Oxidative stress can damage cells and DNA, further exacerbating inflammation and compromising the function of the gut lining. All these mechanisms may potentiate one another.
As can be seen, exposure early in life effects the health of children in more ways than one because of everchanging microbiome and continued inflammatory onslaught on the gut.