Microplastics get into the gut and pose cancer risk, researchers say

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Plastic pollution is likely contributing to the onset of colon cancer due to tiny particles getting into the human gut and wreaking havoc with the microbiome, researchers say.

Scientists speaking at a medical conference in Berlin said they found “altered microbial metabolic activity” in stool samples of people exposed to polystyrene and other “common microplastic types.”

Some of the plastic particles were found to affect lysine, a vital amino acid the body gets from food, as well as lactic acid, which the body produces as it breaks down carbohydrates during physical activity.

The plastics were also found to cause changes to the gut that “reflected patterns previously linked to diseases such as depression and colorectal cancer,” the researchers said.

The researchers said that their “further analysis” found “microplastic-specific shifts in bacterial composition” among gut bacteria they deemed to be “important for digestion and overall gut health.”

Another key concern, according to the team, is that the microplastics’ effect on the gut could “lead to changes in acid production” and in turn “trigger feedback loops that further affect the balance of the microbiome.”

Carried out at the Medical University of Graz, the research was presented at a conference staged by United European Gastroenterology (UEG), a Vienna-based organization describing itself as focused on “excellence in digestive health” and made up of around 30,000 medical professionals.

“Reducing microplastic exposure where possible is therefore a wise and important precaution,” said the university’s Christian Pacher-Deutsch, pointing out that particles “have been found in fish, salt, bottled water and even tap water.”