Add one more likely culprit to the long list of known cardiovascular risk factors including red meat, butter and stress: microplastics.
In a study released Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of physicians and researchers showed that surgical patients who had a build-up of micro and nanoplastics in their arterial plaque had a 2.1 times greater risk of nonfatal heart attack, nonfatal stroke or death from any cause in the three years post surgery than those who did not.
It’s the first study to show these ubiquitous and pernicious fossil fuel-based particles are having a direct effect on human health, said study co-author, Antonio Ceriello, head of the diabetes department at IRCCS MultiMedica, a research hospital in Milan.
And it should serve as a caution to all people, governments and corporations that plastic is not just a nuisance and blight in the environment, but is also harming human health, he said. Read more here.