What If There Is a Spoonful of Plastic in Your Brain?

Research Team Including University of New Mexico Reveals Findings
Autopsy Results Show 50% Increase in Microplastics Compared to Nine Years Ago
Dementia Patients Have Five Times More Microplastics Than Healthy Individuals

A study has revealed that a spoonful of microplastics is accumulated in the human brain. This figure represents a 50% increase compared to nine years ago. A correlation with dementia was also observed, with up to five times more microplastics detected in the brains of individuals diagnosed with dementia than in those of healthy people.

A study has revealed that a spoonful of microplastics is accumulated in the human brain. Photo by Pixabay

Recently, foreign media including the UK’s Daily Mail highlighted research published in the international academic journal Nature Medicine by an international research team including the University of New Mexico in the United States. Through autopsies, the distribution of microplastics was investigated in human brain, liver, and kidney tissues. The 2024 human brain samples showed a 50% increase in microplastic content compared to samples from 2016. This trend was not limited to the brain, the most sensitive organ. Between 7 to 30 times more microplastics were detected in the kidneys and liver.

Microplastics refer to ultra-fine plastic particles ranging in size from 1 nm (nanometer, one billionth of a meter) to 500 μm (micrometer, one millionth of a meter).

The research team found 4,800 μg (micrograms) of microplastics per gram in brain tissue from healthy individuals with an average age of 45 to 50 years. This amount is equivalent to a typical plastic spoon. Professor Kampen said, “The concentration we observed in the brain tissue of ordinary people around 45 to 50 years old is 4,800 μg (micrograms, one millionth of a gram) per gram, which corresponds to 0.48% by weight,” adding, “Currently, our brain is 99.5% brain tissue and the rest is plastic.”

Additionally, the research team analyzed the brains of 12 individuals who had been diagnosed with dementia before death, finding 3 to 5 times more microplastics than in healthy brains. Tiny microplastic fragments, difficult to see with the naked eye, were concentrated in the walls of arteries and veins and immune cells in the brains of dementia patients. Professor Kampen explained, “Dementia is a disease where the blood-brain barrier and cleaning mechanisms are damaged,” and added, “Due to inflammatory cells and brain tissue atrophy, a kind of sink may form that allows plastics to flow in.” However, he took a cautious stance, stating, “It is difficult to definitively say that microplastics cause dementia.”