February is Heart Health Month! Here’s a list of topics we’ve done in the past on heart disease!
Sign up for our Authentic Health Heart Assessment (only available in February 2025!)
I did an extensive review of heart disease in a blog series back in 2024, CHECK IT OUT HERE.
Podcasts with Dr. Jackson on Heart Health:
Endothelial Health Masterclass (Part 1)
Endothelial Health: Enhancing Cardiovascular Health (Part 2)
Today I wanted to highlight a study that received a lot of attention — microplastics and heart disease. The main reason I found this study particularly interesting is that it combines a rapidly growing field of concern (toxicants) with the most common disease we face (heart disease).
Before we dive into the study, let’s quickly talk about toxicants and health. A toxicant is something, like a mold, chemical, or heavy metal, that can harm us once it gets inside our body. These toxicants are all around us—in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and even in the things we put on our skin. Our bodies have natural ways to fight off and get rid of these toxicants, like antioxidants and elimination pathways. In the past, we only had occasional exposure to small amounts of toxicants, like breathing in smoke from a campfire or eating spoiled food. But now, things are different. Toxicants are everywhere, and they’re overwhelming our body’s defenses. When our bodies can’t get rid of these toxicants, they stash them away in our fat tissue. But this just leads to more problems, like ongoing inflammation, more fat in our bodies, and trouble losing weight.
And that brings us to this study: Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events, published March 2024 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In this study involving 257 patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy (a procedure to remove plaque buildup from the carotid arteries), researchers analyzed the presence of microplastics in these plaques. Notably, 150 patients (58%) tested positive for polyethylene in their arterial plaques, while 31 patients (12.1%) tested positive for polyvinyl chloride. These patients were then monitored for 34 months. Beyond the presence of microplastics within the body, the study revealed a significant association between microplastics detected in the arteries and an increased risk of future heart attack, stroke, and cardiac death. Remarkably, the risk for those with microplastics was 4.5 times higher compared to those without visible microplastics in their arteries.
One line really stuck out to me in the review: “Electron microscopy revealed visible, jagged-edged foreign particles among plaque macrophages and scattered in the external debris.” That can’t be good for us!
Microplastics (<5mm in size) and nanoplastics (<100 nanometers in size) come from the slow breakdown of plastic products in our environment. And unfortunately, they are essentially everywhere, entering our bodies through water we drink, the air we breathe, contaminated food, clothing, and skin care products. Based on a 2019 study, average human consumes 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles per week. Another 2019 study found that we may also inhale up to 272 particles per day. For microplastics, the cat is already out of the bag — it’s futile to try to avoid microplastics 100%. But you can reduce your exposure.
I spoke with Karey, our health coach and resident toxicant expert. Here are our top 5 ways to reduce microplastics:
- Use glass or stainless steel water bottles: Plastic bottles, especially when they get hot in your car, release tiny pieces of plastic called microplastics. Coffee cups with plastic lids are also a problem. A recent report from the NIH in January 2024 found that a liter of bottled water contains about 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic, and 90% of them are nanoplastics. Microplastics can also be in tap water, so using a good water filter, like the ones you fill up or put under the sink, can help.
- Eat from glass or stainless steel containers: Heating up or eating hot food from microwavable dinners, plastic to-go containers, or plastic Tupperware increases the release of microplastics.
- Monitor your personal care products: Avoid personal care products with plastic microbeads, like some toothpaste and scrubs. Check the ingredient list for words starting with “poly-” — they likely contain plastics.
- Update your wardrobe (or only wash your clothes on cold): Choose clothes made of natural fibers like cotton, wool, or hemp, or wash synthetic clothes in cold water only. Slowly switch to mostly natural fiber clothing to reduce the shedding of microplastics from synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon, and acrylic.
- Use fewer single-use plastics: The less plastic we use, the less microplastic ends up in our environment (air, water, food), reducing the problem overall. Try to use fewer plastic bags, water bottles, eating utensils, and straws.
We just reviewed microplastics, but the problem is the similar for pesticides, molds, industrial chemicals, and heavy metals that are disrupting our air, food, and water supplies. Discussions around toxicants can get overwhelming, partly because it can feel like we are powerless at controlling our exposures. It will take major policy changes for the toxicant tide to turn. But that doesn’t mean we are helpless. We can start by modifying the environment around us and reducing our individual exposures, which will bring us better health as well as better health for those around us.