Microplastics seem entirely unavoidable: They’re in our tea bags, our food, even our blood. Since plastic doesn’t biodegrade, it continues to break down into smaller and smaller particles—enter micro- and nanoplastics, whose size can range from less than 5 millimeters to as small as 1 micrometer (1/25,000th of an inch).
We breathe in and consume those particles on a regular basis—a study from December 2023 in the journal Environmental Pollution determined that people are ingesting as much as 3.8 million microplastics per year from meat alone. Scientists are finding that such frequent exposure can negatively impact brain health, fertility, and the gut microbiome.
