(ANN/dpa/THE STAR) – Scientists have discovered “alarming” evidence that microplastics not only get into the human brain, but could also be contributing to the onset of dementia and other neurological diseases.
“Human brains contain approximately a spoon’s worth of microplastics and nanoplastics, with levels three to five times higher in individuals with documented dementia diagnoses,” University of Ottawa researchers said in the science journal Brain Medicine.
The Canada-based researchers’ warning followed “groundbreaking” work by a University of New Mexico-led team in the United States, which found microplastics and nanoplastics to be making a beeline for the brain ahead of other organs.
Concentrations in normal brain samples from deceased individuals were seven to 30 times higher than the concentrations found in livers or kidneys, whereas brain samples from dementia patients exhibited an even greater presence of plastic particles, according to the New Mexico team in a paper published by the journal Nature Medicine in February (2025).
Recent studies have warned of microplastics and nanoplastics entering the human body through sweat, with particles detected in male genitalia, as well as being passed from pregnant woman to their unborn child.
“The dramatic increase in brain microplastic concentrations over just eight years, from 2016 to 2024, is particularly alarming,” said Dr Nicholas Fabiano of the University of Ottawa’s Department of Psychiatry.
The surge in warnings regarding the health dangers of microplastics and nanoplastics has followed the growing outrage over plastic pollution, much of which has accumulated in lakes, rivers, seas and oceans.
In spite of attempts to limit plastic usage by implementing policies like mandating paper straws, European nations and Japan have faced allegations of sending plastic waste to Southeast Asia, after enforcing restrictions and stringent recycling regulations domestically.
“This rise [of microplastics in the human body] mirrors the exponential increase we’re seeing in environmental microplastic levels,” said Dr Fabiano.
