People who smoke regularly and breathe polluted air have been found to have relatively high levels of harmful microplastics and nanoplastics in their blood. At the same time, the levels of these tiny plastic particles were alarmingly higher in people suffering from heart disease or heart attacks than in healthy individuals.

A recent study published in the European Heart Journal by researchers at the Sapienza University of Rome’s Sant’Andrea Hospital in Italy has revealed the findings.

Lead researcher Dr. Pasquale Paoliso said plastic particles have previously been detected in various human organs and tissues. However, there had been limited understanding of their presence in the coronary circulation—the arteries that supply blood to the heart—and how smoking or air pollution might influence their levels.

As part of the study, Dr. Paoliso’s team collected blood samples from the coronary arteries of 61 patients. Some had recently suffered heart attacks, some had chronic heart disease without a recent heart attack, while the remaining participants were healthy.

The results showed that microplastics and nanoplastics were detected in the bloodstream of 84 percent of patients who had suffered a heart attack. By comparison, the rate was 40 percent among patients with chronic heart disease who had not experienced a heart attack, while only 32 percent of healthy participants had detectable levels.

The report noted that certain lifestyle and environmental factors can significantly increase the risk of microplastic accumulation in the blood. Smokers, for example, were six times more likely than non-smokers to have high levels of plastic particles in their blood. The risk was similarly elevated among people who were regularly exposed to toxic fumes and severe air pollution.

The study also found that 100 percent of smokers and people living in highly polluted environments had high levels of plastic particles in their blood. In contrast, the figure was only 12.5 percent among people who did not smoke or lived in relatively pollution-free environments.

Dr. Emanuele Barbato, one of the study’s senior researchers, said the findings do not directly prove that microplastics alone cause heart attacks. However, he said they point to a close relationship between environmental pollution, the presence of microplastics in the bloodstream and a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Barbato explained that smoking and air pollution may make it easier for plastic particles to enter the bloodstream through the lungs.

In an editorial published in the journal, Dr. Andreas Deiber of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany warned that nano- and microplastics are becoming an increasingly serious threat to human health. Medical researchers fear that plastic pollution could emerge as one of the hidden risk factors for sudden cardiovascular events in the modern era.

Source: U.S. News