Practical Ways to Reduce Microplastic Exposure

TRIGGERnometry Host: What are some of the key steps that we should all be taking in your opinion to reduce our exposure to this stuff?

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yes, I think there are some heavy hitters here that can make a big difference, get you big bang for your buck. And this is also in terms of microplastic exposure. Again, microplastics have their own problems and they have the chemicals that they're carrying with them.

But one of the first and foremost things that people should do is get a water filter.

The best one you can get is a reverse osmosis water filter. You can get a countertop one. That filters out 99% of microplastics and it's filtering out bisphenol A, bisphenol S, the phthalates, the forever chemicals, PFAS.

It's filtering out all those chemicals that are endocrine disruptors that are disrupting hormones that are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder, like ADHD. So, a countertop one is a easy solution for people. You can get a whole house one as well. The caveat there is reverse osmosis does filter out everything, including trace elements and minerals that we actually want in our water. And so, you can add those back with, a mineral supplement or you can get these little mineral drops to add back to your water that have these trace elements, like manganese and selenium and these things that like, you want in your water. And so, that is also important to consider.

Number one thing that you can do. Easiest solution right there. You're going to be doing so much by doing that. The second thing I would say is avoid heating any plastic, okay? Whether it's like your Tupperware, like get rid of any spatulas, anything that's plastic that's going to touch heat, don't do that. And I want to get to the coffee cups because that's the one you don't think about because it doesn't look like plastic.

It's very tricky because they're lined with plastic. I want companies such as Starbucks to start lining their cups with polylactic acid. Why not? It can be done. Blue Bottle Coffee is the only company I know that uses a sugarcane-based lining.

Until then, bring your own mug or, I don't know. Stop drinking to-go coffee because you may get 55-fold more BPA into your beverage than if you were drinking just water from a plastic bottle. 55-fold. The other thing is shift from drinking out of plastic water bottles as much as you can. Certainly do not let them sit out in the sun. You don't have to let them sit in your car.

Because that's again accelerating the breakdown of the plastic and the chemicals are going into your beverage

TRIGGERnometry Host: But you're saying that one, then I think well, look at the supply chain. In the supply chain, these are not always going to be perfectly chilled or at room temperature. They're going to be thrown in a corner somewhere. They're going to get crushed. They're going to get heated up. They're going to become warm.

They're going to become cool and then warm again. Do you know what I mean?

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yes. When they are transported by truck in summer or stored in a warehouse, they can become warm. The reality is to stop drinking from the plastic bottles. Get rid of them.

TRIGGERnometry Host: One thing we haven't talked about is tap water.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yes.

TRIGGERnometry Host: Because the filter covers that.

And what about hormones? Is there any truth to this idea that since the invention of the pill, there's now more female hormones in the water supply? Have I just made that up?

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: There may be places where that affects tap water.

TRIGGERnometry Host: You are giving me the this-is-BS face. You can just say this is BS face.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: I think the bigger problem is the BPA that's disrupting our hormones. Yeah. If you want to focus if you want to be angry at something, that's what you should be angry about because that's actually what's disrupting our hormones and it's really what's ubiquitous.

TRIGGERnometry Host: So water filter, avoid coffee cups, avoid heating plastic, avoid plastic bottles.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yeah, that's the major thing for the BPA.

Now microplastics we're breathing them in, but like that

TRIGGERnometry Host: [laughter]

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Okay.

TRIGGERnometry Host: Anything else?

For everything involving plastics and microplastics.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yes, I would say that if we're talking about plastics on the whole, microplastics as well. So the major source is ingestion and I mentioned size matters. Well, it turns out fiber, dietary fiber, also can help you excrete microplastics. This includes prebiotics, fermentable fibers, and soluble fiber. It creates like a viscous gel in your gut and that encapsulates plastic particles and moves them out through your feces.

So you excrete them. Fiber is useful for that reason. Everything I mentioned, including reverse-osmosis filtration, avoiding plastic bottles, and not heating plastic, also applies to microplastics because you can ingest them in water and food. The oceans are polluted with them, so you may want to avoid fish and shellfish eaten with an intact gut, such as shrimp, because microplastics can accumulate in the intestines.

TRIGGERnometry Host: You have ruined this episode now.

I love prawns. So I carry on.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Prawns, exactly.

TRIGGERnometry Host: Shrimp, yeah, as you call them.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: But the other another major source of microplastics is actually from the air we breathe.

And so we are breathing in microplastics constantly and that's also because we live in a plastic world. So, tires, if you're in an urban place, the tires are made of rubber but also a lot of plastic polymers. Friction from tires releases particles into the air. Synthetic clothing is another source of microplastics. So, we wash them and they come out, they get in the ocean, but also the dryer, they come out into our environment.

They also come from shoes and many other sources, so we breathe them in, okay? It's in the air. And so, when we breathe in the microplastics, they get into our lungs, which plays a role in respiratory disease, but also this is very disturbing. Essentially, so have you guys heard about this study? This was done in São Paulo, Brazil, where they looked at a variety of different organs and microplastics in those organs, and it was found that microplastics accumulated in the brain 10 to 20 times more than other organs.

They're essentially everywhere. They're in 100% of semen samples that have been measured. They have been reported in testicles and placenta. But 10 to 20 times more in the brain, which is astounding considering we have something called the blood-brain barrier that's supposed to not let stuff get into the brain like microplastics.

And so, part of that is that the nanoplastics, the size matters. So, like the small ones are getting in. But the other part is that when we are breathing in microplastics, the nose contains olfactory neurons, and those neurons have fibers that extend into our brain. And so, essentially, you breathe in the microplastics and they can get into the brain through the olfactory fibers and then get transported to other parts of the brain. A lot of scientists have I would say they're using this method to deliver drugs to get past the blood-brain barrier because it's a way to get past it. So, essentially, you're breathing in microplastics and those are getting in the brain.

There are studies now showing that people with Alzheimer's disease postmortem, if you look at their brain, they have 10 times more microplastics than postmortem brain of people without Alzheimer's. So, it's playing a role in Alzheimer's disease as well. So, you want to air filter. This brings me to air filters. A HEPA filter does not have to be a fancy medical-grade model.

It can be any HEPA filter. They really do work. I have a Honeywell HEPA filter in the rooms in my home. I also have an IQAir monitor that measures the particulate matter and you can see the data. If you turn off the filter, the particulate matter goes up. It's very obvious.

If I if I'm traveling, I unplug everything. I don't like leave the filters running. And you look at the IQAir, it's like, "Oh, it goes up." So, an air filter is another thing that I would say is a simple way of getting rid of the microplastics that we didn't cover as well.

TRIGGERnometry Host: And Rhonda, and there's been one thing that I read about that was very interesting, positively racist, which is black plastic, which is the worst type of plastic.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: It is. So, black plastic, so there's another type of chemical called brominated chemicals. Brominated chemicals are a type of chemical that's a flame retardant. So, flame retardants are often put in electronics because electronics, we don't want them starting fires.

And so, black plastic is often made from recycled electronics, hence the black color. And so, these recycled electronics have the brominated chemicals in them. And there was a very famous study that was published in like 2018 I think it was like the University of Plymouth or something that published a study showed they looked at a variety of black plastic articles. So, everything from black spatulas to like spoons to like baby toys and found that they had 30 to 40 times higher levels of these brominated chemicals, which by the way are known carcinogens, than is considered safe. And so, black plastic is something you definitely want to avoid. Have you ever ordered like a rotisserie chicken?

The chicken is still hot and the bottom of the container is black.

Heat accelerates the leaching of brominated chemicals, BPA, and microplastics into food. It compresses a process that might otherwise occur over years into minutes. That is why you want to avoid black plastic, including black straws.

Black plastic, it's not good, especially heating it. Get rid of all the black spatulas because that's like the worst culprit is the heat plus the plastic. So, that's also something that's bad and that's associated with cancer. The brominated chemicals as well.

TRIGGERnometry Host: But it is also the pans as well because let's talk about pans because When I was a child, we did not have much money. If there was a pan with a few scratches on it, who cares?

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: I know. I know.

Teflon. Yeah, so Teflon cookware contains forever chemicals in it. So, we didn't talk about forever chemicals. They're called PFAS. They are called forever chemicals because they last in our environment for like years. So, they're in our bodies.

BPA's half-life is about two to three hours, and it is excreted through urine. Forever chemicals, or PFAS, can remain in the body for four to five years. These chemicals are added to make products water-repellent, nonstick, oil-resistant, or stain-resistant. Nonstick pans can contain them and are then heated.

I probably have forever chemicals in me from when I was a child. I remember my mom buying nonstick pans and cooking with them. Heating a nonstick pan can increase exposure to PFAS. These chemicals can disrupt hormones and are also associated with cancer.

So, yeah, They are also in our clothing. So, water-repellent clothing, that stuff is all forever chemical that you're getting into your skin and absorbing. The worst is eating it though. The worst is eating it. And the forever chemicals are now, unfortunately, they're attracted to they're lipophilic, so they're attracted to fat. And they're found in high-fat foods.

Water sources can be contaminated with phthalates and forever chemicals. Sewage sludge or fertilizer used in farming can carry these chemicals, including onto organic farms. Cows ingest them and can excrete them through milk.

And so, Have you seen these studies that have been done where they've gone around and looked at milk, like organic, grass-fed, like the thing that you think is the best, tons of forever chemicals in it because the cows are contaminated and they're excreting it through their milk. So, dairy, milk, high-fat butter, cheese, these can contain the phthalates and the forever chemicals because they're lipophilic and they're attracted to fat. And so, now even our fat foods are like sources for these chemicals. This is probably why no one wants to address the issue because it is everywhere, and you have to do what you can. I call it's like imperfect avoidance because you have to eat, you have to live.

Do what you can to reduce your exposure, whether that means using a reverse-osmosis filter, getting an air filter, not cooking with Teflon pans, not heating plastic, or avoiding to-go containers. You will still be exposed. For example, bakery tissue paper can be lined with forever chemicals to prevent grease from soaking through.

TRIGGERnometry Host: Get pho, they give you a black plastic bowl.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Oh, pho is the worst. During my twenties, I loved getting pho in plastic takeout containers.

TRIGGERnometry Host: And receipts.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Oh, and receipts. Yes, receipts are terrible.

TRIGGERnometry Host: Receipts?

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yeah.

TRIGGERnometry Host: Oh, yes.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Paper receipts.

TRIGGERnometry Host: Which one are receipts?

TRIGGERnometry Host: Stop it, mate.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Oh my gosh. You haven't heard about this?

TRIGGERnometry Host: No.

Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Receipts use thermal paper. Essentially, the printing is not ink.

The paper is coated with BPA. Bisphenol A, that stuff that we're talking about. Now, the worst insult is ingesting it, but unfortunately, if you have cream or hand sanitizer on your fingers, that causes the BPA from the receipts to go into your circulation a hundredfold. A hundredfold. So, you don't want to touch receipts, and if you're someone that's working at a cash register or anything like that, you have to use nitrile gloves.

You don't want to touch receipts every day. Latex gloves do not block BPA, so the gloves need to be nitrile. Here is a funny story. At the San Diego airport, I saw a man handing receipts to customers. When it was my turn, I asked him to put my latte in my Yeti because I did not want a to-go cup. I also told him that he should not handle receipts because they are coated with BPA. I asked whether he knew what BPA was. He said it was something endocrine-related, and I explained that it can disrupt hormones such as testosterone.

I was in the airport. I was going on Chris Williamson's podcast and I talked all about some of this stuff. And then I went, I don't know, a month later I was back at the same coffee place and he was there and everyone working there, I told them to wear nitrile gloves. Everyone working there was wearing nitrile gloves.

TRIGGERnometry Host: Nice.