Microplastics are near-invisible invaders infiltrating our our bodies via the water we drink, the meals we eat, and even the air we breathe. As researchers study extra about this well being menace, they’re attempting to quantify precisely how a lot microplastic we soak up. One research suggests we ingest the equal of a plastic bank card weekly; one other estimates the quantity is akin to 50 plastic luggage yearly.
Fortunately, the physique’s pure detoxing features — which assist defend us from micro organism, viruses, and different intruders — could finally rid our our bodies of at the very least some plastic.
“Our information means that the quantity of microplastics doesn’t merely accumulate as we age however in all probability will get cleared by our our bodies, even when slowly,” says College of New Mexico professor of toxicology Matthew Campen, PhD, MSPH, colead creator of a 2025 research that discovered microplastics in individuals’ brains.
How effectively our our bodies can detox this unnatural invader is a tougher query.
“The quick reply is, we do not know,” Campen explains. “We predict that the liver can transfer plastic particles again to the gallbladder and put them again within the GI tract for elimination. The kidneys could equally be eliminating plastics in urine. The plastics could degrade in our physique.”
Some researchers are involved that microplastics could impede such detox features: A 2023 research on mice discovered that microplastics may accumulate within the liver and kidneys.
SUPPORT DETOX
We might be able to help our physique’s different methods of detoxing, although. In an internet article, integrative- and functional-medicine doctor Aaron Hartman, MD, studies on research-based methods for safeguarding ourselves.
1) Eat your fiber. “Excessive-fiber diets could assist lure microplastics within the intestine and facilitate their elimination. Fiber-rich meals promote bile secretion, which might bind to toxins, together with microplastics, and take away them via stool,” Hartman writes. (For extra on the advantages of fiber, see “Why You Have to Eat Fiber.”)
2) Complement with activated charcoal and bentonite clay. “These pure adsorbents have been studied for his or her capability to bind toxins within the intestine, doubtlessly trapping microplastics and facilitating their excretion,” he notes. (For extra on different detox methods, see “12 Methods for a Secure Detox.”)
REDUCE EXPOSURE
In the meantime, the most effective protection in opposition to microplastics is to restrict publicity within the first place, says environmental well being researcher Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH, professor of OB-GYN and reproductive sciences on the College of California, San Francisco. She lists the next methods:
3) Keep away from mixing meals and plastics. “It’s not simple!” she acknowledges. “However typically, consuming meals not cooked in plastic or packaged in plastic will assist. This implies by no means microwave meals in plastic. I might additionally keep away from consuming out of plastic containers and attempt to keep away from meals wrapped in plastic.”
Woodruff recommends shopping for contemporary meals as an alternative of processed meals when attainable and getting ready meals at house to cut back plastic publicity. “Don’t use plastic chopping boards or plastic utensils when cooking,” she says.
4) Keep away from drinks in plastic bottles. Select glass, chrome steel, or ceramic containers for storing meals. And don’t wash your dishes with plastic-covered dishwasher pods.
5) Go for garments manufactured from pure materials. “Folks typically don’t notice that artificial materials like polyester, nylon, acrylic, or fleece materials are made out of plastic and shed microplastics when washed and discarded, so selecting pure materials like cotton or wool is best to cut back microplastics,” she advises. “Washing garments in chilly water and never utilizing dryer sheets additionally cuts down on microplastics and chemical exposures.”
6) Clear your private home, ceaselessly. “Microplastics can gather in mud, so it’s necessary to hoover with filters such because the HEPA filter,” Woodruff says. “Moist-mopping flooring may help to additional take away these particles from the house.”
And go away your sneakers on the door, which may help maintain plastics from the outside from getting inside within the first place.
7) Reduce on general plastic use. “A very powerful factor we have to do is scale back plastic use, particularly single-use plastics like water bottles, plastic packaging, and different plastics that flip into microplastics upon disposal,” she says. “Packaging is by far the No. 1 supply of plastic waste, adopted by clothes.” (Discover “18 Methods to Dwell With Much less Plastic” for concepts to assist scale back your plastic publicity.)
This text initially appeared as “The best way to Assist Your Physique Handle Microplastics” within the November/December 2025 problem of Expertise Life.
The put up 7 Methods to Assist Your Physique Handle Microplastics appeared first on Expertise Life.