Microplastics used to sound like a distant environmental issue, but they're showing up in more places than you'd expect, including the food we eat every day. According to new research, even something as simple as chewing gum could expose you to tiny plastic particles.
With something as common as chewing gum becoming a microplastic delivery system, many people are concerned about how often they're consuming the potential hidden hazard. The average person takes in between 39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles each year from food and drink. That number is more like 120,000 if you include airborne particles.
We talked with a family physician to better understand how microplastics could affect your health. We discussed what is considered a "safe" level of microplastic intake, which foods have the highest content and what you can do right now to reduce your exposure.
Read more: Microplastics Are Hiding in Your Kitchen. Here's How to Spot Them
How many microplastics are too many?
"There is no officially established 'safe' or 'unsafe' level of microplastic intake. It makes sense to want your exposure to be as low as possible," Dr. Joseph Mercola, a board-certified family medicine osteopathic physician, said in an email.
Microplastics can enter our food due to contamination where the food was grown, raised or processed. Mercola explained that using plastic mulch and plastic seed coatings in agriculture, and irrigation with contaminated water, are among the various ways microplastics can end up in food. Plastic packaging, utensils and containers are additional sources.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, current evidence doesn't suggest that the levels of microplastics in food are a risk to us. However, you still might want to minimize how much microplastics you passively consume. These are the most common foods that contain microplastics, and the measures you can adopt to reduce your plastic intake.
Top 8 foods in your diet that contain microplastics
1. Seafood
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