Today
The relationship between a diet rich in ultra -process foods and poor mental health, as well as cognitive deterioration, is well documented, and a new article published on Tuesday offers a theory about why they are related.
An earlier investigation of 2025, based on the corpse examination, discovered that human brains are dotted with tiny plastic particles that can equals the content of a tablespoon. The researchers also discovered that people with dementia after their death had greater amounts of plastic in the brain than those with healthy organs.
The new analysis published in Brain Medicine magazine suggests that microplastics present in the brain from ultraprocessed foods could influence the adverse health effects related to the brain, such as dementia and depression.
“Highly processed foods, such as Nuggets From chicken, they contained 30 times more microplastics per gram than chicken breasts, which highlights the impact of industrial processing, which often uses plastics at some point, “said the authors in the text.
“The relationship between ultraprocessed foods and adverse mental health is known,” said Dr. Nicholas Fabiano, a resident of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and co -author of the new article, to Today.com in an email. “Given the large amount of microplastics in ultraprocessed foods, they could mediate in this relationship. However, more research is needed.”
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“The evidence is only associative and not causal,” he added.
The effect of microplastics on the brain
Although microplastics have been found throughout the human body, more plastic accumulates in the brain than in any other organ, and reason could be that “the brain has a high lipid content (fats) and receives great blood flow,” Fabiano explained. “Therefore, it can be easier than microplastics, which have an affinity for lipids, enter and remain in the brain.”
There could also be more plastic in the brain of people with dementia because “it is known that they have permeable hematoencephalic barriers, which could predispose them to have a greater content of microplastics in the brain,” Fabiano explained.
The new analysis also raises concern about the effect of microplastics on the developing brain, since children consume a large amount of ultraprocessed foods, as Dr. Julio Licinio, editor of Brain Medicine, said in an email. Most of the research on plastic in the brain has been carried out, out of necessity, in the elderly.
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“Children eat a disproportionately greater amount of microplastics and have smaller brains; therefore, microplastic concentrations in the brain of children and adolescents can be potentially even higher than in the brain of adults,” Licinio said.
“What are these microplastics in the human brain in developing?” “Once again, this cannot be good.”
An “addiction to plastic materials”
There is little information about the possible long -term consequences of health microplastics, according to Fabiano. Current tests are limited to animal studies, which show a series of negative effects, from inflammation to immune dysfunction, abnormal organ development, changes in metabolism and cancer risk.
Studies have also related plastics to prematurity and cardiovascular mortality, Dr. Leo Trasande, director of the Langone Center for the research of environmental risks of the Nyu Langone Health in New York City. “These studies reinforce the need to address our addiction to plastic materials. We must take measures to reduce the amount of plastic in our lives.”
Dr. Dylan Wint, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic in Nevada, suspects that the publication of these articles will lead to more research.
“All good science begins not with answers, but with questions,” Wint told today.com. “You’ll have time to unravel what is behind.”
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“These articles rightly raise important issues about the serious consequences that are taking place,” transtends. “I want to highlight here that the concern for the impact of plastic in human health is very real.”
Dr. Jo Ellen Wilson, a researcher at Alzheimer’s and associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical Center of the University of Vanderbilt, was a little more cautious about the conclusions that readers must extract from the studies.
Dementia can have many causes and, although it is possible that the plastic present in people’s brain has caused the disease, it is also possible that changes in the brain have facilitated the entry of plastic, he explained to Today.com. Even so, the new report “showed some really interesting results,” he added.
Regarding dementia prevention, “eating comprehensive foods instead of processing and exercising” can help reduce the risk, Wilson said.
As for avoiding microplastics, “the measures that can be taken do not require a doctorate in chemistry or spend a fortune to put them into practice,” Trasande said. “It is not necessary to use nonstick pans or buy water in plastic bottles, which in many cases is simply tap water, so it is only paying for the plastic bottle.”
