Microplastics can degrade to nanoplastics small enough to enter the body Shutterstock/chayanuphol
Microplastics in our food and water may increase how much fat we digest and absorb, potentially heightening the risk of obesity, heart disease and other conditions associated with consuming too much fat.
When plastics are degraded by sunlight, water, landfill incinerators and other processes, they can form microplastics – fragments less than 5 millimetres long. “As they degrade, they become smaller and smaller, going down into the nanoscale,” says Philip Demokritou at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “A nano is …
Article amended on 31 March 2023
We removed an erroneous statistic on the amount of nanoplastics humans consume each week
