Chewing gum can shed microplastics into saliva, pilot study finds
Chewing gum can shed microplastics into saliva, pilot study finds
Plastic is everywhere. And many products we use in everyday life can expose people to tiny, micrometer-wide plastic particles called microplastics. Now, chewing gum could be added to the list. In a pilot study, researchers found that chewing gum can release hundreds to thousands of microplastics per...
That's why I go to the source and chew plastics.
Because... they're made of microplastics?
... Must be a coincidence.
I'm ignorant. Have micro plastics been proven to be harmful?
At the very least, significantly more microplastics were found in corpses of people who had dementia and the volume has increased between 2016 and 2024.
Correlation vs causation will require more research but it surely can't be harmful begin to reduce exposure where we can as we didn't have microplastics resident in our body for most of human history. I'd hazard an educated guess that accumulating any inorganic material inside your body isn't good for you.
There are hints about them having carcinogen properties and promoting cerebral disorders (they do cross the blood-brain-barrier). But since human health is complex, not much evidence yet.
If this interests you, consider the book Ultra Processed People.
But which gum? I'm chewing gum right now and would prefer diet plastic gum if possible.
Almost all modern gum base is made from rubber/plastic. If you want plastic free gum you'll likely have to switch to one that specifically advertised as such. Most people talk about Simply Gum; I've never tried it personally and don't know much about the company
"Surprisingly, the natural based gums gave off the same amount of microplastics" so I'm not sure it's worth switching from the one you like. The better way to reduce your intake is not to start a new piece, instead keep chewing the old one that's releasing fewer and fewer particles. The best choice would be to stop chewing gum, but it helps me eat less, also there's apparently microplastics in foods too, and in everything else including our eyeballs.
What about toothbrushes?
I just pulled this out from my ass, but I would guess yes, they do. But you rinse your mouth after brushing your teeth so I would guess it's not that bad? Since you're (mostly) not ingesting the microplastic particles from the toothbrush. But again I'm going off of nothing.
Current advice is actually to not rinse after brushing, as you're meant to let the fluoride of the toothpaste sit against your teeth for thirty minutes.
Unfortunately, I would recommend not losing sleep over either source of microplastics (chewing gum or toothbrushes), until tires and synthetic clothing are done away with by society. Those are much MUCH bigger, inescapable sources of microplastics
you have to worry how abrasive some are.
Yummy, I love eating micro plastics...😋
good thing i stopped using chewing gum ages ago, always chewed it way too long and it turned disgusting.