Aelo Research
Peer-reviewed studies on microplastics and your health, turned into plain English.
Does reverse osmosis remove microplastics?
In a French lab, reverse osmosis membranes stopped every plastic test particle. But home units vary, water can pick plastic back up after it's filtered, and your at-home filter can't come with you.
Scientists found microplastics in 80% of the blood clots they pulled from patients.
Doctors in China found microplastics in 80% of the blood clots they pulled from patients with strokes, heart attacks and leg clots. Stroke patients whose clots held more plastic had more severe strokes.
Kids with more microplastics in their bodies did worse on memory tests.
Scientists in China tested 5,670 children aged 7 to 10. The more microplastics in their urine, the worse they did on memory tests.
Microplastics found in semen and placentas. What does it mean for fertility?
100% of men tested at fertility clinics had plastic in their semen. So did 23 of 23 human testicles and 13 of 13 placentas from babies who grew too slowly.
Scientists found microplastics in 100% of human brains they tested. They found even more in dementia patients.
Mice that drank microplastics did worse on memory tests.
Microplastics are making mice fat. What about humans?
Male mice that drank microplastics gained extra weight and body fat in 2 studies at one Kentucky lab. What the studies found, and what they don't prove.
Do research studies on animals matter for humans?
Yes. Animal tests flagged 71% of the harms 150 drugs caused in people. With microplastics, where plastic went in rats and mice, it later turned up in people.
Surgeons found microplastics in the arteries of 58% of patients
Surgeons in Italy found plastic in the artery plaque of 150 of 257 patients. Over nearly three years, that group had a higher combined risk of heart attack, stroke or death than the 107 without.
