How much plastic is in your food?

Are you consuming too much plastic?

Microplastics are tiny plastic particles (less than 5 mm in size) and are found almost everywhere in the environment, food chain, and human body. A study published in Nature Medicine reported that human brain tissue contains microplastics, and some studies link cardiovascular disease risk to microplastics in arterial plaque. While many products are contaminated through plastic packaging, much is also ingested through unfiltered water and foods.

Microplastics come from many sources, including synthetic clothing, tire dust, microbeads in personal care products (now banned in many countries), packaging materials, and degraded litter.

​What can we do? ​

1. Reduce, avoid, or manage the foods known to contain the most microplastics. These include products produced with water not filtered for microplastics such as tap water, sea salt, beer, bottled water, shellfish, and rice. Apples and carrots, even tea bags, may also contain high levels of microplastics.
2. Never buy water in plastic bottles.
3. Seek certified organic products that maintain healthy production practices and use non-plastic packaging.
4. Thoroughly wash all products sold in plastic packaging.
5. Adapt. Look for purity-tested products. Seek out non-plastic water filtration bottles, pitchers, or “reverse-osmosis” filtration systems. Use loose-leaf tea in a non-plastic tea infuser or teapot.

Staying healthy in today’s environment can be challenging, but staying informed, alert, and adaptable helps.

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Did you know that Visiting Nurse Association of Northern New Jersey (VNA) is the longest-serving VNA in the state of New Jersey? So we know a thing or two about healthy aging and how to successfully “age in place” while avoiding hospitalization and nursing homes. We suggest that you learn more about our home health care services and make a plan to age at home before you have a health emergency.

​Medicare and supplemental insurance often do not cover all the care our patients and caregivers need. If you would like to help, please visit vnannj.org/donate or call the VNA Foundation at 973-451-4148.

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Visiting Nurse Association of Northern New Jersey (VNA) is a leading provider of comprehensive home health care and hospice services in Morris, Hunterdon, Sussex, Warren, Passaic, and Somerset Counties in Northern New Jersey. Established in 1898, generations have known that just one call to VNA opens the door to quality, patient-centered home health care solutions that allow patients to remain in the comfort of their homes with dignity, health, and independence.

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© All content on The Visiting Nurse Association of Northern New Jersey's website, including blog posts, may be reproduced only if attributed to our organization with a link to vnannj.org.

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