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Microplastics in Food and Human Pharmacokinetics: A Scoping Review with Mechanistic Integration and Targeted Quantitative Synthesis
Summary
This scoping review synthesized evidence on microplastic presence across dietary sources—seafood, water, salt, fruits, and vegetables—finding estimated human intake can exceed 100,000 particles per year, while noting that pharmacokinetic data on how the body absorbs, distributes, and excretes ingested MPs remain scarce.
Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) have become pervasive environmental contaminants, entering the human body primarily through ingestion and inhalation. Increasing evidence shows their presence in a variety of dietary sources, including seafood, drinking water, table salts, fruits, and vegetables. Estimated human intake can exceed 100,000 particles per year, yet their biological fate in humans remains poorly understood. Direct pharmacokinetic (PK) data describing absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) are scarce, and much of the current understanding comes from in vitro human studies and in vivo animal models. Mechanistic insights are critical for interpreting these limited human data and for identifying potential health risks. This review will systematically map and synthesize existing literature on MPs in food and their PK in humans, integrating mechanistic evidence to provide a comprehensive overview and identify knowledge gaps.