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Plastics, diet and human health: Accurately assessing exposure in adults.
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This research project is developing methods to accurately measure how much plastic people are exposed to through their diet, including microplastics from food packaging. The study examines whether reducing plastic food packaging can lower dietary plastic exposure and simultaneously improve diet quality. It matters because understanding true dietary exposure is a prerequisite for assessing health risks from microplastics in food.
Amelia Harray1,2,3, Andrew Lucas1, Susan Herrmann1, Claire Miller1, Philip Vlaskovsky1, Christos Symeonides4,5,6, Sarah Dunlop1,4, Gerald Watts1,7, Michaela Lucas1,8,9,10 1University of Western Australia, Australia, 2Telethon Kids Institute, Australia, 3Curtin University, Australia, 4Minderoo Foundation, Australia, 5Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Australia, 6 Royal Children's Hospital, Australia, 7Cardiometabolic Service, Department of Cardiology, Royal Perth Hospital, Australia, 8PathWest, Australia, 9Perth Children’s Hospital, Australia, 10Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital, Australia Background and aims: Reducing plastic food packaging aligns with a healthy and sustainable dietary pattern. Yet, plastics are ubiquitous in the food supply, and they contain microplastics, nanoplastics and plastic-associated chemicals (PAC), such as bisphenols and phthalates. These chemicals can enter the body via ingestion, absorption and inhalation, have endocrine disrupting properties and have been associated with cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Methods to comprehensively assess PAC exposure at an individual level are limited, restricting the ability to determine priority areas for PAC exposure reduction. The Plastic Exposure Reduction Transforms Health (PERTH) Trial aimed to develop tools to assess PAC exposure and apply these to healthy adults to explore associations between PAC exposure and levels detected in urine and nasal biosamples. Description and recommendations: Researchers developed three electronic behavioural assessment tools: an 87-item PAC Exposure Questionnaire, a 24-hour personal care product recall, and a 24-hour modified diet recall (24DR-PAC). The 24DR-PAC collected detailed data on plastic exposure related to food packaging, storage, and preparation, cooking methods and materials, and consumption. These tools were applied twice on a cohort of 211 healthy adults in Perth, Western Australia, who provided concurrent biological samples (nasal washings, stool, blood, and urine). A Dietary Plastics Score was developed to measure adherence to a low-plastics dietary pattern, based on 24DR-PAC data. Results are forthcoming. Significance: Accurately assessing people's exposure to plastic is crucial for exploring associated health impacts, identifying modifiable behaviours, informing future interventions and guiding equitable reduction strategies.
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