Analysis of Microplastics in Human Feces Reveals a Correlation between Fecal Microplastics and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Status

Human ingestion of microplastics (MPs) is inevitable due to the ubiquity of MPs in various foods and drinking water. Whether the ingestion of MPs poses a substantial risk to human health is far from understood. Here, by analyzing the characteristics of MPs in the feces of patients with inflammatory...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology Vol. 56; no. 1; p. 414
Main Authors: Yan, Zehua, Liu, Yafei, Zhang, Ting, Zhang, Faming, Ren, Hongqiang, Zhang, Yan
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 04.01.2022
Subjects:
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Feces - chemistry
Humans
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Microplastics
Plastics - analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
health risk
microplastics
source of exposure
feces
inflammatory bowel disease
ISSN:1520-5851, 1520-5851
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Summary:Human ingestion of microplastics (MPs) is inevitable due to the ubiquity of MPs in various foods and drinking water. Whether the ingestion of MPs poses a substantial risk to human health is far from understood. Here, by analyzing the characteristics of MPs in the feces of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and healthy people, for the first time, we found that the fecal MP concentration in IBD patients (41.8 items/g dm) was significantly higher than that in healthy people (28.0 items/g dm). In total, 15 types of MPs were detected in feces, with poly(ethylene terephthalate) (22.3-34.0%) and polyamide (8.9-12.4%) being dominant, and their primary shapes were sheets and fibers, respectively. We present evidence indicating that a positive correlation exists between the concentration of fecal MPs and the severity of IBD. Combining a questionnaire survey and the characteristics of fecal MPs, we conclude that the plastic packaging of drinking water and food and dust exposure are important sources of human exposure to MPs. Furthermore, the positive correlation between fecal MPs and IBD status suggests that MP exposure may be related to the disease process or that IBD exacerbates the retention of MPs. The relative mechanisms deserve further studies. Our results also highlight that fecal MPs are useful for assessing human MP exposure and potential health risks.
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ISSN:1520-5851
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.1c03924