Covid19 & Health Update: Serious Concerns About Plastics and Immunity
Hello everyone:
As you know, inflammation causes, aggravates, or perpetuates virtually every known human condition or illness. We also know that inflammation is predominantly an immune system response and that there are two types of inflammation: purposeful and non-purposeful. It is the non-purposeful inflammation which is what is driving the epidemic of chronic conditions and diseases…and there are many drivers of inflammation including primarily latent or hidden infections, toxins (plastics), foods, stress chemistry, allergies, and autoimmune conditions. Today we will focus on plastics due to the “extensive contamination of our food and water sources with microplastics…” and “ Scientists estimate that each week we swallow 5 grams of tiny plastic particles that have found their way into our food and water supplies – equivalent to the weight of a credit card.”
From the links below, here are some important points:
Researchers Find Microplastics in Food and Water Alter the Immune System
“A team of University of New Mexico researchers is exploring whether the presence of these microplastics in the body affects the immune system and how they might trigger inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other ailments.
“If something crosses the (gut) barrier that doesn’t need to cross, macrophages (white blood cells) go there and engulf them,” explains immunologist Eliseo Castillo, PhD, an assistant professor in the UNM Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, who helped lead the study. In a paper published in the journal Cell Biology & Toxicology , Castillo and his colleagues found that when macrophages encountered and ingested 10-micron spheres of polystyrene, their function was altered and they released inflammatory molecules.
“It is changing the metabolism of the cells, which can alter inflammatory responses,” Castillo says. “During intestinal inflammation – states of chronic illness such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, both forms of IBD – these macrophages become more inflammatory and they’re more abundant in the gut.”
The multitude of cell types in the gut are all interconnected, he says. “If you perturb any one of them you can perturb all of them. If we’re constantly ingesting microplastics you can see how this can start to affect not only the gut but the rest of the immune system.”
On top of that, these microplastics are shown to be a disease vector of fungus as well as enhance antibiotic resistance, enhance respiratory infections (think Covid!) and more…check the bottom 3 links below.
Bottom Line: It certainly seems like a great idea to avoid microplastics as a component of reducing your inflammatory burden and prevent future health issues. This is especially true for children and those with autoimmunity and any chronic health condition. On top of that, the effects that these plastics cause through the immune system can affect ANY part of the body as the inflammation spills over into all parts of the body…thus it can make ANY PROBLEM worse. So… get rid of water in plastic bottles, no more plastic wrap, no heating anything in plastic, and go to www.ewg.org and look up safe cleaning products and cosmetics and personal care products. The more we demand the products we purchase are not packaged in plastic and do not contain plastics, the more they will respond to market demand…let your voice be heard!
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