A new study strongly suggests that microplastics, found in plastic bottles and other everyday items, are linked to pancreatic damage.
What’s happening?
The research, published in the BMC Genomics journal, showed that small particles of polyethylene terephthalate plastic, or PET, had damaging effects on pigs’ pancreatic cells. Researchers from Poland and Spain used pigs because of their physiological similarities to humans in pancreatic function and metabolism, as The Independent explained.
The pigs were treated with a low or high dosage to track the differences in results. Their findings revealed that varying concentrations of PET particles led to changes in protein abundance within the pancreas. Unsurprisingly, higher doses cause more significant effects by altering 17 proteins versus seven for the lower dosage.
The PET…