Microplastics are part of our reality, and a study by the University of Birmingham and Binghamton University has revealed their presence in some everyday beverages. Mohamed Abdallah is the lead researcher and closely studied tea, coffee, energy drinks, soft drinks, and disposable items and their high concentration of microplastics. It should be noted that, although all research has always focused on bottled water and tap water, this important work has been key to delving deeper into this issue. Although the study was carried out in the United Kingdom, its expansion to other research circles is now being considered. Read on to learn more.
Science is just de the start: location of microplastics in our environment
It feels like science is just the start to understand the location of microplastics in our environment, from the water we drink to the food we eat. Several studies have currently found high concentrations in many human body parts, including the testicles and the brain. By instint, consumers are worried about where it’s all coming from, and investigators are starting to hone in on a number of culprits.
The new investigation from the University of Binghamton in the U.K. first reported by The Independent examined 155 drinks, including sodas, juices, energy drinks, and both hot and cold coffee and tea, to find which beverages are the huge contributors to microplastics in our systems. And it found some worring results about hot drinks in specific.
Hot coffee and tea had the most microplastics
The research team discovered that hot tea and hot coffee had, on average, far more microplastics than their chilled counterparts. Tea stood out the most, with expensive variance served in disposable cups containing the most microplastics. The achievements, the team explained, “strongly suggest that the disposable cup material is a primary source of [microplastics] in our hot coffee samples”.
Here’s a full report of what they found:
- Hot tea: 49 to 81 MPs per liter
- Hot coffee: 29 to 57 MPs per liter
- Iced tea: 24 to 38 MPs per liter
- Iced coffee: 31 to 43 MPs per liter
- Fruit juice: 19 to 41 MPs per liter
- Energy drinks: 14 to 36 MPs per liter
- Soft drinks: 13 to 21 MPs per liter
Investigation authors speak out
The biggest takeaway, the investigation said, is proving “for the first time that assessment of exposure via drinking water only may substantially underestimate the risk” of microplastics vulnerability.
One of the paper’s lead authors, University of Birmingham Professor Mohamed Abdallah, explained that the research found far wider contamination than they expected.
“We noted that a lot of research in the microplastics sphere is focusing on drinking water – tap water, bottled water – and we’ve also released a paper from the UK on water. But we realised that people don’t only drink water during their day. You drink tea, coffee, juices,” he said.
“We found a ubiquitous presence of microplastics in all the cold and hot drinks we looked at. Which is pretty alarming, and from a scientific point of view suggests we should not only be looking at water, we should be more comprehensive in our research because other sources are substantial.”
Packaging is also exposed to microplastic
Another study, released last year, found that packaging might not matter as much as food processing. After analyzing multiple types of proteins — meats, seafood and plant-based meats — researchers at the Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto found that highly processed products contained significantly more tiny particles than minimally processed products. For example, a chicken nugget had 62 microplastic particles per serving; a chicken breast had just two.
For highly processed foods, “there are just more opportunities for contamination to be introduced,” said Britta Baechler, director of ocean plastics research for the Ocean Conservancy and one of the authors of that study. Processed foods pass through a complicated web of conveyor belts and machines — with many parts made of plastic — before being packaged and sent to the grocery store. The largest exposure to microplastics, then, may come before the consumer is in contact with the food.
