A new study may have found the culprit behind the accumulation in our brains, and it\u2019s much more common than we may realize.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/microplastic-food-environment-health-concept-127406231.jpg\")
A study may have found why so much microplastic is found in our brains, leading to serious health issues like strokes. Rochu_2008 \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Previous research<\/a> found that the brain contains up to thirty times more microplastics than any other organ, and those with dementia show the highest levels.<\/p>\n Now, research published earlier this month in the journal BrainHealth<\/a> has found a strong potential link between these pesky particles and an everyday dietary source \u2014 ultra-processed foods (UPFs).<\/p>\n While the packaged goods, drinks, cereals and ready-to-eat products that are UPFs are often high in sugar, saturated fat and salt and devoid of vitamins and fiber, they also make up 60% of Americans\u2019 calorie intake<\/a>.<\/p>\n The teeny plastics and their even tinier counterparts, nanoplastics, found in arterial deposits were associated with around a fourfold increase in the combined\u00a0risk of heart attack, stroke or death.<\/p>\n Researchers believe that microplastics make it to the brain more than other parts of the body due to their size, with ingesting food being the most convenient vehicle.<\/p>\n Additionally, the brain\u2019s high fat content may explain why UPFs deliver more than a plastic spoon\u2019s worth of tiny fragments derived from plastics.<\/p>\n Ultimately, highly processed foods come in near constant contact with plastic, from manufacturing to packaging to heating and storage.<\/p>\n There is a large amount of evidence connecting UPFs with worsened brain health, among other health concerns and issues.<\/p>\n Higher consumption of these foods was associated with a 44% increase in depression and a 48% increase in anxiety.<\/p>\n Eating more of these nutritionally-devoid foods has also been linked to an increased risk of dementia and risk factors associated with the condition, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity.<\/p>\n And even just five days of eating junk food can result in 32 poor health outcomes, including a higher risk of\u00a0cardiovascular disease<\/a>,\u00a0cancer<\/a>, metabolic syndrome, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and even premature death.<\/p>\n Despite the evidence, researchers note that these are observational findings and that there is simply a strong pattern between UPFs and plastic content continuing to show up in the brain.<\/p>\n Preliminary research has found a procedure called therapeutic apheresis that filters a patient\u2019s blood plasma outside the body (similar to dialysis) to be effective in removing plastics.<\/p>\n However, it\u2019s unclear how much is cleared out from plasma and tissue and whether the procedure can be replicated for large populations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Life in plastic isn\u2019t so fantastic. While there\u2019s debate over how much is actually in our systems, microplastics…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":787221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6923,4637,14400,3655,6922,210,29370,8288,10943,1183,35155,16978,16887,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-787220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-blood","9":"tag-body","10":"tag-brains","11":"tag-diabetes","12":"tag-diets","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-junk-food","15":"tag-microplastics","16":"tag-obesity","17":"tag-research","18":"tag-stroke","19":"tag-study-says","20":"tag-ultra-processed-foods","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116552094447793599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/concept-healthy-unhealthy-food-top-127406228.jpg\")
Ultra-processed foods may be the reason why so many plastic particles are ingested and make their way to the brain. Maria \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n