What to eat (and avoid) in a world full of plastic | Dr. Sabine Donnai

Welcome to ZOE Science and Nutrition, where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health. Plastic, a miracle product, or so we were told when it was first introduced. In the nineteen sixties, the petrochemical industry created 15,000,000 tons of plastic per year. Fifty years later in 2014, that figure had risen to 311,000,000 tons, an increase of over 20 times. And our use of plastics just keeps increasing, forecasts to triple again by 2050. There's just one problem. Plastic never goes away. Our bodies can't break it down. Even bacteria can't decompose it. Over time, plastic just breaks into ever smaller pieces. Eventually, these pieces are small enough to enter your blood and make their way around your body, settling in your organs, your tissues, and your brain. Today, I'm joined by doctor Sabine Donai, a senior doctor and world authority on proactive health management around plastics. As part of her practice, Sabine screens for microplastics in patient's blood. I'm also joined by doctor Federica Amati, Zoe's head nutritionist and a research fellow at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London. Microplastics are an interest area for Federica, as she's joining me today to co host and learn more from Sabine. Together, we explore the impact of microplastics on our health and what you can do to reduce your risk today. Sabine, thank you so much for joining me today. Absolute pleasure to be here. And Frederica, this is fun because you're gonna be my co host today. I'm super excited about this one, Jonathan. Can't wait. So Sabine, we always like to kick off our show with a rapid fire q and a, which comes from questions from our listeners. You willing to give that a go? Absolutely. You can say yes or no, or if you have to, one sentence answer. Super. Alright. I'm gonna kick us off. Have I got plastic in my brain right now? Yes. My next, does my food contain little bits of plastic? Yes. Is plastic production contributing to climate change? Of course. Can microplastics impact heart health? Absolutely. And finally, what's the most common misconception you hear about microplastics? That it's all about the environment rather than about our health. And is about our health? It's entirely about our health. So I'm really looking forward to getting into this, we've not discussed this at all. But before we get into the details of the microplastics, how big is this plastic problem? How much plastic are we producing and is this any different than it was fifty years ago? Oh, la la. Okay. Yes. So you're ready for this. Plastics really came only into the world about nineteen fifties, really, when we started talking about plastics when I think it was Bakelite that was first first produced. And then nineteen sixties, it really exploded. And it was actually nineteen sixties, I think, that was the first time that we appreciated the environmental impact of plastics. And now, …