The Effects of Microplastics on Your Health & How to Reduce Them

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are discussing microplastics. Microplastics are an extremely interesting and important topic that everyone should know about. And the reason is microplastics are indeed everywhere. They're in the air. They are in beverages we consume. They are lining the inside of soup cans. They are lining the inside of paper cups made to hold hot water, coffee and tea. And there are a lot of animal data and indeed some human data showing that microplastics, which consist of particles of different sizes, can be very detrimental to our health. At the same time, it's important to realize that as of now, we don't have any causal data linking microplastics to specific human diseases. That said, there's a lot of correlative data. And today we are going to review those correlative data. And most importantly, we are going to discuss the various things that we can each and all do to limit our exposure to microplastics or at least to facilitate the removal of microplastics from our body. Because as we'll soon discuss, you have microplastics in essentially every organ and tissue of your body right now. And you are constantly being bombarded with microplastics. So the challenge for me and indeed for you as well is to frame this topic of microplastics accurately. It's important that we understand they are out there, they are in us, and indeed they can cause serious issues for our health. However, we also need to take agency. We need to understand how we can limit what's called the bioaccumulation of microplastics in our organs and tissues. And I don't want to be alarmist. Today's episode is not about getting you to be petrified or about developing some sort of hypochondriasis about microplastics. It's designed to inform you about what they are, where they exist, where they exist in particularly high amounts, and the things that you can do to limit their impact on your biology. Because I think it's fair to say that we are not going to rid the earth of microplastics. They are just too pervasive. Now, the one caveat is that there are certain populations of people, in particular people that are pregnant or people that have young children and those young children themselves, that should really strive to limit their exposure to microplastics. So by the end of today's episode, you can be confident that you'll understand a lot about what microplastics are, the impact that they are currently having, some of the potential impact that people are starting to investigate and ways that you can limit their negative impact on your brain and bodily health. Before you begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Element. Element is an electrolyte drink that has everything you need and nothing you don't. That means the electrolytes, sodium, magnesium and potassium, in the correct ratios, but no sugar. Now I and others on the podcast have talked a lot about the critical importance of hydration for proper brain and bodily function. Research shows that even a slight degree of dehydration can really diminish cognitive and physical performance. It's also important that you get adequate electrolytes in order for your body and brain to function at their best. The electrolytes, sodium, magnesium and potassium, are critical for the functioning of all the cells in your body, especially your neurons or nerve cells. To make sure that I'm getting proper amounts of hydration and electrolytes, I dissolve one packet of element in about 16 to 32 ounces of water when I wake up in the morning and I drink that basically first thing in the morning. I also drink element dissolved in water during any kind of physical exercise I'm doing, especially on hot days if I'm sweating a lot and losing water and electrolytes. Element has a lot of different great tasting flavors of element. My favorite is the watermelon, although I also confess I like the raspberry and the citrus. Basically, I like all the flavors of element. If you'd like to try element, you can go to drink element.com/hubermanspelleddrinklmnt.com/huberman to claim a free element sample pack with the purchase of any element drink mix. Again, that's drink element.com/huberman to claim a free sample pack. Today's episode is also brought to us by BetterHelp. BetterHelp offers professional therapy with a licensed therapist carried out entirely online. 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