Topic
Every study covered on this subject, newest first.
A narrative review raises dietary microplastic exposure in athletes, flagging packaged foods and bottled drinks as plausible exposure routes. The authors are explicit that mechanisms are plausible while direct studies in athletes do not exist.
Nutrients 18(14):2398 · 22 July 2026 · PMID 42514468
Polylactic acid, the compostable plastic used in food packaging, sheds nanoparticles when hot water is added to powdered food. Combined with the silica already in those powders, it damaged mouse liver and gut more than either did alone, and transplant experiments traced part of that damage to the loss of Lactobacillus.
Food Research International 239:119558 · Wang et al. · Nanchang University · 2 June 2026 · PMID 42270269
Leuconostoc mesenteroides CBA3656, isolated from kimchi, adsorbed nanoplastics across a wide range of concentrations, acidities and temperatures, and held up in fluid formulated to mimic the small intestine. Mice given the strain excreted significantly more plastic in their faeces.
Bioresource Technology 447:134234 · Lee et al. · World Institute of Kimchi · 15 February 2026 · PMID 41702519
In a human gut cell monolayer, two commercial yogurt starter strains reduced how much polystyrene nanoplastic was taken into the cells and how much passed through to the other side. The team tested whether the particles were sticking to the bacteria, found they were not, and reported it.
Scientific Reports 16(1) · Kobayashi et al. · Meiji Holdings · 14 February 2026 · PMID 41691046
Turning the question around, this team asked what plastic does to the bacterium. In a simulated digestion system, micro and nanoplastics suppressed growth, lactic acid production and the protective layer the organism secretes, by shutting down central sugar metabolism.
Journal of Hazardous Materials · Tao et al. · Central South University · 20 October 2025 · PMID 41135453
A screen of 784 bacterial strains from fermented foods found 87 that adsorbed more than 60 percent of polystyrene particles. The two best were given to mice exposed to plastic. Residual particles in the ileum fell by about two thirds, and a deliberately poor binder changed nothing.
Frontiers in Microbiology 15:1522794 · Teng et al. · Bluepha Co., Ltd. · 10 January 2025 · PMID 39867494
Mice exposed to polystyrene micro and nanoplastics were given lactic acid bacteria chosen for high or low binding capacity. The good binders did more good, as expected. One poor binder helped through a different route entirely, by raising the proteins that seal the gut wall.
Environmental Pollution 366:125288 · Shi et al. · Jiangnan University · 3 December 2024 · PMID 39638230
Lactic acid bacteria isolated from infant stool were mixed with nanoscale polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. Between two thirds and four fifths of the particles ended up on the bacterial surface. Simulations pointed at ordinary surface forces rather than anything biological.
Chemosphere 320:138038 · Zhao et al. · Henan Normal University · 1 February 2023 · PMID 36736839
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