Microplastics: The tiny invader reshaping human health
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Microplastics are popping up all over the place, including your body. More specifically, in your penis, if you have one.
A study published this month in the International Journal of Impotence Research found – as far as researchers can tell – the first detection of microplastics in penises. Microplastics are the breakdown products of plastics in our daily lives that are smaller than five millimeters long. Think residue from water bottles or food containers.
The theory is that whether it’s drinking from plastic water bottles or from eating food in a plastic container, people are ingesting microplastics that are then deposited throughout the body. They may also be exposed through inhaling these tiny pieces, too, or even directly through the skin. “These particles can penetrate the body directly via the atmosphere, drinking water, and sea salt or indirectly through the food chain,” according to the study.
But “there’s been a big question as to whether or not these have an effect on people’s lives in any way,” says Dr. Boback Berookhim, a urologist and director of male fertility and microsurgery at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, who was not involved in the study. “There have been a few studies that have actually found microplastics in other tissues within the body, including within the heart and within the testicles.”
The research remains inconclusive on how microplastics might affect humans, but it’s fair to say that foreign objects of this nature aren’t a great sign.
“We’re not sure what if anything this means yet, but those plastics don’t belong there,” Berookhim says. “That’s not something that people should have in there.”
Researchers in the study took a handful of patients scheduled for penile implant surgery – an operation done for patients with severe erectile dysfunction, which means they’re either not responding to medication treatment or they’re unhappy with said medications. As they put the implant in, they took a small sample of penile muscular tissue and examined it to check for microplastics. They found them in 80% of the samples.
The conclusion? “All that can say is that we’re finding plastics in human tissue, and within the penile tissue as well,” Berookhim says. “It does not say that these plastics were playing a role in erectile dysfunction.”
The study represents a step in understanding microplastics. In the case of male reproductive health, “there is some evidence that’s suggestive of declining sperm production rates and potential decline in fertility over time,” Berookhim says. “And so the question is, well, what could there be environmentally that could be adding to this? So people are looking, and one of those things that we’re looking at is this whole concept of microplastics, so whether it’s in reproductive health or in heart health or cardiovascular health, or in other arenas, that’s kind of what we’re trying to figure out at this point.”
To understand if microplastics were leading to these patients’ erectile dysfunction, you’d need healthy volunteers to participate too, though Berookhim guesses “you’re going to have a hard time recruiting patients to agree to that.”
For those concerned about fertility, Berookhim isn’t advising patients to stop drinking out of plastic water bottles (the study specifically references previous research about microplastics’ impact on sperm production and quality). Lifestyle changes like moderate exercise and a healthy diet are often first-line suggestions. As for erectile dysfunction, “if patients are starting to present with erectile dysfunction and there isn’t a anxiety or performance anxiety component to it, there may be something else going on.”
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Men’s erections are a good indicator of cardiovascular health, according to Berookhim, so if they’re in the early stages of heart disease, recommendations might include to exercise or stop smoking.
And as for microplastics, keep an eye out for evolving research. But for now: “It’s an interesting study. It gives something to build on.”
