Beloved comfort food may be exposing you to over 1,000 microplastic particles a week

Want to cut down on your microplastic intake? Scientists have a new suggestion.These tiny plastic bits can seem completely unavoidable — breaking down into minuscule particles that get into the body through breathing, skin contact, and of course, eating and drinking.In fact, research suggests we inadvertently consume about a credit card’s worth a week.

All that plastic is building up inside us and causing exerting toxic effects — from damaging the heart, blood vessels and bones, to suppressing our immune systems and messing with our hormones.While it’s impossible for most of us to completely avoid microplastics, there are a few science-backed habits we can easily adopt.We already know that heat causes plastic to break down.There are the obvious culprits, like plastic water bottles and kitchen utensils, and the sneakier ones, like tea bags sealed with plastic adhesive.Now, scientists are warning about another source: instant noodles.Specifically, researchers studied microplastics coming from the kinds of instant noodles sold right in the bucket so you can avoid dirtying a pot or a bowl.These disposable cups might look and feel like paper, but research suggests they’re actually lined with an insidious layer of plastic that leaches right into your soup.Outside Asia, Americans eat more instant noodles than anyone else in the world.That said, Asia still accounts for 85% of instant noodle sales, according to the study’s authors.

That’s why they chose 20 different samples of bucket noodles from four countries in the region: China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.To mimic making the noodles, they filled the empty, cleaned containers with hot (203 degrees Fahrenheit / 95 degrees Celsius) water, let them sit and then shook and stirred the water.When they tested the water, they found microplastics in all 20 buckets, averaging about 318 particles per bucket.The researchers say that if you eat these often, you could easily be ingesting more than 1,000 microplast...