The worst drinks for microplastic contamination revealed
Microplastics are found around us – in the air we breathe, in the seas and rivers, in the intestines of sharks and in growing plants.
They are also in people: they accumulate in our blood, in our brain and even in our testicles.
Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising to learn that one of the most important tools of entering the body is the liquids we drink. Previous studies have shown that there are germs in both faucet water and bottled water, but new studies have shown that hot drinks could be a greater source of germs than previously performed.
A research team at the University of Birmingham tested 155 widespread soft drinks, including hot and cold beverages to get a picture of average human exposure through a realistic range of daily beverages in a country.
The study, which is believed to be the first example of its species, found that the highest concentrations of microplastics were in hot tea and hot coffee.
The study also tested iced tea and coffee for germs, but it was found significantly less, which suggests that the high temperatures and processes used to make hot drinks contribute to microplastic levels that result in the product.
The team evaluated a total of 31 different types of beverages from popular UK brands purchased from supermarkets and coffee shops in 2024.
The samples were filtered and then microplastic numbers were determined by microscope imaging. Cold drinks were immediately filtered, while hot drinks were allowed to cool for 30 minutes before the analysis.
Compared to 14MPS per cup for glass cups in disposable cups, it contained the highest germs (MPS), an average of 22MPS per cup. More expensive tea bags found the highest amount of plastic with 24 to 30MPS per cup.
Similarly, the research team strongly suggested that the findings for hot coffee were the primary source of the “disposable cup material. [microplastics] In our hot coffee samples ”.
Since not all samples are the size of the cup, the team expressed its general findings in microplastics per liter.
- Hot Tea: 49 to 81 deputies per liter
- Hot coffee: 29 to 57 deputies per liter
- Iced tea: 24 to 38 SMS per liter
- Iced coffee: 31 to 43 deputies per liter
- Fruit juice: 19 to 41 deputies per liter
- Energy drinks: 14 to 36 deputies per liter
- Non -alcoholic beverages: 13 to 21 deputies per liter
The authors said that their work proved that “the evaluation of exposure through drinking water for the first time can significantly underestimate the risk directed to people with higher germ prevalence in other drinks”.
The same team Published in 2024The emergence of the average microplastic concentration in tap water (24 to 56 MP per liter) was “statistically indistinguishable” from bottled water (26 to 48 MP per liter).
Professor Mohamed Abdallah of Birmingham University, one of the chief writers of the new research Independent: “We have stated that too many research in the field of microplastic to drinking water – tap water, bottled water – focusing on the water and released a paper on the water. But we noticed that people do not just drink water for the day. You drink tea, coffee, fruit juices …
“We have found the presence of germs everywhere in all cold and hot drinks we look at. It shows that we should not look at the water from a very worry and scientific point of view, because we should be more comprehensive in our research because other sources are important.”
“Every morning we consume millions of tea and coffee, so it is definitely something to look at. It must be a legislative action to limit the exposure of people from the government and at the same time to microplastic.”
The authors said that the new research serves as a critical step to better understand the exposure of MPs under the real life scenarios, and that MPS intake in order to enable wider environment and public health interventions advocates more comprehensive work through dietary resources, “.
