{"id":159497,"date":"2023-12-28T22:51:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T22:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=159497"},"modified":"2024-12-10T17:20:20","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T23:20:20","slug":"microplastics-in-human-breastmilk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/health\/microplastics-in-human-breastmilk\/","title":{"rendered":"Microplastics in breastmilk: an unknown threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Microplastics are seemingly everywhere: they have been found in soils, rivers, seas and lakes<\/a>, and even in human organs and fluids<\/a>. Recently, they have been detected in breastmilk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[In humans] they were first detected in blood and then they’ve been found in urine and feces, and now in human milk,\u201d says Marcela C\u00e1rdenas Tueme<\/a>, postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Obesity Research <\/a>(IOR) at Tec de Monterrey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a review article<\/a>, a research group, formed by C\u00e1rdenas Tueme at IOR<\/a>, Mario Caba-Flores and Alberto Camacho-Morales from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Le\u00f3n<\/a> and Carmen Mart\u00ednez-Valenzuela from the Autonomous University of the West<\/a> compiled scientific research carried out from 2010 to 2023 that has focused on finding persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and microplastics in breast milk and its substitutes, better known as formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POPs are a group of chemical molecules generated from industrial and agricultural activities, such as fertilizer derivatives. Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters, whose main forms are fragments, fibers, films and foams of common plastics, such as PET and polypropylene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interviewed by TecScience<\/em><\/strong>, C\u00e1rdenas Tueme explains that their presence in breast milk<\/a> is worrying because this is the main source of food for newborns and is essential for the establishment of a healthy immune system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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