• They confirmed the presence of plastic compounds — This included varieties common in food containers, pipes and packaging. Out of 257 participants, 150 — over half — had detectable levels of these plastics embedded in their plaque.

• Those with plastic-laden plaque had far worse health outcomes — Patients who had plastics in their plaque were more than four times as likely to experience a heart attack, stroke or die from any cause within the three-year follow-up period than patients with no detectable plastics.

• The researchers found jagged, foreign plastic fragments inside immune cells — The study also showed that these plastics had embedded deeply into tissue. Electron microscopy revealed sharp-edged particles wedged inside foam cells — immune cells that gather in artery walls during plaque formation.

Most particles were smaller than 1 micron — smaller than the width of a red blood cell — suggesting they were nanoplastics, which are even more dangerous because of their ability to penetrate cells.

• Plastic particles were confirmed using chemical fingerprinting — Some particles gave off distinct chlorine signatures, confirming the presence of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC is found in everything from plumbing pipes to credit cards — and its breakdown products are known endocrine disruptors.

• Even with no conventional risk factors, plastics still raised disease risk — The researchers adjusted for cholesterol, age, diabetes, body mass index and blood pressure. Even after accounting for these common risk factors, plastics still predicted who got sick. This means even if you’re eating well and exercising, your exposure to plastic pollution could quietly undermine your heart health.

• Your daily environment is the source, and the damage adds up — The plastics detected in this study were the same types found in water bottles, food containers and many household products. The study didn’t find them in just one region — they appeared across multiple areas. This means plastic pollution is a widespread problem with personal health consequences. If it’s in your air, water and food, it’s likely getting into your bloodstream — and staying there.

1. Upgrade your water filtration and ditch plastic bottles — Drinking contaminated tap water or buying plastic bottled water exposes you to microplastics every single day. I recommend switching to a certified water filter designed to remove microplastics. If your water is hard, boiling it before use dramatically reduces microplastics.⁴ Always choose glass bottles when buying bottled water.

2. Make smart food packaging choices — Heat and plastic are a dangerous combo. Stop microwaving food in plastic containers, and avoid plastic wraps touching your meals. Store leftovers in glass, stainless steel or ceramic. When you’re shopping, choose products in glass jars over plastic packaging whenever possible. These changes are simple but powerful — they reduce direct ingestion of plastic particles.

3. Re-evaluate your kitchen essentials — Plastic cutting boards shed tiny fragments every time you chop. Over time, those bits wind up in your food. Switch to wood and glass boards instead. Also swap out plastic utensils for stainless steel. These swaps lower your exposure while making your kitchen more durable and clean.

4. Choose natural fibers and rethink how you wash clothes — If you’re wearing polyester, acrylic or nylon, you’re wearing plastic. These synthetic fabrics shed microfibers into the water system during every wash. Choose cotton, wool or linen instead. For synthetic clothes you already own, wash them less often and use a microfiber-catching laundry bag or filter. This one step protects your body — and the planet.

5. Consider natural progesterone to help offset estrogenic plastic damage — Many plastics act like estrogen in your body. That’s a major reason they interfere with your cells and hormone balance. If you’re dealing with signs of estrogen dominance, like mood swings, stubborn weight or fatigue, natural progesterone helps balance things out. It acts as a direct counter to the hormonal disruption plastics cause.

How to Use Progesterone

Before you consider using progesterone, it is important to understand that it is not a magic bullet, and that you get the most benefit by implementing a Bioenergetic diet approach that allows you to effectively burn glucose as your primary fuel without backing up electrons in your mitochondria that reduces your energy production. My new book, “Your Guide to Cellular Health: Unlocking the Science of Longevity and Joy,” covers this process in great detail.

Once you have dialed in your diet, an effective strategy that can help counteract estrogen excess is to take transmucosal progesterone (i.e., applied to your gums, not oral or transdermal), which is a natural estrogen antagonist. Progesterone is one of only three hormones I believe many adults can benefit from. (The other two are DHEA and pregnenolone.)

I do not recommend transdermal progesterone, as your skin expresses high levels of 5-alpha reductase enzyme, which causes a significant portion of the progesterone you’re taking to be irreversibly converted primarily into allopregnanolone and cannot be converted back into progesterone.

Ideal Way to Administer Progesterone

Please note that when progesterone is used transmucosally on your gums as I advise, the FDA believes that somehow converts it into a drug and prohibits any company from advising that on its label. This is why companies promote their progesterone products as “topical.”

However, please understand that it is perfectly legal for any physician to recommend an off-label indication for a drug to their patient. In this case, progesterone is a natural hormone and not a drug and is very safe even in high doses. This is unlike synthetic progesterone called progestins that are used by drug companies, but frequently, and incorrectly, referred.

Dr. Ray Peat has done the seminal work in progesterone and probably was the world’s greatest expert on progesterone. He wrote his Ph.D. on estrogen in 1982 and spent most of his professional career documenting the need to counteract the dangers of excess estrogen with low-LA diets and transmucosal progesterone supplementation.

He determined that most solvents do not dissolve progesterone well and discovered that vitamin E is the best solvent to optimally provide progesterone in your tissue. Vitamin E also protects you against damage from LA. You just need to be very careful about which vitamin E you use as most supplemental vitamin E on the market is worse than worthless and will cause you harm not benefit.

It is imperative to avoid using any synthetic vitamin E (alpha tocopherol acetate — the acetate indicates that it’s synthetic). Natural vitamin E will be labeled “d alpha tocopherol.” This is the pure D isomer, which is what your body can use.

There are also other vitamin E isomers, and you want the complete spectrum of tocopherols and tocotrienols, specifically the beta, gamma, and delta types, in the effective D isomer. As an example of an ideal vitamin E, you can look at the label on our vitamin E in our store. You can use any brand that has a similar label.

You can purchase pharmaceutical grade bioidentical progesterone as Progesterone Powder, Bioidentical Micronized Powder, 10 grams for about $40 on many online stores like Amazon. That is nearly a year’s supply, depending on the dose you choose.

However, you will need to purchase some small stainless steel measuring spoons as you will need a 1/64 tsp, which is 25 mg and a 1/32 tsp, which is 50 mg. A normal dose is typically 25 to 50 mg and is taken 30 to 60 minutes before bed, as it has an anti-cortisol function and will increase GABA levels for a good night’s sleep.

If you are a menstruating woman, you should take the progesterone during the luteal phase or the last half of your cycle, which can be determined by starting 10 days after the first day of your period and stopping the progesterone when your period starts.

If you are a male or non-menstruating woman, you can take the progesterone every day for four to six months and then cycle off for one week. The best time of day to take progesterone is 30 to 60 minutes before bed as it has an anti-cortisol function and will increase GABA levels for a good night’s sleep.

This is what I have been personally doing for over a year with very good results. I am a physician so do not have any problems doing this. If you aren’t a physician, you should consult one before using this therapy, as transmucosal progesterone therapy requires a doctor’s prescription.

FAQs About Microplastics