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[00:00.66] A new study examines possible harm caused by microscopic pieces of plastic that end up inside people’s bodies.

[00:12.10] These materials – known as microplastics and nanoplastics – can enter the body through the air or in food or drinks.

[00:24.58] Tiny plastic pieces have received widespread attention in the media.

[00:32.55] But so far, very little research has been done on how the substances affect human heart health.

[00:41.58] One new study suggests the buildup of such plastics inside the body can increase the risk of a stroke, heart attack or death.

[00:53.54] But the researchers noted the evidence presented cannot prove a direct link between tiny plastic materials and heart problems.

[01:04.96] The study involved 257 people who had medical operations to clear blocked blood vessels in their necks.

[01:16.38] Italian researchers examined the fatty buildup the doctors removed from the carotid arteries, which supply blood and oxygen to the brain.

[01:29.93] Using two methods, they found evidence of plastics – mostly nanoplastics that cannot be seen – in the artery plaque of 150 patients.

[01:43.47] No evidence of plastics was seen in 107 patients.

[01:53.04] The team followed these people for three years.

[01:54.36] During that time, 30 individuals, or 20 percent of the group with plastics, had a heart attack, stroke, or died from any cause.

[02:06.05] These rates dropped to about eight percent among those with no evidence of plastics.

[02:14.02] Research results were recently published in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

[02:21.99] The researchers also found more evidence of inflammation in individuals with tiny plastic bits in their blood.

[02:31.82] Inflammation is the body's reaction to injury and is thought to raise the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

[02:41.38] The researchers admitted their study was very small.

[02:46.16] For example, it only looked at people with narrowed arteries who were already at risk for heart attacks and stroke.

[02:56.25] And the patients with the plastics had more heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol than those without plastics.

[03:06.88] They were also more likely to be men and more likely to be smokers.

[03:12.99] Both of those groups generally have higher rates of heart disease.

[03:18.83] The researchers tried to account for these risk differences.

[03:24.42] But they noted they may have missed some important elements that could change the results.

[03:32.11] The team said because of these ongoing questions, this kind of study cannot prove the plastics caused the health problems.

[03:43.27] Steve Nissen is a heart expert at the Cleveland Clinic in the state of Ohio who was not part of the study.

[03:52.57] He told the Associated Press he thinks the team’s estimate that the risk of heart attack, stroke or death was four times greater seems too high.

[04:06.38] “It would mean that these microplastics are the most important cause of coronary heart disease yet discovered.

[04:15.94] And I just don’t think that’s likely to be right,” Nissen said.

[04:22.05] Philip Landrigan of Boston College University told the AP that more research is needed on the issue.

[04:32.43] Landrigan, who wrote about the study in the Journal, said it is the first one suggesting a connection between microplastics and nanoplastics with disease in humans.

[04:47.30] Other scientists have found plastic bits in the lungs, liver, blood, placenta and breast milk.

[04:57.13] “It does not prove cause and effect, but it suggests cause and effect," Landrigan said. "

[05:05.36] And it needs urgently to be either replicated or disproven by other studies done by other investigators in other populations.”

[05:17.85] The Cleveland Clinic’s Nissen added about the study, “It’s a wake-up call that perhaps we need to take the problem of microplastics more seriously.

[05:30.86] As a cause for heart disease?

[05:34.58] Not proven. As a potential cause?

[05:36.97] Yes, maybe,” Nissen said.