Map reveals:

This is how much microplastic we consume every day

It's in our food, our drinking water and in the air - in short, it's everywhere: microplastics. But how much of it do we inhale every day and how much do we ingest through our food? For the first time, a map now provides information on the intake of microplastics by humans in 109 countries, including Austria.

"Microplastics can even be detected in the carotid artery " - Salzburg cardiologist Friedrich Hoppichler and health psychologist Julia Schätzer recently made people sit up and take notice with this news. In a study, they proved that not only microplastics, i.e. plastic particles with a diameter of less than five millimetres, but also nanoplastics between one and 1000 nanometres (millionths of a millimetre) in size can be found in the carotid arteries of atherosclerosis patients. This could lead to an increase in acute cardiovascular diseases, the researchers concluded.

"We ingest microplastics every day: through inhalation, skin contact, via the mucous membranes of the eye surfaces or through the consumption of contaminated food," the researchers wrote. But how much actually? A world map of microplastic consumption now provides information for the first time on the intake of microplastics by humans in 109 countries.