We knew that nanoplastics were harmful. An article published a few days ago suggests that they
are much more so than we imagined.
In an article published by researchers from Sweden, Austria, and the Czech Republic, it is
demonstrated that nanoplastics (25 nm nanoplastic polystyrene) do not act only through
oxidative stress, but cause potentially carcinogenic DNA mutations.
The researchers demonstrated that, after entering the cells, the nanoplastics physically associate
with the DNA and transform the DNA helix from the B form (the standard one, the one in which
it is usually represented) into less frequent and more contorted forms (Z-like, A/B hybrids, HDNA).
The disturbing detail is that the mutations are not scattered at random: they concentrate near
those structures that in human DNA are rich in elements controlling cell growth such as
promoters, origins of replication, and oncogenic hotspots. It is as if the nanoplastics went to seek
out precisely the regions that matter for gene regulation and for chromosomal instability, that is,
the regions responsible for the onset of cancer.
The size of the nanoplastics constitutes the critical point: 25 nm (25 millionths of a millimeter).
Our cells have no defenses against such small particles, the immune system does not recognize
them, and the DNA suffers the damage without being able to defend itself. In fact, DNA repair
systems do not erase the risk: they shift it from "point mutation" to "instability at already fragile
sites," which for carcinogenesis is worse.
Conclusions: chronic exposure to nanoplastics does not only cause inflammation or oxidative
stress, as was already known. It causes DNA mutations right where the genome is already
unstable and where the risk of cancer is highest.
For those who do not yet know, a liter of bottled mineral water contains about 270,000 pieces of
nanoplastic, although the figure is thought to be an underestimate and the real number is
probably closer to a million. Skipping water does not help: wine, beer and tea also contain micro
and nanoplastics in significant amounts.
If you want to know how the microbiome can help minimizing the risk associated with micro and
nanoplastics, please take a look at this video:
https://youtu.be/8ukQ_wmPrkk?si=18eRT-aE5qmkNSLX
Scientific references quoted in this post:
https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.08.750059
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2300582121