Your Tea Bag Is Likely Releasing Billions of Microplastic Particles, According to a New Study
www.foodandwine.com
Research from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain found that individual tea bags steeped in boiling water can release billions of micro- and nanoplastic particles. Here's what to know.

Summary

A new study from Spain’s Autonomous University of Barcelona reveals that tea bags made from nylon, polypropylene, and cellulose release billions of micro- and nanoplastic particles when steeped in boiling water.

These particles, which can enter human intestinal cells, may pose health risks, potentially affecting the digestive, respiratory, endocrine, and immune systems.

Researchers urge regulatory action to mitigate plastic contamination in food packaging.

Consumers are advised to use loose-leaf tea with stainless steel infusers or biodegradable tea bags to minimize exposure.

  • splinter@lemm.eeEnglish
    81·
    4 hours ago

    I mean nothing about the methodology is even close to representing normal tea brewing behavior.

    For starters, a typical cup of tea is around 300-350ml, not 2ml and certainly not 1, so the low end is already down to 23,371 particles even before accounting for the brewing technique.

    Secondly, nobody holds their tea at an active boil while stirring it at 750 rpm. That’s virtually blending it. There isn’t a meaningful way to compare that to typical tea brewing behavior but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it produced 10,000x more particles.

    • DeltaSMC@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 minutes ago

      Right. You still drink 300-350 ml per cup. It doesn’t matter if you did 1 teabag per 300 ml or 300 teabags per 300 ml. In the first instance, you would have to measure 300 ml to get the X particles per cup. In the second instance, you can get the X particles per ml which is effectively per cup, or more accordingly, per teabag. It’s the same. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think your math of 23k particles per teabag is not mathing.

      Also, usually you don’t measure 1 teabag because of individual variability, so what they are doing is getting the average amount of particles from those 300 teabags. Much more accurate.

      They likely are using a magnetic stir bar. 750 RPM will not virtually blend it. This video shows it going at 3000 RPM max for reference. (https://youtu.be/fzzV75aMM1c) In a large container, the water at the bottom will be swirling faster than the water at the top. And also, 95 C will not be at an active boil - that’s at 100 C. It suggests to me that they boiled water, then poured it into the teabag beaker.

      I think that maybe you haven’t worked in a lab before, so it seems like the methodology isn’t right, but as a scientist, this passes the sniff test for me. Honestly, this part isn’t even the novel part of their study - the interesting part is that they found that intestinal cells took up the particles, but I digress.