{"id":521728,"date":"2026-03-08T03:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T03:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521728\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T03:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T03:23:15","slug":"scientists-present-new-possible-cause-of-parkinsons-disease-and-explain-surge-in-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521728\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists present new possible cause of Parkinson’s disease and explain surge in diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists have found a potential cause of Parkinson’s disease in a new study, and it means that practically all of us are at a heightened risk.<\/p>\n

Parkinsons is a health<\/a> condition which affects movement, and is triggered when brain cells that make dopamine stop working properly.<\/p>\n

The condition often begins to manifest with tremors or stiffness, and progressively gets worse over time.<\/p>\n

There is no cure for the condition, but it can be managed and proper treatment can help to reduce symptoms.<\/p>\n

Parkinsons has two types, one which is genetic, and another where the precise cause is not known, and may differ from person to person.<\/p>\n

But now scientists working in China<\/a> have identified one possible factor which could put us in more danger of the condition.<\/p>\n

\"MicroplasticsMicroplastics are becoming increasingly prevalent (Guido Mieth\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Sadly, this is something which is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.<\/p>\n

It’s microplastics – those tiny fragments of plastic which have wormed their way to everywhere from the deep ocean to our very bodies.<\/p>\n

As plastic pollution becomes more prevalent, microplastics are being found in more and more places, including in the food<\/a> we eat.<\/p>\n

The study said: “With the intensification of global plastic pollution, the potential threats posed by micro- and nanoplastics to human health have become a major concern.<\/p>\n

“Microplastics] enter the organism through ingestion, inhalation, and skin contact, subsequently accumulating in multiple organs – particularly the brain.”<\/p>\n

This study was made up of a review of around 100 different studies.<\/p>\n

Microplastics enter our bodies through ingestion, and can then go on to accumulate in our brains.<\/p>\n

There, the review warned that this may lead to toxic proteins building up which are themselves connected to Parkinson’s Disease.<\/p>\n

\"MicroplasticsMicroplastics are ingested, and can lead to health problems (Alistair Berg\/Getty)<\/p>\n

The study has come amid a rise in cases of Parkinson’s disease, which have more than doubled over the course of the last 25 years.<\/p>\n

Now, an estimated 8.9 million people live with Parkinson’s, including actor Michael J Fox.<\/p>\n

Plastic pollution is now at such a problem that we simply cannot avoid ingesting it. <\/p>\n

Microplastics are formed when larger plastic items begin to break down in the environment<\/a>, eventually reaching a microscopic size.<\/p>\n

Some researchers now estimate that in the US<\/a> the average person will ingest approximately five grams of microplastics each week.<\/p>\n

This is about the equivalent of a spoon full of them, and comes to around 21 grams per month, and 125 grams over the course of six months.<\/p>\n

Microplastic is defined as being a fragment smaller than five millimeters, and a nanoplastic is smaller than a thousandth of a millimeter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists have found a potential cause of Parkinson’s disease in a new study, and it means that practically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84,44,886,883],"class_list":["post-521728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-news","tag-us-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}