{"id":541421,"date":"2026-03-24T01:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/541421\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T01:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:41:11","slug":"scientists-discover-food-to-help-you-poop-out-microplastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/541421\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discover food to help you poop out microplastics"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been much debate<\/a> about whether we actually ingest a credit card\u2019s worth of plastic<\/a> per week. These new findings won\u2019t help you poop money, but they do suggest certain foods might rid your body of a portion of that plastic.<\/p>\n

Probiotic foods<\/a> \u2014 those teeming with beneficial lactic acid bacteria \u2014\u00a0have been used for millennia to boost the gut\u2019s natural defenses against harmful toxins.<\/p>\n

Now, a new study<\/a> from the World Institute of Kimchi attempted to pinpoint which lactic acid strains found in Korea\u2019s most beloved probiotic food were not only most beneficial to the gut but most effective at removing nanoplastics from the system altogether.<\/p>\n

Fermented foods like kimchi have a certain strain of lactic acid that may actually latch onto nanoplastics in the gut and help you excrete them, new research shows. AuthorLinyt \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The team, led by Se Hee Lee and Tae Woong Whon, isolated the lactic acid bacterium leuconostoc mesenteroides CBA3656 (or just CBA3656 for short) found in kimchi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then they analyzed CBA3656\u2019s ability to adsorb one of the most common forms of nanoplastics, derived from polystyrene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an experiment, one set of mice was given CBA3656 and another wasn\u2019t. When the researchers examined each group\u2019s feces, they found that the feces from the CBA3656 group had more than double the amount of nanoplastics \u2014\u00a0suggesting that, in humans, CBA3656 might bind to nanoplastics in the gut and help to eventually excrete them in the toilet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMicroorganisms derived from traditional fermented foods have shown potential in addressing public health issues caused by plastic pollution,\u201d senior research lead Lee said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will contribute to improving public health and solving environmental problems by advancing the scientific value of kimchi\u2019s microbial resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United Nations estimates that plastic production has hit well over 400 million tons annually. Nopphon \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Nanoplastics are even smaller than microplastics \u2014 both cause great harm to our insides.<\/p>\n

Though tiny plastic fragments have been known to accumulate in the brain, liver and placenta, they are especially disruptive to the delicate microbial balance in the gut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They contribute to a host of health issues and inflammatory bowel diseases, like Crohn\u2019s, ulcerative colitis and leaky gut, and can cause severe gut dysbiosis \u2014\u00a0when bad bacteria outnumber the good \u2014\u00a0increasing the risk of diabetes and colorectal cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s thought that sufferers of inflammatory bowel diseases have significantly more microplastic load in their poop<\/a> than non-sufferers. And such diseases have risen globally<\/a> from 3.7 million cases in 1990 to more than 6.8 million in 2017.<\/p>\n

Our guts instinctively try to protect themselves from toxins like plastic, but without the aid of a probiotic \u2014\u00a0whether in the form of a pill or a diet rich in fermented foods \u2014\u00a0the microplastics can alter the chemical makeup of the good bacteria and slash their abundance, according to a 2022 study from Spain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The findings from the Kimchi Institute build on existing research suggesting that probiotics help to neutralize some of the toxicity of microplastics, adding that fermented foods might actually help remove some of those toxins from our systems, not just disarm them.<\/p>\n

Sauerkraut, kimchi and yogurt are good sources of probiotics. vaaseenaa \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Probiotic strains like lactobacillus and CBA3656 \u201ccan literally latch onto microplastics via surface proteins, adsorbing them like tiny magnets,\u201d according to Australian fermentation experts at Gutsy<\/a>. \u201cThis adsorption prevents translocation, reduces inflammation and eases the toxic load.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gutsy recommends reaching for raw, unpasteurized fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi, packaged in glass jars (not plastic).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Start with 1 tablespoon daily \u2014 top eggs, stir-fries and sandwiches with it, and pair with foods that are rich in fiber \u2014 \u201cto let your microbiome acclimatize.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA jar in the fridge\u201d \u2014 teeming with live cultures \u2014\u00a0\u201dcould be your quiet ally in this plastic age,\u201d Gutsy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, where those nanoplastics go after we flush the toilet remains a mystery. But, for now, pass the fermented cabbage, please.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s been much debate about whether we actually ingest a credit card\u2019s worth of plastic per week. These…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[12990,192,3286,2672,97,21251,20200,28328,79,3284,62037],"class_list":["post-541421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-bacteria","tag-environment","tag-food-drink","tag-gut-health","tag-health","tag-microplastics","tag-pollution","tag-poop","tag-science","tag-study-says","tag-toxic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}