Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, via Celoria 26, I-20133 Milan, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 25;20(5):4122. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054122.
A growing number of studies have confirmed that microplastics (MPs) contamination represents a worrisome issue of global concern. MPs have been detected in the atmosphere, in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as in the biota. Moreover, MPs have been recently detected in some food products and in drinking water. However, only limited information is currently available for beverages, although they are largely consumed by humans and might contribute to the ingestion of MPs. Thus, estimating the contamination in beverages represents a crucial step in assessing human MP ingestion. The aim of the present study was to explore the presence of MPs in nonalcoholic beverages, namely soft drinks and cold tea, of different brands purchased in supermarkets and to estimate the contribution of beverage consumption to MP ingestion by humans. The results of the present study confirmed the presence of MPs, mainly fibers, in most of the analyzed beverages, with a mean (± SEM) number of 9.19 ± 1.84 MPs/L. In detail, the number of MPs detected in soft drinks and cold tea was 9.94 ± 0.33 MPs/L and 7.11 ± 2.62 MPs/L, respectively. Our findings confirmed that beverage consumption can be considered one of the main pathways for MP ingestion by humans.
越来越多的研究证实，微塑料（MPs）污染是一个令人担忧的全球性问题。MPs 已在大气、水生态系统和陆地生态系统以及生物群中被检测到。此外，最近在一些食品和饮用水中也检测到了 MPs。然而，目前关于饮料的信息有限，尽管它们被人类大量消费，并可能导致 MPs 的摄入。因此，估计饮料中的污染情况是评估人类摄入 MPs 的关键步骤。本研究的目的是探索不同品牌的非酒精饮料（即软饮料和冷茶）中 MPs 的存在，并估计人类通过饮用这些饮料摄入 MPs 的情况。本研究的结果证实了 MPs 的存在，主要是纤维，在大多数分析的饮料中，平均（± SEM）每升有 9.19 ± 1.84 个 MPs。具体来说，在软饮料和冷茶中检测到的 MPs 数量分别为每升 9.94 ± 0.33 个和 7.11 ± 2.62 个。我们的研究结果证实，饮用饮料可能是人类摄入 MPs 的主要途径之一。
