Research Findings: The Average American Eats, Drinks and Breaths 74,000 to 121,000 microplastics each year.
Did you know many Americans are ingesting thousands of tiny plastic particles each year? According to a recently released study, unfortunately, those drinking or eating foods packaged in plastic bottles that number could easily double. Plastic molecules being pulled into food and drink packed in plastic bottles is commonly known in the food industry and is call “plastic leaching”
Plastic leaching is when the food packed inside a plastic bottle actually begins to “pull” or “leach” the plastic molecules from the contain directly in to the food inside the bottle.
In addition to plastic leaching other option is the direct ingestion of the plastic molecules called “microplastics”. According to a study published in Environmental Science and Technology, the average American eats, drinks or breaths in an estimated 74,000 to 121,000 microplastics each year.
These are plastic molecules can be absorbed into the body by eating and drinking foods packed in plastic as well as breath these molecules floating in the air. These come from a variety of sources. These microplastics are created when larger plastic products degrade into smaller piece. This process can create the airborne plastic molecules the may be breathed into the body. Another source of microplastics is when the food or drink is placed into the plastic bottles and the when the cap of the bottle or plastic jar is sealed this causes micro plastic shred. These are micro-sized plastic piece that may actually fall into the bottle during the bottling process.
One area of the study that received a lot of interest is the section on bottled water. According to the study, “Individuals who meet their recommended water intake through only bottled sources may be ingesting an additional 90,000 microplastics annually, compared to 4,000 microplastics for those who consume only tap water,”. While there is no part of the study that specifically provided data on the number of microplastics contained in cherry juice concentrate bottled in plastic bottles, it is can understand that most cherry juice available on the market today is bottled in plastic bottles, consumers should also consider the possibly of drinking microplastics, too.
According to the published research, the negative health effects of microplastics are still unclear. The scary part of the study pointed out microplastics are small enough to enter human tissues directly. The researchers mentioned these tiny unhealthy microplastics could cause immune reactions.
That is why, at Traverse Bay Farms, we only bottle our Michigan-grown, Montmorency tart cherry juice concentrate in glass bottles. Since day we began our mission in 2001 to increase the awareness of the condition-specific health benefits of fruit, we’ve only bottled our cherry juice in plastic-leach free, glass bottles.
Unlike a number of other brands selling cherry juice concentrate, also many aren’t even located in the Northern Michigan, also known as the Cherry Capital of the World, Traverse Bay Farms is located Bellaire, Michigan. Bellaire, Michigan is located squarely on the 45th Parallel. This located ½ between the North Pole and the equator. So we can walk through the actual cherry orchards that grow and are used to make the Fruit Advantage Montmorency Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate.
