General health
🫖 Reduce Microplastics From Tea Bags
We’re all concerned about our exposure to microplastics these days and rightly so.
The only thing we are sure about these microscopic particles is that they’re utterly inescapable. The long-term effects of exposure to them is unknown.
One claim you might have seen online is that steeping plastic tea bags in boiling water releases billions of particles of microplastics into the tea.
This claim came from a 2019 study (PMID: 31552738) that found exactly that: nylon and plastic tea bags shed billions of particles when steeped in near boiling water.
However, the counting method used in that study was challenged by other researchers and may have been inflated due to contamination from non-tea-bag sources (there’s a phrase I never imagined writing!)
A systematic review of 22 studies (PMID: 42145108) looking into the effects of plastic tea bags found the real number of micro- and nano- particles may be orders of magnitude lower than claimed by the 2019 study, citing a range of hundreds of thousands to billions of particles per tea bag.
All the same, you probably still don’t want hundreds of thousands of nanoplastics in your cuppa even if that does represent the lower end of the range.
So, what’s the takeaway here?
1️⃣ The 2019 study only looked at nylon and plastic tea bags. Paper bags or loose tea don’t have any microplastic problem. So the guaranteed way to reduce your microplastic exposure from tea is to switch to paper bags or loose tea
2️⃣ If you only have access to plastic tea bags, consider using cooler water (the 2019 study looked at what happens when tea is brewed at 95 degrees celsius).
3️⃣ On the other hand, if you're only an occasional tea drinker, you might consider this level of microplastic exposure not worth worrying about, particularly if you’re following the advice below.
4️⃣ The best practice for avoiding microplastics from food and drink remains avoiding heating food in plastic containers and drinking water from plastic bottles.
5️⃣ Ex-vivo and animal studies have shown certain fibers (beta-glucan & citrus pectin) can absorb microplastics under lab conditions. There's also evidence from a human study that increased fiber consumption reduced pfa levels (not microplastics) in the blood (PMID: 40089764).
I don't want to overstate the evidence in no. 5, it's preliminary at best. But given all the other benefits of increasing dietary fiber, boosting your daily intake is a sensible step for nearly all of us, which is exactly why I created LOAM.
Gut health
🦠 The Gut Microbe That Fights Weight Regain
Ever lost weight on a diet only to put some or all of it back on again once you stopped?
It's a depressingly common experience for many people, perhaps unsurprisingly, as it's only natural to return to your pre-diet habits once it's over.
Well, here's why the key to long-term weight loss might lie in your gut, rather than on your plate or in the gym.
At the end of an 8-week low-calorie diet, 90 adults with overweight or obesity had lost at least 8% of their body weight (PMID: 42120725).
So far, so good.
Then the study really started.
All the participants were allowed to return to ad libertum feeding i.e. eating what they wanted and were either given a pasteurised Akkermansia muciniphila supplement or a placebo and followed for 24 weeks.
While the placebo group regained an average 3.2kg in the follow up stage, the group taking A. muciniphila only regained 1.2kg on average.
Interestingly, in the A. muciniphila group, how much of that bacterial strain that participants had before the intervention was associated with how well they responded to the supplement.
It's also worth mentioning the A. mucinphilia strain used in this study was pasteurised i.e. the bacteria were dead. Any effect A. mucinphilia had on the gut microbiome would have been from structural components of the cell although the researchers could not identify what they were.
Here's what I take away from this study:-
1️⃣ Even the participants who took the bacterial supplement ended up putting back on weight on average. This underlines the importance of sustainable habits for weight loss. Whatever you do to lose weight, it has to be something you can do more or less permanently.
2️⃣ The best advice for sustainable weight loss is to prioritise whole foods, especially fiber and protein, find a form of physical activity you enjoy, monitor your weight regularly and have a plan for weight regain if it happens.
3️⃣ The best fiber for promoting A. mucinphilia seems to be galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), which you’ll find in legumes like lentils, chickpeas, peas and beans. Bear in mind, however, that single strains of bacteria are generally less efficacious than blends of multiples strains, so...
4️⃣ Ensure you eat a wide range of fibres from fruit, veg, seeds, nuts and whole grains...or choose a fiber supplement like LOAM that contains a 6-in-1 blend of fibers designed to nourish the entire gut microbiome fro beginning to end.
5️⃣ One study of a carefully dosed, clinical-grade, pasteurised A. mucinphilia supplement does not mean you should buy an A. mucinphilia probiotic which is likely to be live and expensive! Yes, certain conditions will respond to a single strain probiotic e.g. certain subtypes of IBS, but for most people commercial probiotics provide zero benefit.
6️⃣ Be prepared to play the long game. All of the advice above will promote resilient gut health over the long-term.
REFLECTIONS
📆 No Zero Days
Here’s one of the simplest, but most effective reflections for a while - no zero days.
What your goal, whatever habit you're trying to acquire or maintain, life is always going to get in the way.
So, the idea of no zero days is simple.
Whatever happens, never go one day without doing the absolute minimum, the smallest possible step to achieve that goal.
- Do 1 press up
- Save £1
- Eat one slice of fruit
- Practice that skill for 1 minute
It’s true that doing the tiniest possible step will not make meaningful progress towards the goal. That’s not the point.
The point is that you're the kind of person who is constantly moving forward regardless of how slow the progess may be.
Tortoise over hare all the way.
And you never know, once you've done 1 press up or practised the piano for one minute, you might realise you DO have the time or energy to do 1 more rep or 1 more minute.
The hardest step is always going to be going from zero to one. But once you’ve reached one, you will find it much easier to reach two and three.
And if not, no problem. Because you’ve already achieved your primary aim: no zero days.
👋 Who are you again? I’m Karan Rajan - a doctor and curious explorer of all things health and wellness. I'm the founder of LOAM Science, a microbiome company aiming to create the best fiber product in the world! I host the Dr Karan Explores Podcast, where I talk to experts in science and medicine to cut through the BS of modern health advice. If you'd like an easy way to dig through the archive, you can ask me any questions about the podcast and talk to my digital librarian here. I've also written two books "This Book May Save Your Life" and "This Is Vital Information".
If you feel strongly about some health things or just want to say hi? Hit reply... I’d love to hear it and hear from you! (yes I read every reply!!!)
