Microwaving plastic containers is worse than you thought: Here’s why

First-time parents develop a skill of being paranoid of everything that could harm their babies. The new eye for disturbing details can sometimes lead to interesting findings. That is precisely what happened when University of Nebraska – Lincoln researcher Kazi Albab Hussain decided to look into the plastic content in baby food.

Hussain studied the plastic containers he bought baby food in and was terrified when he found out significant amounts of microplastics post microwaving. These microplastics were reportedly toxic enough to kill 75 per cent of cultured kidney cells after 48 hours of exposure.

What are microplastics?

Microplastics are extremely small pieces of plastic debris that are present in the environment as a result of consumer products and industrial waste breaking down over time. These are considered extremely harmful for the environment, particularly due to their effects on aquatic life. Of the huge amounts of plastic dumped into the oceans, a large chunk turns to microplastics and puts both aquatic flora and fauna in danger.

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What’s even more worrying in the report is the finding that microwaving plastics can release microplastics and nanoplastics, the latter being even small pieces of plastic that can slip past the liver in the human body, and continue to penetrate further inside, in areas where plastic shouldn’t exist.

Exposure to microplastics and nanoplastics can cause many health-related problems like decreased cardiac output, abnormal blood velocity, and an altered heart rate.

The researcher also suggests that the creation of microplastics and nanoplastics, at least from microwaving, can be avoided by basing the plastics off a different polymer. However, this would likely first require a legal push in many countries. Till that day comes, its best if you transfer your food to microwaveable glass containers before warming/cooking it.