Scientists discover food that can help you poop out microplastics

There’s been much debate about whether we actually ingest a credit card’s worth of plastic per week. These new findings won’t help you poop money, but they do suggest certain foods might rid your body of a portion of that plastic.

Probiotic foods — those teeming with beneficial lactic acid bacteria — have been used for millennia to boost the gut’s natural defenses against harmful toxins.

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

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. 

Then they analyzed CBA3656’s ability to adsorb one of the most common forms of nanoplastics, derived from polystyrene. 

In an experiment, one set of mice was given CBA3656 and another wasn’t. When the researchers examined each group’s feces, they found that the feces from the CBA3656 group had more than double the amount of nanoplastics — suggesting that, in humans, CBA3656 might bind to nanoplastics in the gut and help to eventually excrete them in the toilet. 

“Microorganisms derived from traditional fermented foods have shown potential in addressing public health issues caused by plastic pollution,” senior research lead Lee said.

“We will contribute to improving public health and solving environmental problems by advancing the scientific value of kimchi’s microbial resources.”

Nanoplastics are even smaller than microplastics — both cause great harm to our insides.

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. 

They contribute to a host of health issues and inflammatory bowel diseases, like Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis and leaky gut, and can cause severe gut dysbiosis — when bad bacteria outnumber the good — increasing the risk of diabetes and colorectal cancer. 

It’s thought that sufferers of inflammatory bowel diseases have significantly more microplastic load in their poop than non-sufferers. And such diseases have risen globally from 3.7 million cases in 1990 to more than 6.8 million in 2017.

Our guts instinctively try to protect themselves from toxins like plastic, but without the aid of a probiotic — whether in the form of a pill or a diet rich in fermented foods — the microplastics can alter the chemical makeup of the good bacteria and slash their abundance, according to a 2022 study from Spain.

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.

Probiotic strains like lactobacillus and CBA3656 “can literally latch onto microplastics via surface proteins, adsorbing them like tiny magnets,” according to Australian fermentation experts at Gutsy. “This adsorption prevents translocation, reduces inflammation and eases the toxic load.” 

Gutsy recommends reaching for raw, unpasteurized fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi, packaged in glass jars (not plastic). 

Start with 1 tablespoon daily — top eggs, stir-fries and sandwiches with it, and pair with foods that are rich in fiber — “to let your microbiome acclimatize.” 

“A jar in the fridge” — teeming with live cultures — ”could be your quiet ally in this plastic age,” Gutsy said. 

Of course, where those nanoplastics go after we flush the toilet remains a mystery. But, for now, pass the fermented cabbage, please.