![\"Parkinson's](\"https:\/\/blueheronhealthnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Parkinson-Disease.jpg\")
More and more research is emerging revealing that Parkinson\u2019s disease is a lifestyle disease and completely preventable.<\/p>\nMore and more research is emerging revealing that Parkinson\u2019s disease is a lifestyle disease and completely preventable.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, taking the right actions, you can also prevent it from progressing, even reverse it naturally.<\/p>\n
One of those studies was recently published in Science Advances<\/em>. There, researchers discovered a specific type of plastic (we\u2019re all exposed to) as one of the main causes of Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n With plastic production soaring, our environment is increasingly contaminated with microplastics, particularly those less than one micrometer in size known as nanoplastics. These pollutants, largely derived from single-use polystyrene items like foam packing and disposable cutlery, are becoming pervasive in our water and food supplies. <\/p>\n Because of the constant increase in Parkinson’s disease cases, the scientists responsible for the new study wondered whether these omnipresent contaminants could contribute.<\/p>\n Their investigation took two forms. <\/p>\n They first applied nanoplastics to alpha-synuclein in laboratory models of the human body and brain. <\/p>\n They then tested the effects of such particles on the brains of live mice. <\/p>\n This is what they found:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 1.\tNanoplastics bind tightly with alpha-synuclein proteins and are impossible to separate from them.<\/p>\n 2.\tBecause of the damage the plastics do to these proteins, the alpha-synuclein particles then stick to each other and start to build up into plaques.<\/p>\n 3.\tThe plastic modifies the alpha-synuclein proteins so they cannot degrade normally as they are meant to do.<\/p>\n 4.\tIn mice, alpha-synuclein contaminated with nanoplastics spreads very fast across interconnected brain regions, destroying neurons as they go along.\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n One of the alarming findings of this research is how nanoplastics compromise the blood-brain barrier. This barrier is crucial for protecting our brains from harmful substances that appear in our blood. <\/p>\n However, these nanoplastics can insert themselves into proteins that are able to pass through this barrier. As such, they find their way into our brains.<\/p>\n Recent studies have detected polystyrene plastic pollution in human blood, so as you are reading this, the plastic is slowly flowing into your brain.<\/p>\n One thing you can do to limit your intake of these contaminants is to use water filters that can remove microplastics from tap water. <\/p>\n\n