Commercial tea bags release millions of microplastics, entering human intestinal cells

Medical Xpress / Autonomous University of Barcelona / Chemosphere ^ | Dec. 20, 2024

[ConservativeMind]

The study used scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV), and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) to identify the particles.

The important quote:

“The tea bags used for the research were made from the polymers nylon-6, polypropylene and cellulose. The study shows that, when brewing tea, polypropylene releases approximately 1.2 billion particles per milliliter, with an average size of 136.7 nanometers; cellulose releases about 135 million particles per milliliter, with an average size of 244 nanometers; while nylon-6 releases 8.18 million particles per milliliter, with an average size of 138.4 nanometers.“

It looks best to use loose leaf teas infusers. We are cutting open plastic tea bags and putting the contents into infusers, but we hadn’t realized the polymer used to seal paper tea bags could release so many particles, under the influence of heat and liquid.

I guess we will start infusing our paper tea bags contents out of the bags and keep up our other loose leaf tea use.

Researchers are finding these particles piling up in some organs. We still don’t understand what harm they cause, but they shouldn’t be there.

[ConservativeMind]

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[mikey_hates_everything]

[metmom]

Are all teabags plastic?

[Jeff Chandler]

I don’t think all tea bags are plastic.

[FalloutShelterGirl]

I figure if I ingest enough plastic particles, I will eventually become immortal 🍵

[Tijeras_Slim]

Or be recycled into Lego blocks.

[George from New England]

What about coffee filters ?

[sunny bonobo]

I’m stupid. What in the heck is a tea transfusion?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Only certain kinds of tea. Ironically the higher end type teas.

Most of the cheaper teas are in paper filter bags. Of course this is also tea dust which does not taste as good at the high end stuff but, on the bright side, less plastic.

Best tea is fresh, whole leaf brewed in a glass, glazed pottery or, if you happen to have a your granny's silver set, British silver pot using water that is just off the boil and seeped for no more then four minutes.

Probably the best tasting and healthiest tea.

But in life we rarely get what is best.

[Scarlett156]

I try when possible/practical to tear open the tea bag and put the loose tea into a fabric or metal tea strainer or simply dump it into the boiling water and strain it out as in classic times.

[Qwapisking]

so then will using silver chamberpots to make loose leaf tea result in more T or low T? wifey wants to know.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I would suggest an old tree stump for your low-T problem.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

They’re talking ‘commercial’ so probably just Industrial Brewed Tea.

Rumor has it that you can make your own tea bags from coffee filters, but that’ll be NEXT week’s Health Scare:

https://letsdrinktea.com/diy-teabags/

OR - just buy loose tea and use a stainless ball brewer to brew a cuppa:

https://www.seriouseats.com/best-tea-infusers-7500581

[ConservativeMind]

They have no seams and if getting cotton or paper, in theory, you have no plastic entry points.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

See Post #14.

[ConservativeMind]

Some teabags are paper, but they have a seam that is sealed by a polymer.

[EinNYC]

How about Lipton tea? And Twinings?

[bitt]

p

[Bikkuri]

I brew my tea in a coffeemaker with a strainer as a filter.