研究发现水果和蔬菜中含有微塑料

研究发现水果和蔬菜中含有微塑料

Just when you thought you were taking care of your health by eating enough fruit and vegetables every day, new research has come out revealing that you might be ingesting microplastic particles along with all those vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

当你认为每天吃足够多的水果和蔬菜会保护你的健康时，新的研究表明，你可能在摄入维他命、矿物质和纤维的同时还摄入了塑料微粒。

A groundbreaking study published in the journal Environmental Research has found that fruits and vegetables absorb microplastic particles from the soil and translocate them through vegetal tissues, where they remain until eaten by hungry diners, thus getting transferred to human bodies.

发表在《环境研究》杂志上的一项开创性研究发现，水果和蔬菜从土壤中吸收塑料微粒，并通过植物组织转移，直到饥饿的食客吃掉它们，从而转移到人体。

@JJFarquitectos via Twenty20

The researchers, who are from the University of Catania in Italy, as well as Sousse and Monastir universities in Tunisia, analyzed a variety of common fruits and vegetables – carrots, lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, apples, and pears. These were chosen for the fact that they are frequently consumed, usually one per day, which allowed the researchers to "better assess the dietary intakes of MPs (microplastic particles) and NPs (nano-plastics)." The samples were purchased from different sources in the city of Catania, including a small fruit vendor and supermarket.

来自意大利卡塔尼亚大学以及突尼斯Sousse和Monastir大学的研究人员分析了各种常见的水果和蔬菜——胡萝卜、莴苣、花椰菜、土豆、苹果和梨。之所以选择这些药物是因为它们经常被摄入，通常是每天一粒，这让研究人员能够“更好地评估MPs(微塑料颗粒)和NPs(纳米塑料)的饮食摄入量。”这些样本是从卡塔尼亚市的不同地方购买的，包括一家小水果摊贩和超市。

The researchers found that apples, followed by pears, were the most contaminated fruit samples, and carrots were the most contaminated vegetable. Lettuce contained the smallest number of microplastic particles, though these were physically larger than the ones found in carrot samples. All samples were "characterized by wide variability." In the study's discussion section, the authors wrote,

研究人员发现，苹果是受污染最严重的水果样本，其次是梨，胡萝卜是受污染最严重的蔬菜。生菜中塑料微粒的数量最少，尽管它们的体积比胡萝卜样本中发现的要大。所有的样本都“具有较大的差异性”。在研究的讨论部分，作者写道，

"We can hypothesize that the fruits contain more MPs not only because of the very high vascularization of the fruit pulp but also due to the greater size and complexity of the root system and age of the tree (several years) compared to the vegetables (60–75 days for the carrot). Also, the carrot has small, microscopic hairs on the outside of the epidermis of the central root; these serve to increase the surface area of the root, but survive for only a few days."

“我们可以假设的水果含有更多的议员不仅因为很高的果肉的血管化,但也由于更大的规模和复杂性的树的根系和年龄(几年)相比,蔬菜胡萝卜(60 - 75天)。此外，胡萝卜在中央根的表皮外还有微小的毛;这些可以增加根的表面积，但只能存活几天。”

This study is important because it's the first to detect microplastics in edible fruits and vegetables. They have been found in other sources before, such as sea salt, beer, water (bottled, in particular), shellfish, sugar, soil, and even air, but never inside fresh produce. It's an alarming discovery that raises yet another red flag about microplastic pollution in the natural environment.

这项研究很重要，因为它是第一次在可食用水果和蔬菜中检测出塑料微粒。以前在其他地方也发现过，如海盐、啤酒、水(尤其是瓶装水)、贝类、糖、土壤，甚至空气中也发现过，但从未在新鲜农产品中发现过。这是一个令人担忧的发现，它向人们敲响了关于自然环境中微塑料污染的另一个危险信号。

As Maria Westerbossaid, founder of the Plastic Soup Foundation, stated in a press release, "This is the first time we have known about plastic getting into vegetables. If it is getting into vegetables, it is getting into everything that eats vegetables, which means it is in our meat and dairy as well. What we need to find out now is what this is doing to us. This is unchartered territory. Does plastic make us sick?"

正如塑料汤基金会的创始人Maria Westerbossaid在一份新闻稿中所说，“这是我们第一次知道塑料进入蔬菜。”如果它进入了蔬菜，它进入了所有有关蔬菜的东西，这意味着它也在我们的肉类和奶制品中。我们现在要弄清楚的是这对我们造成了什么影响。这是一个未开垦的领域。塑料会让我们生病吗?”

It's an area that will likely see a lot more attention in coming years, with the study authors calling for further research into the question of nanotoxicity and whether it harms the health of both plants and humans.

这个领域在未来几年可能会受到更多关注，研究作者呼吁对纳米毒性问题以及它是否会对植物和人类的健康造成危害进行进一步研究。