Impact on health caused by nanoplastics contained in food and its possible attenuation through a bioengineering process

Impacto en la salud causado por los nanoplásticos contenidos en alimentos y su posible atenuación mediante un proceso de bioingeniería

Over the centuries, the populations of human beings settled in the surroundings
of water tributaries have indiscriminately disposed of their waste, throwing it into
rivers, lakes, oceans, and surrounding land. When the amounts of waste, mostly
biodegradable, are low, the environmental consequences and the health of biotic
communities are minimal. However, the mass manufacture and disposal of nonbiodegradable synthetic materials since the mid-20th century has had profound
biological and environmental effects. Plastics are the most significant example
of these ubiquitous synthetic materials, usually single-use, non-biodegradable
and with high amounts of toxic chemical additives. Due to the high stability and
resistance of plastic, it is impossible to quickly bind it in processes that allow its
degradation and decomposition; for this reason, they have become half of the
waste that exists on the planet today. The drift of these materials leads them,
under ambient conditions, to gradually fragment into particles reaching the
scales of micrometers and nanometers. These particles have been categorized as
incidental contaminants: micro and nanoplastics. Today, the world is witnessing the nanotechnology boom and more and more industries are interested in the use
of this emerging technology; They intentionally produce micro and nanoplastics
to be incorporated into cosmetic products, textile fibers, among many other
purposes. The contamination of these plastic particles of imperceptible dimensions,
reaches food for human consumption through persistence in ecosystems and
bioaccumulation, through different routes of exposure, mainly through ingestion
in the different chains that make up the global trophic web, in addition, of the
migration of the material used for the storage, preservation and packaging
of food. When ingested, nanoplastics and some microplastics cross physical
epithelial barriers and are distributed throughout the body, entering practically
all body tissues, altering their function and increasing the disease burden of biotic
communities, including humans. As they are considered inert and heterogeneous
materials, their identification and recovery are complex, in addition to not being
completely effective. This paper seeks to review information that allows evaluating
the impact of nanoplastics present in food, highlighting the toxic effects that these
materials have for human health through bioaccumulation and biomagnification in
food chains at the subcellular biomolecular level and, on the other hand, describe
recovery techniques for nanoplastics to reduce their presence in food.