Research about “sustainable diets” and connecting our food and agriculture system to climate change and environmental degradation and human health.
Please note: These articles have been updated through January 2026.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
- “Researchers have identified links between high serum levels of various PFAS (chiefly PFOA or PFOS) and increased risk of high cholesterol, breast cancer, kidney cancer, and thyroid disease—to name a just few medical conditions. “
- Children exposed to high levels of certain PFAS may have a decreased response to vaccines; the authors of a 2018 perspective in the Journal of Exposure Science
- “Provide strong evidence that humans exposed to PFOA and PFOS are at risk for immunosuppression.”
Alabi OA, Ologbonjaye KI, Awosolu O, Alalade OE. Public and environmental health effects of plastic wastes disposal: A review. Journal of Toxicology and Risk Assessment. 2019;5(021):1-13
- A review article by Alabi et al states how the current plastic use globally reached 380 million tons in 2018. Increase in plastic waste increases environmental pollution and deteriorates environmental health. Reducing plastic waste and reducing land pollution can help reduce the leeching of plastic additives that contaminate the soil and water. Plastic waste and land pollution reduction can also help reduce green house gas emissions, as methane is released during microbial biodegradation of plastics.
Dalberg. Societal cost of plastic produced just in 2019 revealed at US 3.7 trillion: More than the GDP of India. World Wildlife Federation. 2021.
- The World Wildlife Foundation puts the true cost of all plastic created in 2019 at 3.7 trillion dollars.
- This cost considers waste management costs and costs to the environment, particularly the marine environment
DO MICRO- AND NANOPLASTICS THREATEN OUR HEALTH?
- Microplastics enter the body through food. But also through inhalation, liquids or even through the skin. Prof Dr Lukas Kenner researches microplastics in the body, and in particular their effect on cancer cells. Not only are plastics absorbed by cancer cells, they also cause faster spread and more aggressive growth of cancer.
Galloway, T. S., & Lewis, C. N. (2016). Marine microplastics spell big problems for future generations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(9), 2331–2333.
Ingested Microplastics Can Move From the Gut to the Brain and Other Organs, Study Finds
- Studies have recently detected microplastics in human lungs and blood, and previous research shows humans ingest and inhale many microplastics even at home. In 2020, scientists uncovered microplastics in human organs for the first time.
- “Research continues to show the importance of gut health. If you don’t have a healthy gut, it affects the brain, it affects the liver and so many other tissues,” Castillo said. “So even imagining that the microplastics are doing something in the gut, that chronic exposure could lead to systemic effects.”
Jaay C. ‘Nurdles’ are devastating the environment but they are yet to be classified as hazardous. Euro News. 2023.
- Kladnicka I, Bludovska M, Plavinova I, Muller L, Mullerova D. Obesogens in Foods. Biomolecules. 2022 May 9;12(5):680. (Note that this paper also covers many other chemicals like flame retardants, bisphenol A and PFAS etc) ***
- Evidence-based medical data have recently brought much more convincing data about associations of particular chemicals and the probability of the raised risk of developing obesity. Foods are the main source of obesogens. Some obesogens occur naturally in food, but most are environmental chemicals, entering food as a foreign substance, whether in the form of contaminants or additives, and they are used in a large amount in highly processed food.
- The most common contaminants that are considered to be potential obesogens include estrogens, such as diethylstilboestrol and genistein; organotins, e.g., tributyltin; fluoro actanoates; bisphenol A; diethylhexyl phthalate. These chemicals directly alter endocrine function and metabolic organs that control lipid homeostasis (e.g., the liver), suggesting that exposure might be a risk factor for the development of NAFLD
- BPA is an endocrine disruptor exhibiting estrogen-like activity that is able to affect the regulation of leptin and insulin production, and thus acts as an agonist and antagonist of PPARy [52].Many studies clearly support the enhancement of adipogenesis, dysregulation of adipocytes and glucose, and the inflammatory changes of adipose tissue resulting from BPA, resulting in obesity
- Dietary ingestion is suspected to be the main route for human exposure, although dermal exposure can also occur from skin contact with thermal paper. BPA has been detected at measurable concentrations in the urine samples of almost all persons tested worldwide.
Landrigan PJ, Stegeman JJ, Fleming LE, et al. Human health and ocean pollution. Annals of Global Health. 2020;86(1):151. doi:10.5334/aogh.2831
Only 5% to 6% of plastics get recycled; ‘Anthems We Love’ and why we love them. NPR. November 2, 2022. (minutes 7-13)
- Episode on the podcast “Here and Now” with Greenpeace about plastics
Packaging – Climate Collaborative
- Packaging accounts for about 5% of the energy used in the life cycle of a food product making it a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. And for some products, the packaging used has an even bigger impact on climate change than the fuel used to ship it to market.
- 50% of the world’s plastic packaging can see economic opportunity even after its initial use, which works out to $2-3 billion annually across OECD countries
- There are many ways to reduce the climate impact of packaging including reducing materials a.k.a. “source reduction”; replacing virgin materials with post-consumer recycled content; replacing traditional plastics made from fossil fuels with biopolymers; re-designing packaging to use materials more efficiently to cut down on the GHG emissions required for transport and storage; and recycling at end of the packaging’s life.
Persiani E, Cecchettini A, Ceccherini E, Gisone I, Morales MA, Vozzi F. Microplastics: A matter of the heart (and vascular system). Biomedicines. 2023;11(2):264. DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11020264.
Piva E, Fais P, Ioime P, et al. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) presence in food: Comparison among fresh, frozen and ready-to-eat vegetables. Food Chemistry. 2023;410:135415. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.135415
- They found significantly greater concentrations of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in fresh and frozen vegetables produced by industrial practices compared to organic/regenerative methods
Plastics Interview with Greenpeace on “Here and Now”: Minute 7-13
Plastic Pollution Coalition Website & Organization with many resources:
Prata, JC, da Costa, JP et al. Environmental exposure to microplastics: An overview on possible human health effects. Science of The Total Environment. 2020;702:134455
Sowing a Plastic Planet: How Microplastics in Agrochemicals Are Affecting Our Soils, Our Food, and Our Future (May 2022) CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (Check out the Executive Summary)
- Despite receiving little public attention to date, the agricultural sector is one of the most significant users of intentionally added microplastics. •
- The deliberate dispersion of microplastics in the environment through the application of plastic-coated fertilizers and pesticides is one of the most direct and preventable sources of growing microplastic pollution in agricultural soils. •
- The use of plastic-coated synthetic fertilizers and pesticides is rising, with producers marketing their “controlled-release” function as key to sustainable, climate-friendly agriculture.
- Encapsulating agrochemicals in plastic and spreading them across soils and crops only compounds the significant health and environmental risks posed by agrochemicals and may exacerbate their harmful impacts.
- Governments should act now to close regulatory gaps and comprehensively ban the intentional use of microplastics in agriculture and other industries.
- One of the least known and most concerning sources of microplastic pollution is their deliberate addition to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides used in industrial agriculture.
- Suran M. EPA takes action against harmful “forever chemicals” in the US water supply.JAMA. 2022;328(18):1795-1797. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.12678. PMID: 36260342.
- 70 000 people from Ohio and West Virginia filed a class-action lawsuit against DuPont de Nemours for contaminating local drinking water with the chemical compound perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), then used to make the company’s Teflon nonstick coating.
- The panel ultimately concluded that there were “probable links” between PFOA exposure and high cholesterol, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, and pregnancy-induced hypertension. The lawsuit was among the first well-documented cases of PFOA contamination in community water.
Tavernise S, Tingley K, Toeniskoetter C, et al. Are “forever chemicals” a forever problem? The New York Times. April 17, 2024.
The Climate Case. Climate Collaborative. N.d.
- Packaging accounts for about 5% of the energy used in the life cycle of a food product making it a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. And for some products, the packaging used has an even bigger impact on climate change than the fuel used to ship it to market.
- 50% of the world’s plastic packaging can see economic opportunity even after its initial use, which works out to $2-3 billion annually across OECD countries
- There are many ways to reduce the climate impact of packaging including reducing materials a.k.a. “source reduction”; replacing virgin materials with post-consumer recycled content; replacing traditional plastics made from fossil fuels with biopolymers; re-designing packaging to use materials more efficiently to cut down on the GHG emissions required for transport and storage; and recycling at end of the packaging’s life
Threat to human health from environmental plastics. (2017). BMJ: British Medical Journal, 358
Yong, C. Q. Y., Valiyaveettil, S., & Tang, B. L. Toxicity of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Mammalian Systems. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020;17(5).
- Microplastics and nanoplastics from plastic food packaging are harmful to the human microbiome