Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Photo
Topics: Health, Social Media, Food And Drink
Lucy Devine
A doctor has issued a warning to anyone who drinks one cup of tea a day.
Us Brits love a brew, with a third of us drinking more than three cups of the stuff every day and 20 percent admitting to having between five and 10.
But if you regularly drink lots of tea, one doctor has issued a warning after citing a study about tea bags specifically.
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On Facebook, Dr Mark Hyman explained back in 2023: "If you are a tea drinker, use an organic loose leaf tea and steep it. Using a stainless steel or glass strainer will reduce your microplastic exposure significantly.
"If you like using tea bags for their convenience or portability, make sure you’re getting the kind that’s free from bisphenol-A (BPA), phthalates, polypropylene, and epichlorohydrin. Look for tea bags made from organic hemp, cotton, or plant fibers instead.
"Tea can be an incredible source of antioxidants in your life, but just like food—quality matters."
The study found that in a single cup of tea - which used a plastic tea bag - approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and over three billion nanoplastics were released.
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"The objective of this study was to determine whether plastic teabags could release microplastics and/or nanoplastics during a typical steeping process," the study explained.
"We show that steeping a single plastic teabag at brewing temperature (95°C) releases approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup of the beverage.
"The composition of the released particles is matched to the original teabags (nylon and polyethylene terephthalate) using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
"The levels of nylon and polyethylene terephthalate particles released from the teabag packaging are several orders of magnitude higher than plastic loads previously reported in other foods."
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Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that are released by consumer goods - for example, clothes, toys, packaging, food containers or even tyres.
Not only do they contaminate the air, our food and our water, but they can now be found inside of our bodies, potentially causing inflammation.
People were pretty shocked after Dr Hyman shared the findings.
"I have a stainless steel tea kettle. I buy organic loose leaf tea or organic tea in paper bags," one said.
While another wrote: "It makes me so angry that we are still being exposed to nasty chemicals and harming the environment. I try to be so careful about these things. Never even thought about tea bags but I will now!"
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And a third added: "Thank you for this info - I wasn’t aware, and I’m a big tea drinker!!"
Meanwhile, another joked: "More than 25 years ago, long before I heard of microplastics, I realised plastic teabags were probably not very healthy due to petrochemicals.
"So I sticked to beer all this time."