Recent investigations microplastic found in sea salt

Sea salt may contain traces of plastic waste
The question of how healthy or unhealthy salt is has been a matter of intense debate among experts for a long time. Sea salt has a better reputation with many than the traditional household salt. But that's exactly where researchers now found particularly many remnants of plastics.
Too much salt is unhealthy
The question of whether salt is rather unhealthy or beneficial to health, has long been discussed among scientists. It is known that a high intake of salt increases the risk of diseases such as high blood pressure, heart attack or stroke. On the other hand, salt supplies us with minerals and, according to research, can protect against infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults do not consume more than five grams of salt. But not only the quantity, but also the origin is important. While certain products such as Himalayan salt have become very fashionable, tests have shown that exotic salt is often no better than traditional ones. Coarse-grained sea salt has a particularly good reputation for health. But this is exactly where researchers now found a particularly high proportion of microplastics.

Scientists have detected plastic residues in sea salt. (Image: emuck / fotolia.com)

Microplastic in sea salt
Meanwhile, plastic waste can be found in all marine regions. It has recently been reported that plastic waste has also been detected in Arctic waters. Of course that also affects the sea creatures. For example, plastic particles have been detected more often in fish. Now, a study from China shows that sea salt also contains a great many of the tiny plastic particles. As the "world" reports online, the marine researchers at East China Normal University in Shanghai bought salts from 15 different manufacturers. The products were sea salts, rock salts and saline salts. All samples were examined for traces of microplastics. The researchers recently published their findings in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

More heavily loaded than other varieties
Microplastics, according to the report, are particles made of plastics between 0.001 and 5 millimeters in size. These particles, which float in rivers, lakes and the oceans, come from, among other things, cosmetic products, for example in the form of peeling beads or plastic fibers, which are rubbed out of clothing during laundering. Plastic particles were found in all 15 samples. It was mostly polyethylene terephthalate (PET). As the researchers report, the particles could also have entered the products during processing and packaging of the salts. However, the investigated sea salts were much more contaminated with particles than the other varieties.

Effects on human health
According to the "World," scientists found in the samples of salts recovered from seawater 550 to 681 particles per kilogram. In the salts, which came from brine, however, stuck only 43 to 364 particles per kilo. And the minerals extracted from mines contained up to 204 particles per kilo. In one of the rock salt samples only seven tiny plastic particles were found. According to the researchers, the problem is probably not only in China, plastic particles have been found in seawater almost everywhere in the world. It is possible that the particles also deposit in the human body. So far, it was not explored whether and how dangerous this could be. (Ad)