Science Just Found a Way to Clean Your Blood of Microplastics

Microplastics seem like an unavoidable part of life. These tiny particles are in our food, water, and even the air we breathe.

The concern among health-conscious individuals is that microplastics get into your bloodstream and can reach your heart, lungs, brain, and other organs, potentially causing inflammation. It is estimated that we consume 39,000–52,000 of them per year.

There is even evidence that microplastics are in fruits, vegetables, and glass bottle drinks. But new research may offer some hope in what seems like a hopeless situation.

A new study from a company called Circulate Health tested whether a procedure called therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) could remove microplastics from blood. This procedure is already used to treat autoimmune and neurological diseases.

TPE utilizes a machine that separates out the liquid part of your blood (plasma), which contains the microplastics, and replaces it with a clean, sterile solution. The procedure was successful; in patients who had elevated levels, it cut microplastic concentrations roughly in half.

Until now, there was no known medical way to remove microplastics from the human body. This is a major breakthrough for the future of health.

The problem is that TPE is an intensive clinical procedure. It's not something you just stroll into your doctor's office and get done like some routine bloodwork.

The study of microplastics and health is still relatively new. We know microplastics get into the body, we know they correlate with disease, and lab studies suggest plausible mechanisms for harm. But science hasn't yet done the kind of controlled long-term human trials that would let researchers say definitively "microplastics caused this disease."

With that said it's encouraging that these new potential treatments are being developed. For now, we'll have to do our best to minimize exposure, which seems impossible at times. Hopefully, research on TPE leads to less invasive treatment options in the future. Until then, keep those plastic containers out of the microwave.

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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 9:06 AM.