Why kids get more microplastics than adults from seafood
Assessing Age‐Specific Variability in Microplastic Intake Through Seafood Consumption: A Case Study in Central Java, Indonesia
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Kids and teens in Indonesia eat lots of seafood like crabs, shrimp, and clams that have tiny plastic bits inside. Even though they eat less seafood than adults, their tiny bodies get more plastic per pound.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
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Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Kids and teens in Indonesia eat lots of seafood like crabs, shrimp, and clams that have tiny plastic bits inside. Even though they eat less seafood than adults, their tiny bodies get more plastic per pound.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 542 / 44
Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Publication
Authors
Hantoro I, Wang J, Löhr AJ, Van Belleghem FGAJ, Widianarko B, Ragas AMJ
Related Content
Claims (7)
Different studies estimate how much microplastic people consume each week, but their numbers differ by up to 50 times because they use different methods, define microplastic sizes differently, and make different assumptions about how much is swallowed.
In Semarang, toddlers and the elderly get most of their microplastic exposure from eating crabs, because crabs contain high levels of microplastics in their internal organs and people commonly eat the whole animal.
In Semarang, some adolescents who eat a lot of seafood may ingest up to 427 microplastic particles per day, but these high numbers are based on estimates that go beyond what has been directly measured.
Adolescents in Semarang, Indonesia, ingest an average of 47.7 microplastic particles daily from eating seafood, especially bivalves like blood cockles and mussels, because these species are highly contaminated and frequently consumed in this region.
Adolescents and adults ingest the highest percentage of microplastics from bivalves like blood cockles and green mussels, even though they eat less of these seafoods than other types, because these organisms concentrate microplastics and are eaten entirely.