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What are you ingesting for dinner tonight? Chances are plastic particles are part of the menu

Well there is one ingredient that you're about to put on your plate that may shock you. It's one you don't even know you're eating.

NEW ORLEANS — What are you cooking for dinner tonight? Are you making sure there is a mix of protein, carbs and fats on your plate?

Well there is one ingredient that you're about to put on your plate that may shock you. It's one you don't even know you're eating.

There's a new study I wanted to share with you that is very concerning. It suggests that you and I may be ingesting a lot of plastic. How much? Well the article in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, states we could be consuming 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles a year. 

And that doesn't include the estimates of the microplastic in the air we could be inhaling. That could be more than another 74,000 particles. So the scientists looked at research already published on microplastics found in beer, salt, seafood, sugar, alcohol, and honey. 

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But they also looked at the water we drink. And this is surprising. If you drink tap water, you may be getting an additional 4,000 plastic particles a year, but if you only drink bottled water, you may be adding 90,000 microplastic particles a year to your diet. 

Doctors are not sure what this does to our health, especially the immune system, and how much is toxic. It's hard to have a plastic-free diet since it's everywhere, even shedding from the nylon and polyester clothes in the washing machine water. 

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So for now, drinking tap water, filtered, so you get the lead out too, may be your only recourse. The people who wrote the study also say they believe people are taking in even more microplastics because they did not include the amount from the packaging.

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