Study: Plastics in Everybody

Simian Practicalist
7 minutes ago
2 min read

An Australian study by A.J. Harray et al titled “Low-plastic diet and urinary levels of plastic-associated phthalates and bisphenols: the randomized controlled PERTH Trial” published on 21 April 2026 has detected plastic-associated chemicals (PACs) in its entire study group of over two hundred adults.

The article is 27 pages in total, with the main text at about 11 pages. The remaining are references, tables and figures.

The study period was from 10 November 2022 to 15 September 2023. The study sample comprised 211 healthy Australian adults, 123 female (58%) and 88 male (42%), at a mean age of 43.1 years. Urine and nasal levels were obtained on two non-consecutive days, testing for 13 PACs. It observed

…that healthy Australian adults are ubiquitously exposed to PACs, with 100% of participants excreting at least six PAC metabolites on any given day. Through a combination of clinical, laboratory and behavioral assessments, we identified that the consumption of highly processed, packaged and canned foods contribute to this exposure.

Subsequently, 60 participants were randomly allocated to five groups over 7 days to determine the impact of the various sources of PACs, such as food, personal care products (PCPs) and plastic kitchenware.

Group 1: Low-PAC food
Group 2: Low-PAC food + utensils + food preparation practices
Group 3: Low-PAC PCPs
Group 4: Low-PAC food + utensils + food + preparation practices + PCPs
Group 5: Control group with no intervention.

The 7-day pilot RCT decreased dietary plastic exposure, as evidenced by decreases in Total Dietary Plastics Scores in groups 1, 2 and 4. Compared to no intervention (group 5), the Food Processing and Packaging Score decreased in groups 1 (P < 0.001), 2 (P < 0.001) and 4 (P < 0.001), from baseline to post-trial, whereas the Food Properties Score did not change in any of the groups as the low-plastic food contained the inherent characteristics of being acidic, aqueous or fatty.

As one can see from Figure 5 reproduced below, reducing the use and therefore intake of plastics reduces at least some of the levels in the body.