body

We have been drinking beer on the beach all our lives to cool off. Science warns of great danger to our body

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On any summer afternoon, the beaches and terraces are filled with people seeking refuge from the high temperatures, and the instinct of the vast majority is to order a cold beer. This classic drink in Spain gives a false sensation of immediate coolness and temporary relief, but here the question we must ask ourselves is: is it really useful to drink it to alleviate the sensation of heat? A myth. Given this classic scene, science suggests that it is a bad idea to have a beer to quench thirst, since alcohol causes exactly the opposite by triggering a response that dehydrates us. And this is explained by a fundamental hormone called vasopressin or antidiuretic hormone. As its name indicates, its function is to retain water in the kidneys when the body needs it because it is dehydrated, and alcohol suppresses it almost immediately. And it is something proven, since studies show that ethanol blocks the release of vasopressinpointing out that after ingesting alcohol, an acute drop in this hormone is observed in the bloodstream. This causes the kidneys to stop reabsorbing fluids and begin to expel water at a rapid rate to promote the production of urine and, therefore, the loss of fluids. an experiment key here demonstrated that the subjects studied lost up to 0.9 kg of water weight in just two hours. That is, for every beer you drink to “hydrate” your body expels more liquid than it consumes. And this is a context of heat and high sweating; It is a one-way ticket to a state of dehydration if you do not also drink water. The broken thermostat. The second big problem with drinking alcohol in the sun is thermal. Alcohol is a powerful vasodilator and this means that it widens the blood vessels, bringing more blood to the surface of the skin, which produces that typical facial flushing and sudden feeling of heat when we drink. And although at first the breeze on the skin may make us feel cooler, we are actually compromising our ability to regulate internal temperature. A model published in International Journal of Legal Medicine demonstrated that drinking alcohol before facing a high temperature environment drastically worsens the body’s response. Alcohol literally “hacks” the brain nuclei responsible for thermoregulation, activating abnormal responses of the body to heat. Water is the best. Drinking a cold beer has logically become socially rooted in our society, but when you are thirsty and have been sweating for a long time, it is best to hydrate with water first. And this also confirms that there is no alcohol that is “safe” from a medical point of view. Non-alcoholic beer can be an option since, since it is composed mainly of water and lacks alcohol, it does not have an effect on our antidiuretic hormone. Images | Nicolas Postiglioni In Xataka | Generation Z is reinventing the way they drink alcohol, but there is something that remains untouched: the stigma of teetotalling

What happens to your body during the summer because of the heat

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A couple of nights ago we had a thermal blowout in the city I live in. Many people around me noticed it. They heard the wind blowing against the windows and felt the temperature rise. I told them that I didn’t notice anything, that I always sleep very well. And it’s true, I sleep well. However, the next day I feel like I only slept 3 hours. This is not unusual, since high temperatures not only prevent us from falling asleep. Even if we feel like we’ve been asleep, the reality is that sleeping in the heat makes us wake up more tired for several reasons. Two reasons. There are two main reasons why it is difficult for us to sleep in the heat and, furthermore, we wake up tired. The first is insufficient cooling. At night, our body temperature drops, normally between 0.5ºC and 1ºC. This is essential for us to fall asleep. Therefore, if the ambient temperature is very high, we will not be able to cool ourselves properly. We may manage to sleep, but we will not rest properly. On the other hand, as homeothermic animals that we are, we have mechanisms that help us maintain our temperature within specific ranges, regardless of whether it is hot or cold. Two of these mechanisms, which are also closely linked to each other, are sweating and vasodilation. They are very necessary processes, which occur with more intensity when it is hotter. The problem is that, no matter how essential they are, when they occur too intensely, they can cause us some harm. Exactly, fatigue is one of them. The body is not cooled. Many of our physiological processes repeat periodically in 24-hour cycles known as circadian rhythms. Sleep is the best known of these processes.since every day we get up and go to bed at least once. A region of our brain known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus is the one that detects when it’s time to sleep and induces rest through various methods. For example, when it is daytime, the light that enters our retina tells the suprachiasmatic nucleus that we have to get up, which inhibits the release of melatonin, a hormone that helps us fall asleep. On the other hand, when the light falls, the opposite is done. The release of melatonin is stimulated. The thing is, melatonin is not the only driver of sleep. The suprachiasmatic nucleus also drives body cooling. If it is very hot, it is difficult to lower the temperature, but eventually it is achieved and we will be able to fall asleep. The problem is that during REM sleep, the body’s ability to regulate temperature It is practically deactivatedso we may wake up. Sometimes we don’t realize these awakenings. We feel like we can sleep warm. But we are not resting. Other times we do realize that we wake up and it is even worse. The tension on the floor. Vasodilation occurs to drive more blood close to the skin. This causes more heat to be conducted to that area. On the other hand, sweating is an excellent cooling mechanism. It consists of releasing a liquid composed mainly of water to the surface of the skin; which, once there, must evaporate. And what does that liquid need to evaporate? Indeed, heat. A heat that is extracted from within the body, thanks to this dilation of the blood vessels. This is magnificent. The problem is that excessive vasodilation leads to drops in blood pressurewhich greatly increase our feeling of tiredness. Furthermore, if we do not act accordingly, sweating can cause dehydration, which also makes us feel more tired. Or something worse. The fan may be a better option than air conditioning Solutions. There are many tips for sleeping in the heat, although they are usually insufficient when it is too suffocating. It is best to generate a current of air in the room between doors and windows and, if necessary, turn on a fan. Air conditioning is not so recommended. Taking a warm shower may also be good advice. Never cold, much less hot, as the body will have to invest too much energy to compensate for the temperature. With stifling heat, we are not about to waste extra energy. And, of course, avoiding heavy, alcoholic or spicy foods before bed is also a good option. Unfortunately, with these suffocating nights that we are having to livewe have no choice but to sleep in the heat. These tips can help us rest a little better, although they are not miraculous. You may also wake up tired. When you feel this way, remember the importance of combating climate change. Image | Magnificent In Xataka | These days I’m having a hard time falling asleep because of the heat. But put this device on and sleep soundly

A Ryanair passenger already knows what a seat belt is for. And he discovered him with half his body outside the plane

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Memmingen is a German city about an hour and a half drive from Munich. In the south of Germany and north of Lake Constance, the city is in a perfect location to receive flights from those traveling to the Bavarian city or Switzerland. Therefore, it is perfect for low-cost airlines like Ryanair. One of its flights originating in Greece, however, has not arrived after a tremendous scare. Outside the plane. It is, according to sources who have offered their testimony to media such as Bloomberg either Reutersthe state in which a passenger on a Ryanair flight departing from Thessaloniki (Greece) to Memmingen (Germany) was found during takeoff. According to the information collected, a man was sucked out of the plane window and half his body was left outside the fuselage. Luckily, the seat belt and the help of the passengers themselves prevented the damage. (he was taken to the hospital with burns) were older. What has happened? They explain the Greek media as the local version of cnn that during a flight to Germany, passengers heard a sound similar to a tire bursting. Immediately afterwards, a passenger found himself with his head and shoulders outside the plane. This was caused because a part of an engine broke and hit the window, breaking it instantly. Immediately, the window itself sucked in the passenger who was traveling right in that seat and the cabin depressurized. The emergency led the pilot to make an emergency landing in the city of Thessaloniki (Greece) where the rest of the travelers were transferred on a new plane to the German city. How did they act? They explain in Flight Radar that the incident occurred when the plane had reached 15,000 feet in altitude in the middle of a takeoff maneuver, they say in The World. That is, the plane at that time exceeded 4,500 meters in altitude. That’s when the accident happened. The plane even had to burn fuel before landing with the cabin depressurized. When the cabin is depressurized, the oxygen inside the aircraft cabin is lost since at the altitude at which it is flown there is little of it. At that moment, as happened in this case, masks fall from the upper area of ​​the seats and passengers must put them on immediately to breathe normally. Why was he fired? In order to keep us alive at this altitude, airplanes hermetically seal their cabins. Inside they simulate similar pressure conditions at 1,500 meters highvery far from the real low pressure outside. This pressure difference prevents, for example, a human being by himself can open the door of an airplane while flying because it has to exert a force that is impossible to achieve. The problem occurs when, as in this case, an external agent breaks a window and the cabin suddenly suffers a sudden change in pressure. In that case, as in that of Aloha Airlines when a man was ejected for not wearing a seat belt. It is the change in pressure itself that causes the air to leave the plane with such force that it drags the objects in its path. And among the objects there may be a person who does not have a seat belt fastened. Investigating. Now, the air authorities will have to study why the window broke and, as everything indicates, it was due to the breakage of a part of the engine. The affected aircraft is a Boeing 737-800 which was manufactured in the United States. Ryanair only uses Boeing aircraft, with a fleet of more than 600 aircraft of this type. The North Macedonian authorities will be the ones to lead the investigations since when the accident happened the plane was already in its territory. Photo | Burak Sahin and Dan Barrett In Xataka | Boeing needs the 787 Dreamliner to run like clockwork. Two problems threaten his plans

We think that the body asks us to “eat lightly” in summer. In reality, we are buying tickets to malnutrition

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When summer arrives, important routine changes also come to our daily lives, beyond ‘hiding’ from the scorching sun that we are having these days. And something that has surely happened to many people is that heavy digestion becomes unbearable and the body cries out for fresh foods like a salad. The problem is that this can also pose a very important nutritional problem by giving up essential nutrients due to having a much lighter diet. The heat takes away our hunger. It is not a subjective idea that, when we are at forty degrees, we do not feel like stuffing ourselves with food, since it is pure biology. Here scientific evidence shows us that heat reduces appetite and, consequently, the amount of calories we eat (with some exceptions in people who do not have this problem). Here is a study published in 2021 in the British Journal of Nutrition put to the test this premise in healthy men, seeing that acute exposure to an environmental temperature of 30 ºC drastically reduced food intake during lunch in those exposed to 20 ºC ambient. In addition, the overall perception of appetite before sitting down at the table plummeted. In Spain. In our country, the data also supports this summer problem, as pointed out in a study published in 2005 that revealed that we eat significantly less in summer than in winter. And in the cold months, the average intakes of calories and almost all nutrients were much higher in both sexes. The most worrying thing about this last study was the conclusion on the coverage of dietary recommendations, since During the summer, a greater percentage of the population was unable to meet their minimum calorie needs or most micronutrients. And this is a serious problem. The salad trap. The statement that “you eat light in summer” is not inherently bad, but it does not justify poor nutrition. According to the WHO healthy eating parameters, the risk of malnutrition appears when our diet does not cover our physiological needs for an extended period, and summer lasts long enough to wreak havoc on our diet. Experts here point out that, when we lose our appetite, we usually replace full meals with salads with little variety or simply fruit. That is why if we go from eating three full meals to surviving on a couple of light dishes, we run the risk of have some nutritional deficiency. Our shortcomings. Among the nutrients we lack is, above all, quality protein and also iron. Added to this are the dangerous summer “fad diets”, which restrict food to fruits or juices. And beyond how healthy it sounds, these practices not only cause rapid deficiencies, but, if maintained over time, they can trigger adverse metabolic effects. Hydration a priori it is essential throughout the summer because we do not stop sweating and that means a greater loss of water and minerals. However, replacing meals with drinks (especially if they are sugary or excessively juiced) is a textbook error. Something to keep in mind is that hydration should come from water and seasonal foods rich in it, but not at the cost of emptying our diet of solid nutrients. This is something essential to take into account in people who are more vulnerable to color or nutritional losses, such as children, the elderly and the chronically ill, where dehydration and loss of appetite overlap very easily. A varied diet. If the body asks to eat less food to avoid heavy digestion and increased internal heat, logically it will have to compensate with a greater nutritional density of the little that is ingested. This involves eating cold legumes in the form of a salad, oily fish such as tuna or sardines, boiled eggs as a source of protein and nuts to have a lot of energy. Images | atlascompany In Xataka |We have searched for the formula for the definitive pre-workout breakfast. The answer from science is much simpler

Experts agree that “the quality of rest depends on whether you go to bed at the time when your body is ready to sleep”

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When you read the question “what time should you go to bed?” He usually waits for a number, a specific time, a recurring pattern to do as the day ends. Bad news. What research has discovered is that the ‘perfect time’ for going to bed is with parents. That is, genetics (chronotype) and a handful of other things. That’s why it’s time to see what the experts say. The time to go to sleep. These days, there are some statements from dr. Celia García Maloneurologist specializing in Sleep Medicine and co-director of the Madrid Clinic CISNe in which she explains that the quality of rest does not depend only on the number of hours. On the contrary, it often depends on sleeping at a time when the body is biologically ready for it. This is interesting because it shows a paradigm shift in global sleep science. That moment matters, yes (but not that much). In 2021, Nikbakhtian and his team reviewed sleep routines of more than 100,000 adults. The interesting thing about this study is that they did not use self-reported responses, but rather what a week of wrist accelerometer data said. Their conclusions were clear: going to bed between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. was associated with a lower cardiovascular incidence. It was bad news for Spain, the European country that takes the longest to go to bed. However, the details are important: it was not a question of ‘the earlier you go to bed the better’ (because going to bed before 10pm was also a problem); It was about finding the appropriate moment for each society, country or culture. And that’s where the surprises begin. Because what we are discovering is that regularity is the key. In this case, the Windred team reviewed data from six years of life of about 60,000 people. Their conclusions were that the most regular quartiles showed between 20% and 48% less mortality from all causes compared to the most irregular ones. This is because, we now believe, genetic variants are associated more with schedule than with duration and quality of the dream. The researchers’ thesis is that when we find a stable time to go to bed, the rest of the pieces begin to organize themselves. What does all this mean? For us mortals who just want to sleep, there are a handful of consequences: There is no magic hour. What we have to do is look for a stable window: if we find a time to go to bed, the rest of the system tends to adapt. However, chronotypes exist. It’s a good idea to find out which one is ours and “negotiate with it.” Take care of your dream. Although we sometimes insist on sleeping at a certain time, we often forget that sleep hygiene (and, above all, light) is one of the most important things to sleep well. Image | Annie Spratt In Xataka | You take some melatonin and fall asleep. It seems like a harmless practice for your health but it is not so.

A sedentary lifestyle is not only destroying your body, it is also changing your personality

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Sitting is a problem. Better said: sitting is a lot of problems. Sedentary lifestyle is the fourth risk factor for death globally and is behind one in four cancers of the breast, uterus or colon. And the thing doesn’t end there. Its impact is undeniable: it doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, slows down glucose metabolism, and reduces fat synthesis. In addition, with one hand it hinders the burning of calories; while the other causes loss of muscle mass, bone weakness and bone demineralization. But we have known that for a long time. What is not usually said is that, in addition, sitting changes our personality. The personality? Indeed. In recent years, researchers have been building a growing body of evidence associating physically inactive lifestyles with small (but measurable) declines in several personality traits over decades. Since 2018, We know that baseline physical inactivity predicts declines in four of the big five personality traits: responsibility, openness, extraversion and agreeableness. It’s true that the effects are small (and the evidence is observational), but they are surprisingly consistent. Does exercising protect our personality? It is not clear. As I said, the studies are observational: that means that we know that both variables go hand in hand, but not that one ‘acts’ as a protector of the other. However, we don’t always need clear causality to see where the problem is. And the problem sits at the very center of Western society. Spain is a good example: between 27.4% and 36.4% of Spaniards aged 16 and over declared themselves sedentary in their free time according to the INE. And they are right: if the WHO recommendation speaks of between 150 and 300 minutes of physical activity per week, almost half of Spaniards do not reach it. Sedentary lifestyle is, without a doubt, a silent epidemic that is straining our health system and, if these researchers are right, is changing who we are. Because, although there is debate about all thisthe idea that an active lifestyle is a protective factor for personality stability throughout life is gaining strength among experts. It is true that we do not know the specific mechanisms, but the psychological plausibility of the matter is beyond any doubt. It’s time to get going. Image | Kate Sade In Xataka | Cereals yes, but wrapped in black cardboard: the packaging business aimed exclusively at men

the bracelet that measures your body without distracting you

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Google has presented the Fitbit Aira $99.99 fitness tracker with no screen, no notifications, and no watch. It collects data 24 hours a day, dumps it into an app, and disappears from your wrist. This is where the product announcement ends. The interesting thing is that the Fitbit Air is the fourth, perhaps the fifth, on a list that is getting longer and longer. What has happened. Whoop created the category ten years ago. Polar launched its Loop in September for $199. Amazfit released the Helio Strap for 99.99. Garmin has a bracelet called Cirqa in development, according to leaks. And now Google is joining in with a product that costs one hundred euros and shows absolutely nothing. Everyone’s approach is practically identical: A plastic capsule with optical sensors placed in a textile strap. No screen, no buttons and no notifications. A mobile application where, if you feel like it, you can look at the data. Why is it important. We have been convincing ourselves for eleven years that more screen equals better device. The Apple Watch won as a format for its applications, its notifications, its ability to respond to messages… that is, its approach as a wrist-worn mobile phone with a certain focus on health, but also on quick procedures and notifications. And it turns out that we now have products whose success is measured the other way around: by how little you remember that you are wearing them. Whoop got more than 2 million subscribers paying between $199 and $359 a year for a bracelet that doesn’t even tell you the time. Let Google enter this format already having its own PixelWatch It says a lot about the size of the public for whom the smartwatch does not serve. The context. The easy narrative is that people are tired of the screen on their wrist. But the reality is more diverse. We could say that there are four different profiles buying these products for different reasons, and only one fits the idea of ​​being fed up. The athlete or biohacker who already has a sports watch for training but doesn’t want to sleep with it. The screenless bracelet is your second device, light and almost invisible. Anyone who has never wanted a watch with a screen. Because it has a mechanical one. You have never contemplated an Apple Watch or you had one and abandoned it. Now you can measure your body without giving up the jewelry. The smart ring userespecially women, which combines aesthetics with cycle, sleep and temperature monitoring. The underlying logic is the same: clockless data. The normal person who does not play sports and does not want to carry anything every night or anything that overwhelms or distracts him. A 100 euro bracelet with seven days of battery life opens the door. Between the lines. The bracelet is an answer to the problem that smart watches have brought us: turning the wrist into another window of interruptions. Its great commercial virtue is precisely that renunciation of the screen. By not competing visually with anything, it stops competing with any other accessory you are already wearing. mechanical watch, AirPods Pro 2ring, whatever. Zero conflict. Go deeper. Then comes the question of the reader who is not an athlete or biohacker: What exactly is this for? Dream. It’s not about knowing that you’ve slept six hours and twenty-three minutes, but about detecting trends. Many people believe that they sleep seven hours and discover, when measuring, that the actual time is much less. This pushes us to correct specific things: go to bed earlier, don’t have a late dinner, avoid the drink that breaks the deep phase… Resting heart rate. An isolated value is not useful, but the trend over months is. If your heart beats faster than it did half a year ago, something is happening: stress, worse fitness, a brewing infection, etc. Heart rate variability (HRV or HRV). This metric helps explain how well your nervous system responds to effort and rest. It tells you when to train hard and when to stop. Cumulative effort. Especially in order to see the pattern. The bracelet doesn’t tell you what to do. It gives you context about your body and you decide. And now what. The Fitbit Air will not be the last. Garmin will presumably bring out the Cirqa this year. Apple could end up making a move in some similar format if demand for these devices continues to grow. AND Whoop will continue to defend its subscription model against four rivals that make it difficult for it. For ten years, the success of a wearables was measured by engagement: The more you looked at the screen, the better. If the next wave decides to learn to disappear altogether, the smartwatch as we know it has a bigger problem than you think. Featured image | Google In Xataka | After almost a decade with the Apple Watch, I have switched to a Garmin. And I understood what I was missing

this is how our body really perceives excesses with alcohol

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Theory (and experience in some cases) tells us that when we overindulge in alcohol, the next day is literally hell. However, despite being one of the most common afflictions in many societies, science continues to reveal the exact mechanisms that are activated in our body when the party is over. And far from being a simple problem of dehydration, the “morning after” is a complex chemical, immunological and cognitive breakdown. A body map. Here science has wanted create a map with all the effects that there are on the body after a drunkenness, and for this the Catholic University of Leuven used a simple mobile app to be able to monitor a total of 34 young adults who are habitual drinkers. Through this app, participants could cross-check questionnaire data, indicate the intensity of their hangover and even the quality of their sleep. But in addition, users pointed out the exact areas that hurt, felt weaker or numb in real time to clearly see that a hangover is more than a slight headache or having a dry mouth the next morning. The result. Once all the participants had painted the areas where they experienced these physical sensations, the truth is that it was quite clear what was happening in the muscles. And in general terms, it was seen how the pain mainly affected the temples of the head or even the stomach discomfort that was felt as a hyperactivation of motility. But at the other end of the spectrum we have the deactivation effect, which were areas painted with cold colors that signaled numbness or heaviness in the extremities. Although the fascinating thing about these “hangover maps” is that they are not purely psychological, since here science shows that these maps have real physiological correlates. That is, the areas that participants color align with measurable physical alterations, such as modulation of heart rate and visceral signals. He leaves the laboratory. Traditionally, tests on the effect of alcohol have been done in a laboratory, analyzing all the variables that could change, but the reality is that no one drinks in such a measured way in the real world. That is why now going out into a much more real environment gives you a naturalistic touch which offers much higher validity. Now an authentic representation of the multi-systemic hangover experience is literally being captured, balancing scientific rigor with the reality of how alcohol consumption occurs in our daily lives. A risk pattern. Behind this study of hangovers lies a key neuroscientific concept, which is called interoceptive phenomenology. This is nothing more than our brain’s ability to perceive and process the body’s internal signals, so mapping how we feel alcohol and a hangover is of great help in identifying a risk pattern for alcoholism. The key is in the literature that suggests that the way in which these physical sensations are processed is directly linked to our vulnerability to addictions. Here, interestingly, people who don’t have as many physical effects during a hangover may be at higher risk of developing an alcohol use disorder, since it may not feel too bad for them to draw a line. And this can be essential to be able to detect early in the future this serious problem that can literally destroy a life. Images | wirestock at Magnific In Xataka | There are scientists dedicated for decades to studying hangovers: what thousands of drunken binges (analyzed) have concluded afterwards

science explains what happens to your body (and your brain) depending on the time you choose

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In social circles, the truth is that there are sometimes very interesting debates about common customs, such as whether it is better to shower first thing in the morning or just before getting into bed. Here, while there is a group of people who defend tooth and nail the revitalizing power of water in the morning to “start” the day, others say that there is nothing like hot water at night to conclude sleep. And here science has something to say. It makes us sleep better. If you have trouble falling asleep, the science here suggests that a nighttime shower may be a good idea, and explained in a meta-analysis published in 2019 in the magazine Sleep Medicine which analyzed 17 different studies. Here it was concluded that bathing or showering with hot water between one and two hours before going to bed reduces the time to fall asleep by approximately 36%. Because? Here hot water is our main ally, since it warms the skin and, therefore, increases blood flow to the extremities such as the hands and feet. From here, when you get out of the shower, that heat dissipates quickly, causing a drop in the body’s core temperature. And this is the key, because this thermal drop mimics the natural cooling that our body experiences before sleeping, which sends an unequivocal signal to the brain to release melatonin, which is the sleep hormone, and reduce levels of cortisol, which is related to stress. It depends on the time. From a psychological point of view, morning and night showers fulfill completely opposite functions and it depends precisely on the time at which we take them. In the case of the morning showerthe goal is increase performance with the activation of the sympathetic system by stimulating muscle tone and, above all, preparing us for the stress of the day. In the case of the night shower, as we have said before, an attempt is made to activate the parasympathetic system with a longer and more leisurely duration of the shower with the aim of reducing the accumulated physical and mental tension, fulfilling the function of an authentic ritual of transition and disconnection. According to psychology. Here we enter territory that is not so clear, but which indicates, for example, that people who prefer a shower at night do so because they have a lower tolerance for dirt, which is why they prefer to remove all the sweat of the day before going to bed. But it is also noted that people who prefer solitude tend to prefer nighttime showers, precisely because, after a day full of stimuli, the bathroom becomes a capsule of sensory disconnection. In the end, it is a way to relax from everything that has happened throughout the day. Images | freepik In Xataka | Cooling down is the forgotten step in our exercise routines. And that affects how we shower

We already know where many of the microplastics that enter our body end up. We have bad news

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That microplastics had managed to enter our body is something that we already knew in detail, especially considering that we have found them in the lungsin the placenta and even in the testicles. However, there were questions about where they accumulated in greater quantities in our body and what consequences does it have. Something that science has already solved. What they have seen. It has been thanks to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology that it has finally been revealed that not only can cholesterol crystals be found in bile that end up generating stones, but also there are microplastics. And the worst of all is that they have a direct impact on the premature aging of the cells that make up our gallbladder. How do you know? To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed 14 samples of human bile: five from healthy patients without gallstones and nine from patients with gallstones. The results were conclusive, since they found microplastics in the samples, mainly highlighting two of them. the most common polymers in our daily lives: polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Here it could be seen that the particles had a size that ranged between 20 and 50 micrometers. A very relevant fact, since from these sizes is when they can cross the biological barriers, cross the intestine-liver axis and end up in the gallbladder of our liver. There is more. In addition to the presence of plastic in the bile, it could be seen that patients who had gallstones showed a higher load of microplastics. Something fundamental, since it is a fact that fits with recent research that suggests that these particles could act as ‘seeds’ around which cholesterol groups to form the dreaded stones in the gallbladder. What do they do? This is the key point of these studies, since we still do not have much idea of ​​the damage that microplastics can do to our body. Here it points out that bile causes mitochondrial dysfunction and promotes the aging of cholangiocytes, which are the cells that line the bile ducts. In previous experiments, it was possible to see that in the liver of laboratory mice exposed to environmental concentrations of microplastics there was alteration in the metabolism of bile acids and liver damage. In the case of humans, which increases oxidative stress. But the important thing is that in both cases the bile duct cell loses its ability to function correctly and ages prematurely, which in the long term could be related to liver and bile duct diseases. Can it be mitigated? Among the bad news, scientific literature suggests that there are ways to avoid it. One of the great protectors that exists is melatonin, suggesting that it can combat oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction generated by these synthetic intruders. In parallel, other recent experiments with human liver organoids have shown that the damage caused by microplastics improves when ursodeoxycholic acid is administered, which is the drug administered to ‘dissolve’ gallstones. The ‘magic’ of this compound is that it increases bile flow, suggesting that promoting a kind of natural “washing” of the bile duct could help reduce toxicity. A problem. The confirmation of bile as a “hidden reservoir” of microplastics highlights an undeniable reality: plastic pollution is no longer just an environmental problem in our oceans, but a systemic public health problem about which we know more and more data. The longer-term consequences, such as the relationship with gallbladder cancer, remain to be seen. Images | FREEPIK In Xataka | An 18-year-old girl has created the definitive weapon against microplastics: a filter that eliminates 96% of them from water

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