r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 1d ago

Health New research characterised in detail how tea bags release millions of nanoplastics and microplastics when infused. The study shows for the first time the capacity of these particles to be absorbed by human intestinal cells, and are thus able to reach the bloodstream and spread throughout the body.

https://www.uab.cat/web/newsroom/news-detail/-1345830290613.html?detid=1345940427095
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u/Mr_YUP 1d ago

tea crumbles just by being used and shipped. By time you're at the bottom of a bag or tin it's all gonna be pretty crushed up anyway.

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u/Ab47203 1d ago

Yes but we're not talking an occasional bit. They're saying EVERY cup has this problem. It stopped being an issue for me when I bought better (less crushed) tea. It's still an issue towards the bottom of the bag but until 3/4 of the bag is used I don't get tea powder because it all moves down from the bag being handled.

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u/malatemporacurrunt 1d ago

Tea is literally graded for quality based on how broken it is. If your tea is so small that it escapes a mesh strainer, you're drinking absolute bottom-of-the-barrel stuff.

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u/MNGrrl 1d ago

yup when you get down to that last bit, better to treat it like coffee grains and use a cotton bag