Wooden cutting boards also have microparticles and harm the body, says new study
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Cutting boards - both plastic and wooden ones - are sources of microparticles that can harm the human body.
When you use plastic boards to chop meat or vegetables, tiny plastic particles will get into food and eventually the digestive system which will create problems like inflammation, impaired fasting glucose, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. It can also cause cell damage, allergic reactions, harm to the reproductive system, and obesity.
Indian-origin researchers at the North Dakota State University said that chopping carrots on wood and plastic boards can produce tens of millions of microparticles a year.
When knives are used on plastic chopping boards made of polypropylene and polyethylene, it sheds nano and micro-sized flecks. After analysing the chopping patterns of five people, experts concluded that food preparation can produce 14-71 million polyethylene microplastics and 79 million polypropylene microplastics from each board per year.
When wooden boards are used, they slough off 4-22 times more microparticles than plastic ones.
However, researchers also found that these microparticles did not significantly change mouse cells and their viability in lab tests.