A Seattle-based startup published the first peer-reviewed study on a procedure to get microplastics out of the bloodstream. Efficacy varies.
The landmark research article, published last week in the Journal of Clinical Apheresis, offers early data on reducing concentrations of the microscopic plastic particles in the body — a nascent field of study overwhelmed by not-yet-tested “detox” products.
The study by Circulate Health, a five-year-old company exploring how therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) may delay the aging process, found its blood-filtering procedure to be “the first demonstration that it is possible to reduce circulating MP (microplastics) in human patients.”
TPE is a clinical procedure that deploys machines separating blood into its various components through a process called apheresis. Circulate Health offers TPE at select longevity clinic affiliates, costing patients approximately $5,000 to $8,000 per procedure, said Brad Younggren, co-founder and CEO of Circulate Health and one of the study’s authors.
