Red meat, butter, smoking and stress have all been proven to be dangerous contributors to heart attacks. 

But microplastics could join that list. 

Susanne Rust, an environmental investigative reporter for the LA Times, joined Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today” to explain how plastics are harming not just the environment but our health, too.

Plastics can be found all over the planet, from the peak of Mt. Everest to the oceans’ bottomless pits. Rust spoke about a new study that found microplastics in people’s bodies. 

“It’s in our blood. We’ve found it in tissue. We found it in lung tissue and in brains. But this time, what happened is a team of researchers got together and did routine procedures on heart patients, people who had a buildup of plaque in their arteries. They… looked at the plaque, and they found an extraordinary number of patients had microplastics in the plaque in their arteries. What they discovered was that those who had the microplastics had about double the rate of having nonfatal heart attack, stroke or death, in the 18 months following that surgery,” Rust explained.  

Rust said that researchers are not entirely sure how the plastics got into patients’ plaque, but shared a few theories. 

“We know we breathe it all the time. We know when we drink water, it’s in our tap water. A lot of it’s in bottled water. It’s in soda bottles. So the exact route is unclear, but it is pretty understood that we are constantly ingesting and drinking and breathing in microplastics,” she said. 

Rust explained that more studies are needed to determine whether the plastics caused heart disease or were just correlated. 

As for banning plastics, Rust said it’s a long shot. 

“There are very deep-pocketed money interests who don’t want to see an end to plastic. It makes too much money for them. So it’s, it’s you know, I think we can all hope... there may be some kind of ban, but a complete ban on plastics is just hard to imagine,” she said.

Rust also shared advice on how to limit microplastic ingestion.

“You can do things like don’t drink bottled water, don’t heat items up in plastic containers. As soon as you warm them up, more plastics come out. Try to go to the store and buy produce that isn’t wrapped in plastic. Just try to avoid it as much as you can. But I think most doctors also understand there’s no way to entirely avoid plastic getting into your system,” Rust said. 

Watch the full interview above. 

As for banning plastics, Rust said it’s a long shot. 

“There are very deep-pocketed money interests who don’t want to see an end to plastic. It makes too much money for them. So it’s, it’s you know, I think we can all hope... there may be some kind of ban, but a complete ban on plastics is just hard to imagine,” she said.

Rust also shared advice on how to limit microplastic ingestion.

“You can do things like don’t drink bottled water, don’t heat items up in plastic containers. As soon as you warm them up, more plastics come out. Try to go to the store and buy produce that isn’t wrapped in plastic. Just try to avoid it as much as you can. But I think most doctors also understand there’s no way to entirely avoid plastic getting into your system,” Rust said. 

Watch the full interview above.

Watch "LA Times Today" at 7 and 10 p.m. Monday through Friday on Spectrum News 1 and the Spectrum News app.