The Microplastic Crisis: How It’s Affecting Your Brain, Hormones & Health - Dr. Barrett Deubert

What if you were consuming the equivalent of a credit card in plastic every single week?

Microplastics are now being found in the brain, bloodstream, and vital organs; and their effects on inflammation, hormones, and long-term disease risk are only just beginning to surface.

In this episode, we uncover:

• Where microplastics are coming from
• How they accumulate in your body
• The connection to brain fog, fatigue, and hormone imbalance
• And the most effective ways to reduce and detox them

This is one of the most important health conversations of our time - and what you do next matters.

. . . 
Watch the episode on YouTube here!

• (00:00) - Intro
• (00:51) - What are Microplastics?
• (04:06) - Bioaccumulation & the Brain
• (06:26) - Toxins & Fat Loss
• (09:11) - Symptoms with Microplastics
• (11:41) - What Can We Do?
• (12:12) - Strategy 1: Reduced Exposure
• (13:20) - Strategy 2: Support Detox
• (14:22) - Strategy 3: Sweat & Cleansing
• (15:39) - Strategy 4: Optimize Gut Barrier
• (16:03) - Strategy 5: Fasting
• (16:28) - Closing Thoughts

DISCLAIMER
This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Barrett Deubert and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to replace medical advice or treatment from a physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding health questions and concerns. Neither Dr. Deubert nor the Real Health Co. takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All audience members, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Creators and Guests

Host

Dr. Barrett Deubert

The founder of The Real Health Co. and the host of The Real Health Podcast, Dr. Barrett is passionate about helping people find true and complete health in any stage of life!

Editor

Grant Crenshaw

Content Producer at the Real Health Co.

What is The Real Health Podcast?

On a mission to share practical solutions to improve your wellbeing, The Real Health Podcast will equip you with evidence-based recommendations essential to achieving a healthy lifestyle. Join Dr. Barrett Deubert as he shares his passion for educating, inspiring, and empowering individuals to achieve “real health for real people”. Breaking down health topics such as: immunity, stress, real food, natural living, and much more to provide you with actionable steps to improving your family’s health.

Dr. Barrett: And when you look at the sources, again, bottled water is one source. So that plastic water bottle, it's probably the one of the biggest sources of nanoplastics that are being consumed. And most of it's being consumed in a, you know, maybe at a soccer game. I see it all the time as a soccer coach, right? Sitting on the sideline, seeing these girls consume these plastic water bottles.

I've been sitting on the sideline, baking in the sun and just releasing even more plastic into that water. We see it in food packaging. I mean, just look at the things that you're opening up, right? Even just like precooked foods that you buy from the store that you think are convenient and they are, they're full of microplastics.

So let me ask you something. If I were to tell you that literally plastic has been found in the human body, the brain, and even the placenta, and there's studies that show the amount of plastic accumulation in your body within a week is equal to that of a credit card, what would you do about it? Well, welcome to 2026. Welcome to the Real Health Co Podcast. We are excited to dive in everything about microplastics today, and more importantly, how to get rid of them, how to prevent the accumulation, and how to maximize the detoxification. Today, we're talking about microplastics and the effects on the brain, hormones, inflammation, and most importantly, what you can do about it.

So let's just talk about what are microplastics. This is the buzzword in today's society. We're hearing about it. We're talking about eating out of glass and cooking out of glass containers. We're talking about eating off of metal silverware instead of plastic silverware, carrying around our Yeti instead of carrying around plastic water bottles.

These are all great ways to reduce the accumulation of microplastics. But what are they? Microplastics are particles plastic particles that are of a certain size, and that size is small enough specifically to actually cross certain barriers of the body that they're not meant to cross. So we call these nano plastics or nanoparticles. It has to be within a certain size, less than literally five Less than five mm's will produce a size of particle that crosses not only the gut barrier, but also the blood brain barrier.

And when you look at the sources, again, bottled water is one source. So that plastic water bottle is probably the one of the biggest sources of nanoplastics that are being consumed. And most of it's being consumed in a, you know, maybe at a soccer game. I see it all the time as a soccer coach, right? Sitting on the sideline, seeing these girls consume these plastic water bottles.

I've been sitting on the sideline, baking in the sun and just releasing even more plastic into that water. We see it in food packaging. I mean, just look at the things that you're opening up, right? Even just like precooked foods that you buy from the store that you think are convenient and they are, they're full of microplastics. And then when we heat, when we reheat items, even when we, you know, look at certain containers that we think are like a paper based container, they're actually lined in plastics, microplastics.

When we look at synthetic clothing, you know, literally the pants that you wear, the shirt that you're wearing, those comfortable shirts, all right? I got this Lululemon on. I've got these pants on. There is plastic in my clothing and personal care products, we see a lot of plastic accumulation. And, you know, this isn't just environmental, it's internal exposure, daily cumulative effects.

We call this bioaccumulation. We've been bioaccumulating plastic through the years and stockpiling it. And if the amount of plastic coming in the body is greater than the amount of plastic leaving the body, then we are in a surplus of plastic that's gonna accumulate in the body. There was a study that was done. I was just looking at that research right before I jumped on the podcast with Grant, and it was that 0.5% of the weight of the brain was microplastic.

Point 5% of the weight of the brain is microplastic. That's insane. And that was actually shown to be a 50% increase in microplastic accumulation since 2024. There is more plastic than ever before, and we're seeing it at alarming rates. And, you know, the question is like, how do we get it?

Right? Well, we talked about the sources, but how do we get it? And it's gonna come from two areas. It's gonna come from what we're consuming internally through the mouth. So the food and the water or beverages that we're consuming.

And actually, wow, here's something. Wow, it's in the air, right? So the air that we're breathing it contains microplastics. That's one of the reasons why in our bedroom at night, sleep with a HEPA air filter that's constantly cleaning out that air because one third of your life will be spent on the mattress you sleep on and in your bedroom. Just think about that for a second.

Know, sheets and the mattresses is another source of plastic, petroleum, and toxins. So you would definitely wanna maximize your sleep. And then once it's inside the body, where does it go? Well, microplastics, nanoparticles cross the gut barrier very easily. And then especially if you have GI symptoms, gut problems, you're gonna have an easier entry way to the blood.

Kind of a side note here, if you weren't at our gut check workshop, make sure you listen to our latest episode on our gut workshop that we did in office. It's about an hour long, but we talk about everything on how to heal the gut. Make sure you listen to that. Let's get back to it. Once it crosses the gut barrier, where does it go?

It likes to go to a couple different regions. It likes to go to the brain, the liver, and fat tissue. And these areas, liver, fat, and brain, can create major metabolic distress. So let me ask you a question. Have you found yourself unable to lose weight at a certain level?

Like you lost maybe ten, fifteen pounds, but you can't lose that last 15. Did you know that toxin accumulation of fat, when you start to lose fat, burn fat, you release all of this stored toxic load that overwhelms the liver, creates oxidative stress, and can fundamentally stop you from continuing to lose weight. Toxic exposure, because of fat loss, can prevent you from continuing the fat loss. So whenever you're in a season where you're really trying to lose weight and burn fat, make sure you're supporting your detoxification systems. It's why I think, you know, the big fat loss drugs of Ozempic and GLP-1s are a health hazard because when you burn fat, you are directly releasing stored toxins into the body, and a lot of that is plastic.

And, you know, when you look at microplastics, one of the issues is they are like a sponge so that you're not just consuming a piece of plastic. A lot of times what you're consuming are toxins even attached to those nanoparticles. So they're toxic sponges. So BPA, for instance, and phthalates and heavy metals, attach to that nanoparticle that then goes to the liver or goes to the fat or goes to the brain tissue. And this is where the body cannot efficiently break down that particular molecule and we get bioaccumulation.

And once it accumulates, let's just say, let's talk about the brain for instance, okay? So once it accumulates in the brain, it crosses blood brain barrier, nanoparticles are small enough to penetrate brain tissue, and they're literally found, we just talked about 0.5% of the brain being microplastics, it triggers an immune response, right? So this is a foreign invader. So the immune system within the brain sees it as a foreign invader. And because of it, it sets up an immune inflammatory response that generates what we call cytokines, which are these inflammatory molecules, and it creates low grade brain inflammation. Your brain is on fire and you don't realize it.

What are the symptoms? Brain fog, anxiety, and long term exposure can lead to neurodegeneration. And so when it gets into the brain, we can start experiencing cognitive dysfunction from the inflammatory response. But not only that, those microplastics can also impair mitochondrial function.

And the mitochondria are most abundant in the heart, in the muscle, in the brain. And so when we get accumulation of these microplastics, it stops our mitochondria from efficiently making energy, ATP. And again, this leads to chronic fatigue and even chronic pain. And when the mitochondria are dysfunctional, there's even research with the Warburg effect and how it can cause cancer rates to increase. Microplastics are a major endocrine disruptor, a hormone disruptor.

So if we're having hormonal imbalances, particularly symptoms like PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid issues, ovarian cysts, fibroids, cancer risks. All of those can be attributed to plastic associated chemicals that mimic estrogen. So if you just create, if you just understand any estrogen related hormone imbalance, okay, we can look at plastic as being a xenoestrogen or a chemical that looks like estrogen and can mimic estrogen's effects, but in a very negative way. And what tissue in the body is estrogen sensitive or receptive? Breast tissue, uterine tissue, cervical tissue, ovarian tissue, and in males, prostate tissue.

And we're seeing such a rise of enlarged prostates, prostate cancer, ovarian cervical breast cancer. And we can look at plastic as being a potential factor in these issues. When we see decreased focus, mood instability, brain fog, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cognitive decline, hormone disruption, low energy, the list goes on, right? Microplastic accumulation could be at the core. And so what do we do with it, right?

What do we do to support our hormones, our metabolic health, our immune system, our inflammation, our gut, our brain? What can we actually do, right? So here's the value of today's podcast. You've learned what, you learned where it is. Now let's talk about what you can do about it, right?

So here's some strategies. I'm gonna give you five strategies to immediately start impacting the accumulation of microplastic in the body.

Number one, reduce the exposure. It's your biggest return on investment. So right away, you can start to reduce the exposure.

How would I do it? I would eliminate anything that I'm Plastic that I'm drinking out of. So what do I go to? I go to glass or stainless steel, grade eighteeneight stainless steel. That'd be my first recommendation.

When it comes to reducing exposure, I'd also not have anything around the house that has like plastic container storage, right? I use Pyrex glass as my storage for food. And then water. Water, you know, a lot of people are buying gallons of like drinking, like purified water thinking they're doing good. And although it may be potentially better in tap water, it's full of plastic, right?

So make sure you get some type of water filtration system that's non plastic. So we use a reverse osmosis machine. You can get a Berkey, which is a stainless steel filtration system, but you definitely wanna filter your water and put it in a stainless steel or glass container, and that will be your primary source of drinking.

Number two, you wanna support detoxification pathways. The number one supplement recommendation that I would have for detoxification of microplastics is glutathione.

Glutathione is the mother of all antioxidants. It supports your mitochondria, your oxy of stress, your liver. I mean, you can go on and on, okay? Glutathione, you cannot consume it to increase your cellular levels of it. You have to be very particular with the type of glutathione.

So if you wanna know the type of glutathione I'd recommend, why don't you message us on Instagram? We'll send you a recommendation there and tell you exactly which one to get because glutathione is now just because it's popularized, there's tons of supplements on the market that are probably not raising your actual glutathione levels. Reach out to us, we'll tell you the exact one to get.

Number three, need to, and this is my favorite. So I do virtually every morning, okay? You ready for some low hanging fruit? Sweat, or particularly a sauna. Sweating, when you sweat, they actually study sweat and show microplastics in your sweat. So sweating is one of the best forms of detoxification of microplastics. You need to be in a sauna sweating three days a week, twenty minute sessions.

And this is one of the most effective strategies at reducing the bioaccumulation of heavy metal. Sauna is so effective in so many different ways. And you know, who knows? Maybe the modern human is benefiting from sauna to the extent, whether it's heart or brain or whatever, because of microplastic detoxification. Now, maybe that's where we're seeing some of these studies that are showing reduction of cardiovascular risks in cancers.

So it's a thought. So sauna and Okay, don't have a sauna. What do I do? Well, it's about to be summer. It's gonna be pretty hot, right? Sweat. Sweating in general is gonna do it.

Number four, optimize the gut barrier. Optimize the gut barrier. I'm gonna give you one thing that we talked about the gut check workshop, but again, go listen to that workshop, okay, that I just posted. But it is colostrum. Colostrum is one of the most effective ways to support the gut barrier and act as a binder to help with microplastic accumulation.

And then number five, strategic fasting. Strategic long duration fasting. Work with your healthcare practitioner to determine if fasting is appropriate for you and how to do it effectively when you start to push two, three, four days, you're mobilizing your fat storage and you're directly dropping the accumulation of microplastics.

So, you know, the reality is microplastics aren't going anywhere. They're only increasing. So we have to set up a defense to detox, to remove, to stay away. And that's the way we're gonna overcome. There are gonna be rates of diseases associated with microplastics that we won't see for ten, twenty plus years from now.

I'm telling you way ahead of the game here. We'll start living a pure life by removing microplastics as much as you can to support your detoxification levels. Lower the burden, lower the burden on the body. And if you want help, if you want help in this space to form a detox strategy, to help your metabolism regenerate and go through detoxification of micro plastics and how it disrupts your hormonal system, how to do that strategically, reach out to The Real Health Co. It's why we exist.

Feel free to Instagram message us, let us know, hey, I heard your podcasts. I wanna learn more about detoxification. And we can send you our ninety day gut and detox reset program specifically to address issues like this. I hope this was valuable for you in this season. Mean, is something we need to be learning and processing right now.

And so I hope this added value to you and your health journey. And as always, thanks for listening to another episode of The Real Health Podcast.