Are you using a paper cup to hold your coffee? According to studies, disposable paper cups coated with plastic can emit thousands of microplastics particles after being exposed to hot liquid for just 15 minutes.
Do you enjoy a hot cup of coffee at the beginning and finish of each day? While it’s completely acceptable to sip your favorite hot beverage in a ceramic, glass or metal cup, many people opt to use cheap disposable paper cups instead. These cups may be better for the environment than plastic cups, but they are also unhealthy because they are coated inside with plastic. According to research, disposable paper cups coated with plastic can release thousands of tiny plastic particles into hot liquids in addition to other harmful substances and if a person drinks three cups of tea or coffee in a paper cup, they would be ingesting a startling 75,000 tiny microplastics particles.
Dangers of plastic
Plastics are practically everywhere. Simply take an inventory of your surroundings and note how frequently you use certain plastic items. Periodically, there have been alerts about the possibility of microplastics entering our bodies. Countries are prohibiting single-use plastics for a variety of reasons. However the overall effect has been quite small. In the midst of all of this, questions are also being raised about the usage of paper cups for hot drinks like soup, tea and coffee.
Perils of paper cup
“These cups could be better for the environment than plastic ones, but are they really better for you? Maintaining health is difficult, isn’t it? You run the chance of experiencing infertility, digestive issues, or the big C if you drink hot tea or coffee from a disposable paper cup. Your takeout paper cup’s interior is lined with plastic that absorbs harmful chemicals into your hot beverage “Tim Gray, a health optimizing biohacker and psychologist, recently posted on his social handles.
Gray quotes a study done by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur where they poured hot water into paper cups to see what would happen.
“They found that exposure to hot liquidfor 15 minutes makes plastic-coated disposable paper cups release 25,000 tiny plastic particles, harmful ions and heavy metals into the liquid. They found ions such as fluoride, chloride, nitrate and sulfate and toxic heavy metals such as lead, chromium, cadmium and arsenic in the water samples,” writes Gray.
Gray says an average person drinking three regular cups of tea or coffee daily, in a paper cup, would be ingesting 75,000 tiny microplastics particles.
“Consuming microplastics and heavy metals in addition to your daily dose of takeaway coffee can put you at risk of hormonal imbalances, reproductive issues, gut issues, cancer and neurological issues,” says Gray explaining the dangers of having coffee in disposable cup.