Get THIS Water Filter to Help Avoid Dangerous Microplastics

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]What are some of the key steps that we should all be taking in your opinion to reduce our exposure to this stuff?

[00:00:05]>> Yes, I think there are some very there are some heavy hitters here that can make a big difference, get you big bang for your buck and and this is also in terms of microlastic exposure. Again, microlastics have their own problems and they have the chemicals that they're carrying with them.

[00:00:22]>> But one of the first and foremost things that people should do is get a water filter. Um, the best one you can get is a reverse osmosis water filter. You can get a countertop one that that filters out 99% of microplastics and it's filtering out bisphenol A, bisphenol S, the phalates, the forever chemicals, PAS, it's it's filtering out all those chemicals that are endocrine disruptors that are disrupting hormones that are associated with neurodedevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder, like ADHD. So, a countertop one is a easy solution for people. You can get a whole house one as well. The caveat there is reverse osmosis does filter out everything including trace elements and minerals that we actually want in our water. And so you can add those back with, you know, a mineral supplement or you can get these little mineral drops to add back to your water that have these trace elements, you know, like maganese and selenium and these things that like you know you want in your water. And so that is also important to consider. number one thing that you could do. Easiest easiest solution right there. You're going to be doing so much by doing that. Um the second thing I would say is avoid heating any kind of plastic. Okay? Whether it's like your Tupperware, like get rid of any spatulas, all those plastic, anything that's plastic that's going to touch heat. Don't don't do that. And and and I want to get to the the coffee cups because that's the one you don't think about because it doesn't look like plastic. It's very tricky because they're lined with plastic. You have to like I I I really want these companies like Starbucks and everyone to like start lining their cups with polyactic acid. You know, why not? You can you can do it. I know Blue Bottle Coffee does it. It's the only only one that I know that does, but you can you can get sugar cane and line them. Like until then, bring your own mug >> or you know, I don't know, stop drinking to go coffee because it's >> it's you're talking 55fold more BPA into your beverage than if you were drinking just water from like a plastic bottle.

[00:02:25]>> 55fold. Um the other thing is shift from drinking out of plastic water bottles as much as you can.

[00:02:31]>> Um and certainly don't let them sit out in the sun, you know, to let them sit in your car. uh because that's that's again accelerating the breakdown of the plastic and the chemicals are going into the into your >> but you say that Rhonda then I think well look at a supply chain in a supply chain these are not always going to be perfectly chilled or at room temperature they're going to be thrown in a corner somewhere they're going to get crushed they're going to get heated up they're going to become warm they're going to become cool and then warm again do you know what I mean >> yes yes when they're on the when they're on the the truck they're in the in the summer they're being transported to where they're in the warehouse they're sitting in The reality is don't drink out of the like just get rid of the plastic bottles. Get rid of them.

[00:03:12]>> One thing we haven't talked about is tap water.

[00:03:15]>> Yes.

[00:03:16]>> Cuz uh the filter covers that, right?

[00:03:19]And what about hormones? Is there any truth to this idea that since the invention of the pill, there's now more female hormones in the water supply. Is that have I just got that out of my ass or is that >> I mean I you know there's I think there's some places maybe where you live where the >> giving me the this is BS face. You you can just say this is BS.

[00:03:41]>> I think the bigger problem is the BPA that's disrupting our hormones. I I if you want to focus if you want to be angry at something you know that's what you should be angry about because that's actually what's disrupting our hormones and it's really what's ubiquitous. So, water filter, avoid coffee cups, avoid heating plastic, avoid plastic bottles.

[00:04:00]>> Yeah, that's the that's the major thing for the BPA. Now, microplastics were breathing them in, but like that.

[00:04:05][laughter] >> Okay.

[00:04:09]>> Um, >> anything else >> for the for the BPA? I >> for everything for to do with plastics, microplastics.

[00:04:15]>> Yeah, I mean, yes, I would say that if we're talking about plastics on the whole, um, microlastics as well. Also, the major source is ingestion and um I mentioned size matters. Well, it turns out fiber, dietary fiber also can help you excrete microplastics. So, both like the you've heard of like prebiotics and fermentable fiber, soluble fiber, >> it creates like a viscous gel in your gut and that encapsulates plastic particles and moves them out through your feces. So, you poop them out.

[00:04:43]>> So, fiber is actually good for that reason. Um, the other thing with with the microplastics, so everything that I mentioned, reverse osmosis, water filter, drink, not drinking out of plastic bottles, not heating them, all that also applies to microplastics because you're ingesting them. You're also ingesting microplastics in your food. Um, so you want to avoid like the oceans are polluted with them. So you want to avoid eating like fish that have their intact gut and intestines like shellfish, you know, eating like shrimp or things like that because they're the microplastics are accumulated in the intestines of >> doing this episode now.

[00:05:17]>> I have prawns. Sorry, carry on.

[00:05:19]>> Yeah, prawns. Exactly. Um >> shrimp. Yeah, as you call them.

[00:05:22]>> But the other the other major source of microplastics is actually from the air we breathe. And so we are breathing in microplastics constantly. And that's also because we live in a plastic world.

[00:05:34]So, you know, tires, if you're in a in an urban place, that tires are made of rubber, but also a lot of plastic polymers. So, the friction of like the tire is like bringing into the air. We have our clothes that are nice, cool, fancy clothes that we wear.

[00:05:48]Microplastics are all in the clothes.

[00:05:50]So, we wash them, you know, they come come out, they get in the ocean, but also the dryer. They come out into our environment. They're So, we're breathing these in our shoes. I mean, just everywhere, okay? It's it's in the air and so um when we breathe in the microplastics they get into our lungs which plays a role in respiratory disease but also this is very disturbing. Um essentially so have you guys heard about this study? This was done in South Sa Paulo Brazil uh where they looked at a variety of different organs and microplastics in those organs and it was found that microplastics accumulated in the brain 10 to 20 times more than other organs. They're essentially everywhere.

[00:06:30]They're in 100% of semen samples that have been sample like you measured.

[00:06:34]They're in testicles. They're everywhere. Placenta, but 10 to 20 times more in the brain, which is astounding considering we have something called the bloodb brain barrier that's supposed to not let stuff get into the brain like microlastics, right?

[00:06:47]>> And so part of that is that the nanoplastics, the size matters. So like the small ones are getting in. But the other part is that when we are breathing in microplastics. So we have something in our in our olfactory in our nose called olfactory neurons. And those neurons have fibers that extend into our brain. And so essentially you breathe in the microplastics and they can get into the brain through the olfactory fibers and then get transported to other parts of the brain. A lot of scientists have sort of I would say um they're using this method to deliver drugs to get past the blood blood brain barrier because it's a way to get past it. So essentially you're breathing in microplastics and those are getting to the brain. There's studies now showing that people with Alzheimer's disease postmortem if you look at their brain they have 10 times more microplastics than postmortem brain of people without Alzheimer's. So that's playing a role in Alzheimer's disease as well.

[00:07:38]>> So you want to air filter. This is what I'm getting to an air filter. You want to like, you know, any kind of HEPA filter. It can be, you know, is it doesn't have to be the fancy like really like medical grade ones. It can be any kind of hepailter. They really do work.

[00:07:52]I have a honey well hepailter in all the rooms in my bedroom. I also have an IQ air monitor that measures the particulate matter and you can see the data. If you turn off the filter, the particulate matter goes up and it's very very obvious. Like if I if I'm traveling, I unplug everything. I don't like leave the filters running. and you look at the IQ, it's like, oh, it goes up. So, um, an air filter is another thing that I would say is a simple solution with in terms of getting rid of the microplastics that we didn't cover as well.

[00:08:21]>> And Rhonda, and there's been one thing that I read about that was very interesting, positively racist, which is black plastic, which is the worst type of plastic.

[00:08:30]>> It is. So, black plastic. So, there's another type of chemical called brominated chemicals. Brominated chemicals are a type of chemical that's flame retardant. So flame retardants are often put in electronics because electronics, we don't want them starting fires, right? And so black plastic is often made from recycled electronics, hence the black color.

[00:08:52]>> And so these recycled um electronics have the brominated chemicals in them.

[00:08:56]And there was a very famous study that was published in like 2018. Um I think it was like the University of Plymouth or something that published a study showed they looked at a variety of black plastic articles. So everything from black spatulas to like spoons to like baby toys and found that they had 30 to 40 times higher levels of these brominated chemicals which by the way are known carcinogens than is considered safe. And >> so black plastic is something you definitely want to avoid. I mean, you have you ever ordered like a rotisserie chicken >> and it's like the hot it's the chicken's still hot and the bottom of the thing is like black. And remember I told you heat >> is is accelerating the leeching of everything into your food. Whether it's a brominated chemical or a BPA or microplastic, it's all coming in and it's accelerating the process in real time. It's like it's almost like getting something that was like over the course of 10 years this is leeched into your and it's just like minutes right because that's what the heat does. It accelerates that that oxidation pro process. So you want to avoid the black chemical uh sorry the black plastic as well the black straws like everything the black the black stuff it's it's not good especially heating it. So so get rid of all the black spatulas because that's like the worst culprit is the heat plus the plastic. So that's that's also something that's bad and that's associated with cancer, the brominated chemicals as well.

[00:10:18]>> And but it's also the pans as well because let's talk about pans because I never like when I was a kid like there was a pan had we never had much money.

[00:10:26]Like if there was a pan with a few scratches on it, who cares?

[00:10:29]>> I know. I know. Teflon. Yeah. So the teflon that that's actually has forever chemicals in it. So we didn't talk about forever chemicals. They're called PAS.

[00:10:39]Um these for they're called forever forever chemicals because they last in our environment for like years. So they're in our bodies. I told you BPA's half life is about two to three hours.

[00:10:49]It's excreted through your urine.

[00:10:51]Forever chemicals the PA pas are in your body for like four to five years. So really a long time. Um the these chemicals are added things to make them water repellent, stick non-stick, um oil resistant, stain resistant, all those things, right? And so you have these pans that are non-stick and you're heating them. I can't I I'm like it's it's I probably have forever chemicals in me from like, you know, when I was a kid, right? Like I remember my mom bottled that non-stick pan. You know, we we were cooking with that. Um and so that's the worst thing that you can do is heat that non-stick pan because you're getting those PAS forever chemicals in you and those are also disrupting hormones. Those are also associated with cancer as well. So, um, yeah, the also in our clothing, right?

[00:11:37]So, anything that's if like water repellent clothing, I mean, that stuff is all forever chemical that you're getting in getting into your skin and absorbing. The worst is eating it, though. The worst is eating it. And the forever chemicals are now, unfortunately, they're attracted to they're lipophilic, so they're attracted to fat. And they're found in highfat foods. So, it's been shown now that that our water sources are contaminated with phalates. they're contaminated with forever chemicals and so you have this sludge this like or you know this this fertilizer that's used in you know farming and stuff. um even the or even the organic farms are now contaminated with forever chemicals and phalates which is in the sludge and um which have all these chemicals and so the cows are eating it and the way that the cows get rid of forever chemicals not like us we don't excrete it through our milk but they they get rid of it through their milk and their dairy and so there I don't know if you've have you guys seen these studies that have been done where they've gone around and looked at milk like organic grass-fed like the the thing that you think's the best tons of forever chemical chemicals in it because the cows are contaminated and they're excreting it through their milk. So dairy, milk, highfat butter, cheese, this all has the phalates and the forever chemicals because they're lipophilic and they're attracted to fat.

[00:12:52]And so now even our fat foods are like sources for these chemicals. This is probably why no one wants to address the issue because it's like what do you it's everywhere. It's like >> you have to do what you can.

[00:13:03]>> I call it like it's like imperfect avoidance because like >> like you have to eat, you have to live, right? But like do what you can to like reduce your exposure whether it's you know the reverse osmosis filter you know getting the the air filter um doing not not cooking with the teflon pans and not heating the plastic and not drinking the togo all those things. Do all those things like because you're going to be exposed to it. Like you you order takeout you know those like if you go to a bakery and it's like the tissue paper that's all lined with forever chemicals.

[00:13:31]It's to prevent the them the grease >> or if you get fo they give you a black plastic bowl.

[00:13:36]>> Oh the fuzz the worst. I I can't tell you like during my 20s I I love fur and I like to take out fur and like the plastic you know container. I mean I know like it's like >> and receipts.

[00:13:48]>> Oh and receipts. Yes. Receipts are terrible. I have this funny story because >> Yeah.

[00:13:53]>> Oh yes.

[00:13:54]>> Or like paper receipts.

[00:13:54]>> Yes. Yes. Yes.

[00:13:55]>> What's wrong with receipts? Trapping, mate.

[00:13:57]>> Oh my gosh. You haven't heard about this? No. So, so receipts are, you know, it the printing that's on the receipt is done with thermal paper and essentially the way that you're able to get the the ink on, it's not ink, it's like the the printing on it is it's coated with BPA coated with it bisphenol, that stuff that we're talking about now. The worst insult is ingesting it. But unfortunately, if you have any kind of cream on your fingers or like sanitizer everyone uses now ever since co like the hand sanitizer everyone uses that causes the BPA from the receipts to go into your circulation hundfold. Hundfold. So you don't want you don't want to touch receipts. And if you're someone that's working in like >> your you know with a cash register or anything like that, >> you have to use nitrial gloves. Like you don't want to be touching that every day. Latex gloves don't do it. it has to be nitro and it latex doesn't filter out the BPA.

[00:14:53]>> But I it's funny. Um I was in the San Diego airport and this this guy was there and I just couldn't help myself because he was like I saw him like the person in front giving receipts and I was like he's giving all these people receipts and finally he came to me and I come up with my Yeti glass and I was like hey can you put my like latte in my Yeti, you know? And he's like oh yeah cuz I didn't want the to-go cup and I was like hey by the way um you know you shouldn't be handling those receipts because they're coated with BPA. I'm like, "Do you know what BPA is?" And he goes, "Oh, yeah. Something like endocrine." I was like, "Yes, it disrupts your hormone, testosterone."

[00:15:25]Um, and it's funny story. I was I was in the airport. I was going on Chris Williamson's podcast and I talked all about some of this stuff. And then I went, you know, I don't know, a month later, I was back at the same coffee place and he was there and everyone working there, I told him to wear nitro gloves. Everyone working there was wearing nitro gloves. Nice.