Dietary microplastic exposure and lip–oral cavity cancer: a global ecological analysis with pre-specified spatial econometric sensitivity

Description

Shankargouda Patil and two colleagues test, at country level, whether eating more microplastic tracks with higher rates of lip and mouth cancer. Plastic particles pervade food and water, yet population evidence on cancer is nearly absent. Their 2026 ecological study covered 106 countries with 2020 as the anchor year. Estimated dietary intake was set against age-standardised cancer rates, adjusting for smoking, alcohol use, wealth, and urban living. Checks included placebo tests, seafood-based sensitivity runs, and spatial models that account for neighbouring countries resembling each other.

Early unadjusted curves hinted at a bent, non-linear link. Smoking and urbanisation also predicted rates, unevenly. Once the chosen spatial lag model absorbed the geographic clustering, the microplastic contrast collapsed to a null result, at minus 0.41 with a p-value of 0.85. Their own decision rule labels the finding hypothesis-generating only. They call for person-level exposure studies rather than country averages.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13562718