--- title: "This New Paper About Eating Out of Plastic Containers Is a Bit Terrifying" description: "New research suggests that eating hot food from plastic takeout containers could be damaging your heart and even lead to heart disease." date: "2025-02-22" modified: "2025-02-22" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/study-food-plastic-containers" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "cardiovascular disease" - "Heart" - "microplastics" - "plastics" --- # This New Paper About Eating Out of Plastic Containers Is a Bit Terrifying ![New research suggests that eating hot food from plastic takeout containers could be damaging your heart and even lead to heart disease.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* We have some bad news for those of you that love getting takeout, because those plastic containers that your steaming delicious meals come in? They may well be sabotaging your heart health, new research suggests. As detailed in a [recent study]() published in the journal *Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety*, a team of Chinese researchers found that rats that were given water that'd been boiled and then stored in common takeout lids showed significant disruptions in the gut biome, including inflammation — a common risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In many cases, they also observed extensive damage to myocardial tissue, or heart muscle. The work is the latest to highlight the alarming toll that [exposure to ubiquitous microplastics]() can have on the body — and how [easily it can seep into our food and beverages](). "The data revealed that high-frequency exposure to plastics is significantly associated with an increased risk of congestive heart failure," the authors wrote. Besides a control group, the rats were divided into three groups that drank boiled water that'd been exposed to the plastic takeout containers — known as leachate — for one minute, five minutes, and fifteen minutes respectively. They drank this regularly for three months. Surprisingly, no single rat pack stood out; they all roughly exhibited the same degree of worrying symptoms, like changes to the composition of their intestinal microbacteria and damage to the heart muscle. This suggests that any amount of exposure could put you at risk. "The study shows plastic exposure as a significant \[cardiovascular disease\] risk factor regardless of duration," the author wrote. "It leads to changes in myocardial tissue, gut microbiota, and metabolites, all closely tied to \[cardiovascular disease\]." Along with the rat experiment, the team also surveyed nearly 3,200 people in China with self-reported questionnaires about how often they were exposed to plastics and about symptoms related to their cardiovascular health. This is flimsier stuff than the rat trials, but nonetheless, it found that frequent plastic exposure was linked to a higher risk of heart failure. There are, however, some notable limitations to the study. Regarding the human survey, that there was a correlation between plastic exposure and heart failure may be due to "individual differences within the surveyed population," the authors wrote, noting that only exposure within the past month was investigated. No biological samples were taken from the human respondents, either. As for the rats, the scientists weren't able to measure the amount of and kinds of plastic particles in their bodies. And while there was notable damage to myocardial tissue, none of the rodents exhibited full-blown cardiovascular disease. Still, this may be because of the short nature of the experiment. "Further research is necessary to elucidate the health impacts of long-term exposure to plastic products, as well as the accumulation and distribution of plastic particles in tissues and organs, to provide a theoretical foundation for the development of appropriate safety measures in the future," the authors conclude. In the meantime? They suggest avoid using plastic takeout containers for hot food. **More on plastics:** *[Microplastics Getting Stuck in Brain Vessels Like Clots, Scientists Find, Causing "Neurological Abnormalities" in Mice]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()