Let’s begin by understanding the scope of the dementia problem: According to data from Alzheimer’s Disease International, before you finish reading this sentence, someone, somewhere in the world will have developed dementia. Here comes another sentence, and there goes another new case of dementia. There goes another. And so on.
In 2020, the organization estimated that more than fifty-five million people across the globe were suffering from dementia. What’s more, this number is set to double within twenty years. By 2030, almost eighty million people are expected to be living with dementia. By 2050, the global prevalence of dementia is set to spike to almost one hundred and forty million souls.
The most common form of dementia, accounting for about two-thirds of cases, is Alzheimer’s dementia. The medical establishment is currently making only minimal headway in the treatment of this awful scourge. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the memory-robbing disease causes more than neurological disability, too. Deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease more than doubled between 2000 and 2021.
Now that you’re up on the frightening facts, let’s talk about where microplastics fit in.
In 2025, a group of researchers from New Mexico published an alarming report. They discovered a significant concentration of microplastics and nanoplastics accumulated in human brains. They compared the amounts of shard-like microplastics in autopsy-studied human brains in 2016 and 2024. Guess what? There was a significant increase in microplastic concentration found in the 2024 brain samples when compared to those harvested in 2016. What’s more, the researchers discovered that those who had been diagnosed with dementia had the greatest accumulation of brain microplastics. The brain immune cells valiantly gobbled up as much of the nanoplastic shards as they could. Unfortunately, though, a lot of the noxious material ended up in the walls of cerebral arteries and veins.
In another 2025 study, a multinational group of scientists determined a possible mechanism by which the microplastics may damage the brain. The researchers were studying the brains of mice. They reported that some of the microplastics swallowed by immune cells caused blockage (thrombosis) of the smallest blood vessels (capillaries) of the cerebral cortex. Neurological abnormalities occurred in proportion to the severity of impeded blood flow.
So, now there’s yet more evidence that human health is being threatened by microplastic pollution. You think it’s time to get busy cleaning up the giant floating islands of garbage that mar our beautiful oceans?
Marc Arginteanu is a neurosurgeon and author of Azazel’s Public House.
