Supplement that binds to microplastics may remove them from our body
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Quorum Innovations developed Qi601 by heat-killing Limosilactobacillus fermentum bacteria and collecting their rough cell walls, which attract and bind plastic particles
- In fluids mimicking the digestive system, up to 92% of nanoplastics spontaneously bound to Qi601, and human intestinal-like cells took up significantly less plastic when the postbiotic was present
- Qi601 removed 43% of nanoplastics already inside cells within 24 hours by capturing particles during vesicle recycling, the process by which cells move material in and out
- In the first human demonstration, one participant chewing gum produced 2,152 free-floating plastic particles per 10ml of saliva; adding 10mg of powdered Qi601 after 5 seconds of chewing cut that count to 185
- Co-founder Eva Berkes argues the postbiotic is a "reasonably safe and fairly inexpensive" mitigation while scientists wait "20 years for a more conclusive answer" on microplastics' health effects
- Martin Wagner at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology counters that the supplement wouldn't address inhaled microplastics — a major exposure route — or the continuous nature of intake through food, water, and air
- The team acknowledges the study has not proven that Qi601 prevents particles from entering gut cells in living humans or that bound particles are actually excreted
Why it matters: If confirmed in larger trials, Qi601 would be the first consumer-accessible tool shown to intercept microplastics before absorption, but Wagner's critique reframes the public-health calculus: gut binding addresses one exposure route while airborne and dietary intake continue unchecked, making source-reduction of plastic pollution the more efficient lever.
