Page 39 - College of Health Sciences Magazine AY 22-23

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Scientific Corner

The Effects of Plastic Water Bottles on the Environment and Human Health

Dr. Rahaf Ajaj, Assistant Professor in Environment, Health, and Safety.

Translating the Science of Nutrigenomics into Practice Plastic water bottles are easy to find and inexpensive, so more people are using them. PET, an abbreviation
Dima El-Halabi, MSc, RDN, Senior Instructor, Human Nutrition and Dietetics (HND) Program of polyethylene terephthalate, is a type of plastic frequently used to manufacture water bottles. PET water
bottles generate significant amounts of waste and carbon dioxide emissions. Petroleum is the primary
component used to manufacture plastics. It requires 24 million gallons of oil to produce one billion plastic
What is precision nutrition? bottles. Seven hundred years are needed for the complete decomposition of plastic. Approximately 80
per cent of all plastic bottles manufactured today are not recycled. Globally, plastic recycling rates are
The National Institute of Health defines precision (personalized) nutrition as a framework that is focused not particularly high, and, as a result, a significant amount of this material ends up in landfills, where it
on a number of features relevant to individual and population health, including genetics, dietary habits, decomposes slowly over hundreds of years. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has placed the elimination
socioeconomic status, and the microbiome. The concept of personalized nutrition in the scientific of plastic waste at the top of its list of environmental concerns. In the UAE, many PET water bottles are
community can encompass the use of blood biomarkers, genetics, epigenetics, protein abundance, used per person. The average individual will consume 450 bottles of water per year.
metabolites, and the gut microbiome to tailor nutrition recommendations with the aim of improving an
individual’s health. Plastic water bottles have the potential to contaminate the environment in several ways if they are not
discarded properly. Some of these ways are the destruction of ecosystems, the disruption of ecological
What is the meaning of Nutrigenomics? processes, and the effects on aquatic organisms. Also, when sewage systems in cities, particularly
in developing nations, become clogged with garbage, this makes it easier for mosquitoes to spread
Nutrigenomics is the branch of science investigating the interactions between nutrition and the host diseases like malaria and other illnesses they carry.
(genome) through omics technologies. Successful completion of the Human Genome Project in 2000
resulted in the emergence of the omics technologies: metabolomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and The most significant worry is that the microscopic plastic particles contained in those bottles, known
metagenomics in nutrition science. These technologies have improved, becoming more reproducible as microplastics, might get ingested into human food when they are swallowed by marine life. Plastic
and cost effective. Data analysis strategies were developed and incorporated into easy-to-use software polymers are thought to have contributed to the development of certain diseases. Cancer-causing and
packages for nonexperts. Consequently, many more nutrition scientists incorporate some form of omics hormone-disrupting properties are attributed to most chemicals used to produce plastic. In addition,
technology into their research today. some of the compounds used to manufacture plastics have been linked to various adverse health effects.
Bisphenol A and phthalates are two examples of such substances. For example, the linings used in water
Health care providers (HCPs), including dietitians, are encountering genetic testing for personalized bottles are made with a chemical known as bisphenol A, sometimes known as BPA. The potential health
nutrition (i.e., nutrigenomics) in their clinical practice. Although considerable basic research examining consequences of BPA exposure on the brain and prostate glands of fetuses, newborns, and children
diet-gene interactions exists in the literature, comparatively less knowledge is available regarding the raise concerns. Children’s behavior may also be impacted. Besides, if phthalates are allowed to escape
use of nutrigenomics in clinical practice to alter dietary outcomes. into the environment, there is a significant risk they may cause damage to the ecosystem. Phthalates,
classified as hormone disruptors, can inhibit the production of androgenic hormones.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has developed a care map to provide a tool for the nutrigenomics
process in clinical practice for adult patients in health care settings. The care map builds directly on the Because most plastics do not decompose in natural environments, the primary objective is to reduce
Academy’s recent consensus statement on incorporating genetic testing into dietetics practice, as well the amount produced while properly managing and recycling the waste that is still produced. Recent
as the position statement of the Academy on nutritional genomics. investigations in the field have shown that discarded plastic water bottles might take more than 400
years to biodegrade. Many research projects worldwide are now focusing their attention on examining
A recent statement from the American Nutrition Association declared that “personalized nutrition is the the impact of recycling plastic on preserving the natural world and promoting sustainability. Recycling is
most powerful antidote to chronic disease,” and the 2017 Visioning Report from the Academy of Nutrition a crucial part of the global effort to lessen the eight million tons of plastic deposited in the ocean each
and Dietetics stated that, with respect to personalized nutrition, RDs “can assume an increasingly year. Plastic can be recycled by creating new products out of scraps of plastic or trash made of plastic.
important role in the emerging health care system that focuses on a genetic predisposition model of Future rules that support recycling programs and businesses, provide places to separate and collect
health and disease, disease prevention, and integrative health care.” waste, and teach people how to do these things would get more people to recycle and protect the
environment.
Nutrigenomics is becoming more common in clinical practice and the application of genetic information
to personalizing nutrition recommendations is gaining great importance in the nutritional science and
healthcare field.

References:
References: • Ajaj, R.; Abu Jadayil, W.; Anver, H.; and Aqil, E. (2022). A Revision for the Different Reuses of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
1. 1Brennan L, de Roos B. Nutrigenomics: lessons learned and future perspectives. Am J Clin Nutr. (2021) 113:503–16. DOI: 10.1093/ Water Bottles. Sustainability, 14(8), 4583.
ajcn/nqaa366 • Alabi, O. A., Ologbonjaye, K. I., Awosolu, O., & Alalade, O. E. (2019). Public and Environmental Health Effects of Plastic Wastes
2. Horne J, Nielsen D, Madill J, Robitaille J, Vohl M-C, Mutch D. Guiding global best practice in personalized nutrition based Disposal: A Review. Journal of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, 1-13.
on genetics: the development of a nutrigenomics care map. J Acad Nutr Dietetics. (2021) 122:259–69. DOI: 10.1016/j. • Gibovic, D., & Bikfalvi, A. (2021). Incentives for Plastic Recycling: How to Engage Citizens in Active Collection. Empirical Evidence
jand.2021.02.008 from Spain. Recycling, 29.

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