Many people like to grab their daily cup of coffee on the go, but a new study recently published in The Journal of Hazardous Materials may convince them to change this. The findings show that drinking hot beverages out of paper cups with linings that contain plastic film may be flooding their bodies with dangerous microplastic particles that can potentially have harmful consequences for their health.

Hazardous Coffee Plastic Cups

Sudha Goel, MD, who is the author of the study shares that an average person drinking three regular cups of coffee or tea in a paper cup would end up ingesting about 75,000 tiny microplastic particles. They are invisible, but in the 15 minutes it takes for tea or coffee to be consumed, the microplastic layer of the cup can easily degrade.

The study is conducted by a team of academic researchers at the India Institute of Technology and is the latest to shed light on the huge dangers posed by unwittingly consuming microplastic particles. It is defined as tiny pieces of synthetic fibers and pieces of plastic that are 5mm in size or even less and are the byproduct of countless products people come in contact with daily, including clothes, car tires, and beauty products.

More About the Dangers of Plastic

Reports say a huge number of microplastics have found their way into the oceans and water sources of the Earth. They pose a threat not only to aquatic life but also to people. A study by the WHO (World Health Organization) shows microplastics exist in 90% of all bottled water samples they tested. It drew on 259 bottles of 11 separate brands hailing from 9 countries across the world.

In the case of paper coffee cups, the research team in India stated that most of them were not all paper. They come with an interior that contains a film lined with plastic. The deterioration of the films causes the release of chloride, fluoride, nitrate, and sulfates into the water contained in paper cups.

So, consider yourself warned and drink more tap water, don’t heat your food in a plastic container, dust your home more frequently, and try to buy more glass and fewer plastic products.

After its last fundraising round, a Chinese beverage company that had recently surfaced on the market is now skyrocketing with a value of $6 billion. The company called Genki Forest is using a combination of health-conscious marketing and technology to assume a firm position in the consumer goods industry.

Genki Forest Was Founded Back In 2015 and Last Year It Tripled Its Valuation

Тhe official name of the startup is Genki Forest Food Technology Group, and it offers healthy alternatives to the many fizzy, sugar-infused soft drinks that currently dominate the beverage market. Its main product is peach-flavored soda water that is marketed as sugar, carb, and fat-free. It is also distinctive due to a black-white-and-pink label that has the Japanese character for air on it. Other products that Genki offers are milk tea, yogurt, energy drinks, and others.

Genki Forest products have quickly appeared in convenience stores and vending machines across many Chinese cities. The innovative, hip beverages are now also exported to over forty countries, including Australia, Japan, and the United States.

Genki Forest Believe Their R&D and Manufacturing Innovations to Be the Main Value Customers Seek In the Brand

Genki Forest representatives have stated many times that theirs is a tech company that emphasizes its innovations in manufacturing and R&D as the main factors that make it worthwhile to customers from around the globe. This is further reinforced by the fact that Genki started establishing its R&D centers in 2015 and entered the market two years later, in 2017. Many have invested in the company so far, including high-profile names like Genesis Capital, L Catterton, Warburg Pincus, and Sequoia Capital China.

Currently, China is home to one of the largest retail beverage markets worldwide. Its total worth was estimated to be somewhere around $192 billion back in 2019. Despite the highly competitive industry, Genki Forest has managed to separate itself from the aging, stagnant competition by coming up with a young, healthy brand that benefits greatly from its techie twist. Still, the brave and so far successful startup has a long way to go before becoming the next Coca-Cola Company.