(NewsNation) — Using a microwave is a quick and easy way to heat meals, but it may also rank as the fastest route for babies to ingest billions of potentially harmful miniscule particles, according to a recent study.

While the health effects of consuming micro- and nanoplastics remain unclear, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that three-quarters of cultured embryonic kidney cells had died after two days of being introduced to those same particles, the university said in a news release.

“It is really important to know how many micro- and nanoplastics we are taking in,” said Kazi Albab Hussain, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. “When we eat specific foods, we are generally informed or have an idea about their caloric content, sugar levels, other nutrients. I believe it’s equally important that we are aware of the number of plastic particles present in our food.

In 2022, the World Health Organization recommended limiting exposure to plastic micro- and nanoparticles and suggested more research to better understand the possible adverse health effects they pose.

The Nebraska study, published in the in the journal of Environmental Science & Technology, found in some cases microwaving plastics released more than 2 billion nanoplastics and 4 million microplastics for every square centimeter of container.

Researchers looked at plastic baby food pouches made of polypropylene and polyethylene, plastics approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The testing results showed that infants drinking products with microwaved water and toddlers consuming microwaved dairy products are consuming the greatest relative concentrations of plastic, the news release states.

After microwaving the pouches, the researchers exposed embryonic kidney cells to the plastic particles released from them in concentrations that children might accumulate over days or from multiple sources.

After two days, just 23% of the kidney cells exposed to the highest concentration of particles survived.

Researchers noted that while kidney cells might be more susceptible to the particles than are other cell types examined in prior research, the other studies “tended to examine the effects of larger polypropylene particles, some of them potentially too large to penetrate cells.”

“If so, the Hussain-led study could prove especially sobering: Regardless of its experimental conditions, the Husker team found that polypropylene containers and polyethylene pouches generally release about 1,000 times more nanoplastics than microplastics,” the news release states.