Scientists Discover Cholesterol-Clearing Process Also Flushes Forever Chemicals From the Body
A cholesterol-filtering machine designed for patients with drug-resistant heart disease has turned up an unexpected finding: it appears to pull toxic “forever chemicals” out of the bloodstream at the same time. Professor Stefan Bornstein’s team at the Technical University of Dresden was not looking for this. They were studying the waste material collected in discarded filter bags after routine apheresis sessions – and what they found in those bags left them genuinely puzzled.
The machine in question is called an apheresis device. It works by drawing blood from one arm, passing it through a plasma-separation filter, and returning the cellular components to the other arm. Physicians use it for patients whose cholesterol stubbornly refuses to respond to diet changes or medication. Nobody built it to fight environmental contamination, yet that appears to be exactly what it may be doing on the side.
Researchers at the Technical University of Dresden reported their results on August 4, 2026, in the peer-reviewed Brain Health journal. The study was small and preliminary, and the Dresden team was direct about what it could and couldn’t prove. The core observation – a cholesterol machine coincidentally clearing some of the most persistent synthetic chemicals known to science – has drawn serious attention.
What forever chemicals are doing in your blood
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, have been used for decades in nonstick coatings, firefighting foams, and stain-resistant fabrics. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute links PFAS exposure to cancer, thyroid disease, obesity, decreased fertility, hormone disruption, and damage to the immune system – findings consistent with assessments from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The carbon-fluorine bond at the core of PFAS molecules is one of the strongest in organic chemistry, which is precisely what made these compounds attractive to manufacturers – and why they don’t break down once they enter the body. PFAS are a diverse group of thousands of human-made chemical pollutants that persist in both the environment and the human body, with an increasing number of studies documenting adverse health effects including increased cancer risk, reduced immune function, and developmental delays in children.
Almost everyone living today is carrying these compounds. According to Earth.com, testing found that 98.8 percent of Americans contained at least one PFAS compound in their blood. Previous studies have found PFAS in the blood of over 90 percent of people globally, according to the Ecology Center, with drinking water identified as the most common exposure route.
Once PFAS enter the body, they don’t clear quickly. The half-life – the time it takes for blood concentrations to drop by half through normal biological processes alone – ranges from 4.8 to 8.5 years depending on the specific compound. A single sustained exposure can leave measurable chemical residues circulating in the body for a decade.
The Dresden study: what researchers actually found with apheresis and forever chemicals
The Technical University of Dresden in Germany operates the largest apheresis facility globally, performing up to 10,000 treatments annually. That scale gave Professor Stefan Bornstein’s research team – Bornstein is Director of the Centre for Internal Medicine at the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden – the statistical foothold to ask a broader question: what else was the machine filtering out?
The study builds on the hypothesis that PFAS and plastic particles bind to lipoproteins and plasma proteins, forming larger complexes that can be captured during apheresis. The proposed mechanism involves blood passing through specialized filtration membranes that retain these toxin-lipoprotein complexes through size exclusion, adsorption, and protein-mediated binding. In plain terms: PFAS appear to hitchhike through the bloodstream by latching onto fat molecules, and when the machine catches the fat, it may catch the forever chemicals too.
The study examined 34 patients immediately before and after double-filtration plasmapheresis sessions. Researchers found that four types of forever chemicals – perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) – appeared to drop by up to 25 percent after treatment, though the magnitude of reduction varied among individuals and across different contaminants.
When the team sought confirmation, two independent laboratories found the same compounds falling in the plasma, which strengthened confidence that the reductions were real and not a measurement artifact. “When we finally asked what else was leaving the circulation, two independent laboratories found the same compounds falling in the plasma,” Bornstein said.
The microplastics picture was murkier. The study published in Brain Health did not find a clean result to make the case for removing plastic particles from blood. Given that a 2019 study published in Environmental Science & Technology estimated that an average person may ingest between 39,000 and 52,000 plastic particles per year, that question remains unresolved.
How strong is the evidence?
The Dresden team described this research as preliminary. Decreases in circulating PFAS were observed in patients undergoing therapeutic apheresis, but the magnitude of reduction varied among individuals and across different contaminants. The study was not designed as a randomized controlled trial – the gold standard for establishing cause and effect – so an observed correlation between the procedure and lower PFAS levels is not the same as proof that the machine caused the reduction.
Bornstein’s team specifically cautioned that the study did not conclusively prove, through a controlled clinical trial, that apheresis removed toxic chemicals from the blood. Confirmation from two separate labs adds weight to the observation, but does not resolve the question of causation.
Apheresis only removes substances from the bloodstream, not from tissues and organs where PFAS may have accumulated over time. Clearing what’s in the blood during a session would not address the full body burden. How quickly tissue-stored PFAS reenter circulation after treatment, and whether the reduction is clinically meaningful in terms of health outcomes, remains unknown.
The Dresden team’s next step is to expose large animals to microplastics and nanoplastics labeled with radiotracers or iron, then image them using PET and MRI scans before and after apheresis sessions. This approach would allow researchers to track exactly where plastic particles go in living tissue – and whether the filtration process meaningfully changes that distribution.
For now, apheresis machines are used in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia – a genetic condition causing dangerously high cholesterol that doesn’t respond to statins. The treatment is not available to general populations seeking PFAS removal. In the United States, apheresis is approved for severe LDL-hypercholesterolemia that persists despite maximal drug therapy.
Bornstein’s team also emphasized that the primary strategy for PFAS has to be stopping the exposure in the first place. “None of this displaces the first priority, which remains preventing exposure,” Bornstein said.
What this means for you
Apheresis is reserved for people with specific, severe cholesterol conditions, and no clinical body currently recommends it as an environmental detox strategy. The Dresden finding is scientifically significant but practically distant from the doctor’s office.
Reducing ongoing PFAS exposure is actionable today. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, people are most commonly exposed to PFAS by consuming contaminated water or food, using products made with PFAS, or breathing air containing PFAS. Switching to stainless steel or cast iron cookware instead of nonstick, and filtering drinking water with a reverse osmosis system certified to remove PFAS, are practical first steps.
The Dresden study opens a question that nobody had thought to ask: whether a machine designed for one specific job may be capable of something broader. Bornstein and his colleagues are the first to say that proving it will take years – and that avoiding exposure remains the more rational priority.
Disclaimer: This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and is for information only. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions about your medical condition and/or current medication. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking advice or treatment because of something you have read here.
AI Disclaimer: This article was created with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by a human editor.
