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Our toothpaste and face scrubs may be doing a number on corals.

The tiny microbeads, or exfoliants, found in several common household products are of Great Barrier Reef corals, according to new research from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia.

"Corals are non-selective feeders, and our results show that they can consume microplastics when the plastics are present in seawater," Dr. Mia Hoogenboom, a chief investigator with ARC said in a news release.

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The 5 Gyres Institute analyzed multiple face washes in 2012, estimating a microbeads. The institute researches plastic pollution in the Great Lakes and found high numbers of the small beads in samples taken from Lake Erie.

Microbeads are microplastics, and their size contributes to their presence in the marine environment. The tiny beads end up in ocean waters because they are by wastewater treatment plants, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's response and restoration blog.

To better understand the impact of microplasticson corals, ARC researchers took samples from the Great Barrier Reef and placed them in water contaminated with plastic. The results? The coral ate the plastic particles during the two-day timeframe.

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Corals feed on a variety of microscopic foods, including zooplankton and sediment, and they did not treat the microplastics any different, according to Nora Hall, the study's lead author.

"We found that the corals ate plastic at rates only slightly lower than their normal rate of feeding on marine plankton," said Hall.

The indigestible plastic became trapped deep in the digestive tissue of the coral polyp, and researchers are concerned this may inhibit the coral's ability to digest its normal diet.

With this new research, researchers will move on to exploring the microplastics' effects on the physiology and health of coral and other marine life.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Australia's Great Barrier Reef