A new study from Harvard University has drawn attention to the potential danger of drinks stored in plastic bottles.
The 77 participants first cleared their systems by drinking all cold drinks from stainless steel containers for a week, following which all cold drinks were drunk from polycarbonate bottles.
The study was monitoring the level of a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) in the blood. This chemical mimics oestrogen, and previous studies have linked high levels to birth defects, heart disease and diabetes.
Levels Two Thirds Higher
The levels of BPA were found to be two thirds higher following the one week drinking from polycarbonate bottles.
The senior author of the study commented:
“If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be considerably higher.”
The answer seems to be to get stainless steel water bottles, and fill them yourself with filtered water. If you shop around, you can find a water filter for your home which will give you unlimited chlorine-free water for little more than £1 a week. Then use this to fill your own stainless steel bottles.
Stainless Steel Bottles
These seem a good bet. They will last a lifetime – as long as you don’t lose them! I bought Mudpuppy stainless steel water bottles here in the UK.
In the USA, try here for your stainless steel bottles.
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That is pretty disturbing news, because I can’t think of one person I know that doesn’t regularily drink from plastic bottles. I don’t even drink soda, but I still like to have a bottled water now or then.
I wonder if moving back to glass would be a viable solution as well as going with steel bottles. I know there are a lot of downsides of glass, most notably the danger they pose when broken, but also likely environmental concerns, so I don’t know if that would be a good solution…
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Agreed, Jacob. I have a sink-top plumbed in water filter, so I can fill my stainless steel bottles easily and almost for free. Glass is also heavy – the steel bottles are quite light. Anyway, I have been concerned in the back of my mind about plastic bottles for some time – but this study has done to job for me. In fact, the steel bottles are quite cool… and the service I got from the company has been extremely good. If in the UK I recommend them. There was a slight problem and they sorted it out very , very fast.
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