Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Food and Drink, Health, Science
Mia Williams
Scientists are urging people to reconsider drinking bottled water, as harmful particles are found inside.
In recent years, we have been encouraged to ditch plastic bottles in favour of reusables - helping the environment.
However, research has found that avoiding bottled water could also have health benefits.
Aside from all the studies, it's important to note that drinking any kind of water is healthy, and always will be.
Advert
But where you get your water from and how you consume it is what's important here.
Scientists have discovered that 240,000 plastic particles found in the average one-litre bottle of water.
Which is a pretty concerning statistic, when the the average per one litre of tap water is 5.5 plastic particles.
They are also known as nanoplastics, and have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and fertility problems.
Nanoplastics are dangerous because of how small they are - making them free to enter directly into blood cells and the brain.
The plastic used to create the bottles usually contain phthalates, which have been linked to various health problems.
And according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, phthalates are 'linked with developmental, reproductive, brain, immune, and other problems'.
Study co-author Beizhan Yan, an environmental chemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said: "This was not surprising, since that is what many water bottles are made of.
"PET is also used for bottled sodas, sports drinks, and products such as ketchup and mayonnaise.
"It probably gets into the water as bits slough off when the bottle is squeezed or gets exposed to heat."
A type of nylon, called polyamide, was yet another plastic particle found in bottles of water.
"Ironically, this probably comes from plastic filters used to supposedly purify the water before it is bottled," he added.
Reflecting on before the study, the expert said: "Previously this was just a dark area, uncharted. Toxicity studies were just guessing what’s in there.
"This opens a window where we can look into a world that was not exposed to us before."
“People developed methods to see nano particles, but they didn’t know what they were looking at."
But it isn't just bottled water where nanoplastics are a concern.
"There is a huge world of nanoplastics to be studied,” said Min.
Salt, seafood, sugar, beer, bottled water, honey, milk, and tea could all also contain the harmful particles.