You’re thirsty and want to quickly grab a bottle of water. The options: Numerous plastic water bottles filled with purified drinking water. I know the dilemma, trust me I know. We know plastics are bad, but is grabbing a plastic water bottle when you’re thirsty really that bad? Well, dehydration is pretty bad. So if you're really thirsty, go for what will quench your thirst. However maybe next time try to remember a refillable glass or stainless steel bottle. Reusable bottles are better for your health, and better for the environment.
Now let’s get into what the research says about microplastics in plastic water bottles. Researchers developed a hyperspectral stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) imaging platform with an automated plastic identification algorithm that allows micro-nano plastic analysis at the single-particle level.
The researchers found that, on average, a liter of bottled water contained about 240,000 pieces of plastic. About 90% of these plastic fragments were nanoplastics. Nanoplastics (<1 μm) are believed to be more toxic since their smaller size renders them much more pliant to enter the human body. All seven types of plastic were identified in the sampled waters. The most common was polyamide, which is a type of nylon used to filter and purify water. Other identified plastics included polyvinyl chloride, polymethyl methacrylate, and polystyrene, which is also used in water purification. An abundance of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used to make bottles for water, was also detected. Additionally, millions of particles were found that did not match the seven categories of plastic. It’s not yet clear if these particles are other substances.
This research has encouraged me to seriously remember my stainless steel refillable bottle, or even a mason jar, whenever leaving the house. It has also changed my habit of relying on super convenient, grab and go plastic water bottles. Additionally, I have switched to spring water or mineral water in glass bottles. My go to is Gerolsteiner, which is a sparkling mineral water sold by the case at Trader Joe’s.
How about you? Do you remember your refillable bottle? Will this information change any of your habits?
🫶🏼Know it Nontoxic
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Qian N, Gao X, Lang X, Deng H, Bratu TM, Chen Q, Stapleton P, Yan B, Min W. Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Jan 16;121(3):e2300582121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2300582121. Epub 2024 Jan 8. PMID: 38190543; PMCID: PMC10801917.
“Plastic Particles in Bottled Water” https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/plastic-particles-bottled-water
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