Eight glasses of eight ounces of water a day. When asked how much water we should drink to stay healthy, health professionals usually recommend sticking to the simple 8×8 rule.
They think that’s just the right quantity to maintain the average person’s peak physical and mental health. However, you should exercise caution if your need to stay as hydrated as possible leads you to grab plastic water bottles.
Table of Contents
Harmful Effects of Plastic Water Bottles on Humans
These harmful effects of plastic water bottles on humans and bottled water will make you go for the faucet or filter instead.
- Plastic water bottles contain toxins that might harm your health
- Vitamin-infused water in bottles
- Effects on the immune system
- Drinking plastic-bottled water can lead to Weight Gain
- You Might Be Drinking Microplastics In Bottled Water
- Your Plastic Bottled Water Isn’t as Clean as You Think
- Plastic Water Bottles Are Killing Marine Wildlife
- Disposable Water Bottles Are Damaging the Environment
1. Plastic water bottles contain toxins that might harm your health
Why is drinking bottled water unhealthy? because plastic bottles’ pollutants eventually seep into the water. Once these harmful poisons enter your system, they are connected to a host of illnesses, including kidney and liver damage and breast and uterine cancer.
Even bottles without BPA, however less harmful, are not infallible. The health risks to humans posed by many of the substances utilized in their manufacture are comparable.
Furthermore, PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is the plastic used to make the majority of plastic water bottles. PET may begin to leak harmful antimony into the water on warm days.
The following are the health effects of drinking water from plastic bottles:
- Immune system effects
- Liver cancer and reduced sperm count
- BPA generation
- Dioxin production
Immune system effects
It is usually advised against using plastic water bottles for storage or consumption. The reason for this is that the chemicals included in plastic can enter our bodies and disrupt our immune systems.
Liver cancer and reduced sperm count
Plastic contains a chemical known as phthalates, which can cause issues like liver cancer and decreased sperm count in men. According to a recent study by the State University of New York in Fredonia, bottled water, particularly popular brands, contains high amounts of microplastics.
BPA generation
Chemicals that mimic estrogen, such as biphenyl A, can cause diabetes, obesity, infertility, behavioral issues, and early puberty in girls, among other health issues. It’s best to avoid using plastic bottles for storing and consuming water.
Dioxin production
Plastic bottles that are directly exposed to the sun may leak chemicals and emit dangerous substances like dioxin, which raises the risk of breast cancer. Steer clear of plastic bottles whenever you can.
When inhaled, dioxin, a poison released by direct sun exposure, can hasten the development of breast cancer.
2. Vitamin-infused water in bottles
Most of the water we drink these days comes in plastic bottles, and to draw consumers in, producers have added vitamins to make the beverage healthier. But since it contains ingredients that are bad for your health, such as food coloring and high fructose corn syrup, this is even more dangerous.
3. Effects on the immune system
Drinking water out of plastic bottles has a detrimental effect on our immune systems. When consumed, the chemicals included in plastic bottles tend to compromise our immune systems.
4. Drinking from Plastic Bottled Water Can Lead to Weight Gain
Examine your food and drink packages more carefully if you’re trying to lose weight or are on a health craze. One of the most unexpected negative impacts of plastic water bottles may be weight gain, but the current study supports this theory.
According to a study that was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, some chemicals present in the plastics used to make water bottles have the ability to alter how your body handles fat and raise the total amount of fat cells in your body. with notable effects on your total body weight.
5. You Might Be Drinking Microplastics In Bottled Water
You may be drinking microplastics from bottled water; however, plastic water bottles pose other risks besides plastic poisons. As you drink, microscopic plastic particles known as microplastics—which are released when your bottle degrades—enter your body.
Despite their seemingly harmless size, microplastics have been demonstrated to harm human cells and can be transferred from mothers to their fetuses. It’s concerning because using plastic water bottles daily exposes you to harmfully high amounts of microplastics.
6. Your Plastic Bottled Water Isn’t as Clean as You Think
One of the main reasons people consistently buy plastic bottled water is the availability of clean, nutritious water. But don’t fall for it.
Although the labeling on your bottled water might suggest it comes from a pure mountain spring, most bottled waters are fairly similar to the water you get from your municipal supply.
Additionally, before it reaches your glass, your municipal supply is put through significantly more stringent and frequent testing. The health concerns associated with drinking plastic-bottled water may exceed any purity differences in locations where tap water is acceptable to drink.
7. Plastic Water Bottles Are Killing Marine Wildlife
When you pick up a plastic water bottle, you’re not only thinking about your health but also about hundreds of underwater species’ lives. Our oceans are receiving one garbage truck load of plastic per minute. The amount of waste generated, which includes millions of plastic water bottles, is extremely harmful to marine life.
A sperm whale with over 13 pounds of garbage, including plastic bottles, was discovered washed up in Indonesia in 2018. Furthermore, when plastic bottles are thrown into the ocean and turned around, they shatter apart, producing microscopic plastic particles that fish swallow and absorb, penetrating deeply into the marine ecology.
8. Disposable Water Bottles Are Damaging the Environment
The US needs more than 17 million barrels of oil annually to meet its demand for plastic-bottled water, which results in a massive carbon footprint for a commodity that could otherwise be obtained from your tap. Meanwhile, 86% of US throwaway water bottles—the majority of which are composed of PET, which is highly recyclable—end up in landfills, where they take 450 years to break down.
Only 7% of plastic water bottles are recycled into new bottles, although recycling your disposable bottle is preferable to putting it in the trash. The best course of action would be to completely stop using them.
How long is water safe in plastic bottles?
After a strenuous workout, you go for a bottle of water and discover that it has an expiration date that reads six months from now. Do you need to worry? No, is the succinct response to this query.
But, it’s crucial to comprehend the rationale behind water expiration dates before you start hoarding water without giving it any thought. You might be surprised by what you learn.
Not only will you want to know why water bottles have expiration dates, but you’ll also want to know how to handle outdated water properly so that you can keep yourself safe and healthy overall.
When choosing which brands of bottled water to buy from in the future, you will then be in a better position to make the best and most educated decisions.
Finally, learning how to lessen your exposure to plastic and where to obtain water bottles that neither add to the plastic crisis nor put you at greater risk of developing health issues related to plastic consumption would be beneficial.
How Does Water in Bottles Go Bad?
Although drinking spoilt water is not a problem, you should grasp the consequences of drinking water that has passed its expiration date if you don’t know why bottled water has expiration dates.
It turns out that you should be more concerned about the plastic that the water is enclosed in than the quality of the water itself. Water is usually bottled in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for water cooler jugs and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for retail bottles.
These bottles are concerning because the plastics become contaminated when they expire or come into contact with extreme heat, such as sunshine or hot vehicles.
The poisonous substances found in this plastic will seep into the water, seriously harming the consumer’s health in addition to changing the flavor of the water.
Many companies that sell bottled water will print a two-year expiration date on the bottle to keep you safe, but it’s impossible to tell with certainty when the plastic will contaminate the water.
The unfortunate truth is that most water bottles are exposed to excessive heat within days of being purchased, especially if they were bought during the summer. The two-year expiration date is more of an estimate of when the bottle is most likely to have been exposed to heat or when it is beginning to degrade.
This means that long before the water runs out, you can be exposed to harmful substances. It is crucial to comprehend the health risks associated with drinking plastic bottles that have been exposed to heat. This will enable you to make more informed judgments about future purchases of water bottles.
Conclusion
If you frequently grab the plastic over your tap, exercise caution, even though you’re unlikely to experience many of these negative side effects from drinking from a single plastic water bottle. Using plastic bottles repeatedly can lead to serious harm since toxins and microplastics build up in your body over time.
Recycling any plastic bottles you now own and replacing them with reusable metal ones is going to be much better for the environment and you. Or just fill a glass as you go about your day by running it under the tap.
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A passion-driven environmentalist by heart. Lead content writer at EnvironmentGo.
I strive to educate the public about the environment and its problems.
It has always been about nature, we ought to protect not destroy.