Staying hydrated is key to our health and wellbeing, with water the best drink for doing so. And when we’re on the go, bottled water is a convenient solution.
In the UK we love bottled water so much that we consume almost three billion litres of it every year.
But while we may think this is doing our body good, scientists are now warning of some hidden dangers lurking in the plastic.
A new study released this week found that bottled water is up to a hundred times worse than previously thought when it comes to the number of microplastics it contains.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, counted on average 240,000 detectable fragments of plastic per litre of water in popular brands.
This is between 10 and 100 times higher than prior estimates, raising potential health concerns that require further study.
It comes amid rising fears about the prevalence of microplastics, which break off from bigger sources of plastic, in all aspects of our life.
Microplastics have been detected everywhere from the polar ice caps to mountain peaks, rippling through ecosystems and finding their way into drinking water and food.
Lesser-known nanoplastics, which were detected in the bottled water, are even smaller than microplastics.
Microplastics are considered to be anything under five millimetres in size, while nanoplastics are defined as particles below one micrometre, or a billionth of a metre.
They are so small they can pass through the digestive system and lungs, into the bloodstream directly and from there to organs, including the brain and heart.
They can even cross the placenta into the bodies of unborn babies.
Currently there is limited research on how nanoplastics affect human health but some early lab studies have linked them to reproductive abnormalities and gastric issues.
As part of this study, the team from Columbia University in the US probed samples from three leading brands with lasers to make specific molecules resonate and highlight any nanoplastics.
As reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the results showed between 110,000 to 370,000 particles per litre, 90 percent of which were nanoplastics while the rest were microplastics.
The most common type was nylon, probably from plastic filters used to purify the water.
Other types of plastic found included those which the bottles themselves are made from.
A better alternative to drinking bottled water could be tap water, the researchers said.
Co-author of the study, Beizhan Yan, told AFP: “If people are concerned about nanoplastics in bottled water, it’s reasonable to consider alternatives like tap water.”
However, he added: “We do not advise against drinking bottled water when necessary, as the risk of dehydration can outweigh the potential impacts of nanoplastics exposure.”
The team is hoping to conduct the same experiment on tap water in the future to check for microplastics.