What is the safest kind of water bottle to drink from?
Asked by
Mariah (
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)
July 29th, 2011
I’ve heard that plastic water bottles can leach unhealthy chemicals into the water you’re drinking. Is this true; does it really pose a health risk?
I’ve also heard that drinking from a metal water bottle is therefore safer. But when I drink from a metal water bottle, the water tastes metallic, and I can only assume this means that I’m ingesting metal particles; I can’t imagine that’s very safe either.
What kind of water bottle is safest?
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28 Answers
That is a crock of shit.
However, it is difficult to buy a water bottle that doesnt mention “BPA free.” I personally like nalgene brand.
Aluminum is supposed to contribute to alzheimer’s. @SpatzieLover is right. Glass is best, as long as it is lead free.
I’ve been using Klean Kanteen for years now. They are stainless steel and do not provide an odor or flavor. I really love them. Crossing my fingers that someone doesn’t provide me with a link to how stainless steel bottles cause cancer.
@tom_g Stainless is fine. Like @Mariah, I find the taste to be too different for my liking.
Yep,,, I’d say stainless steel (I bought one for my son.) or glass would be the two best choices.
I haven’t had a problem with my “SubZero” stainless steel bottle making the water taste metallic.
Glass is probably the best, but not nearly as durable.
With metal ones, it shouldn’t be aluminum. Aluminum is a neurotoxin and can leach into the liquid in small amounts.
The safest would be a birch-bark one. I’ll let you know how mine turns out. :P
The bottles made with pthalates (e.g. the old nalgene, did they change their recipe yet?) are indeed bad, the pthalates were used to made the plastic more bendable, softer. But they are also serious hormone disrupters.
There are some semi-rigid clear hiking/camping water bottles around now with no pthalates in them.
As @incendiary_dan mentioned aluminum is not so good because over time you’ll get too much in your nervous system, stainless steel is a good choice if it’s light enough for your purpose.
Plastic containers are surely unhealthy. I think stainless steel water bottles are the best.
Being afraid of plastic bottles might do greater damage than the bottles themselves. In the third world plastic bottles are a great blessing when exposed to sunlight so harmful germs are being killed.
So to answer your question: Plastic bottles are safe enough. Glass bottles harm the environment due to the additional weight. The best way in developed countries is drinking tap water.
@mattbrowne – I think @Mariah was asking what type of bottle she should be using if she wanted to reduce her risk (BPA, etc). So, there is a real answer here. If we are talking about distribution of water to third world countries, then I think we would have a different conversation. If we are talking about the environmental impact of plastic water bottles, again, I think we have a different conversation.
So her question is about how she can consume her tap water. The popular options are plastic, BPA-free plastic, aluminum, lined-aluminum, stainless steel, and glass. Your vote is for plastic. I’m curious about how you came to that conclusion. And, which type of plastic are you referring to?
I’m also curious about the “being afraid of plastic bottles” thing. Is “being afraid” another term for concerns about the impact plastic bottles are having on the environment?
My science group was discussed BPA exposure and someone who works with premature babies said that all the tubes plugged into and down inside the babies contain BPA. The exposure to premie babies in their first 6 weeks must be incredible, but there is no real way to study the effects because we don´t have premie babies treated in ICUs that are NOT exposed to BPA.
So many questions still regarding this substance, but I am glad they are doing more study. I am just as concerned about the effects of parabens and silicone derivatives that have found their way around the globe in animals and water sources because of how much is put in personal care products.
@mattbrowne ; You’re in Europe where they have to prove something (like a plastic compound)is safe before putting it out for the public. Here in the US they have to prove it is unsafe before they will ban it. Same goes for cosmetics.
@cazzie ; aw man!!! Thoufhr I got pretty good info here I know you guys are much better at regulating harmful stuff than we are.
@Judi we are much better putting ingredient lists on our products and listing potential allergens. We have to due to the EU directive on Cosmetics.
DARN that link is brilliant. That is one I’m going to have to share! Thanks for that.
my iphone must have went wacko with that middle of the night post. hope y’all deciphered the word “thought” up there.
A substance that is practically harmless to adults can be very dangerous to babies. BPA seems to be one example. But there are plenty of others. Just take alcohol. Even small amounts do great harm to a still growing brain. While moderate consumption especially for older adults might even have beneficial health effects.
“On 19 September 2008, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment stated that there was no reason to change the current risk assessment for bisphenol A on the basis of the Lang Study.
A ban on BPA for children’s products was requested by consumer advocates, especially pacifiers, and in response, some manufacturers voluntarily removed the problematic pacifiers from the market.”
So adults drinking from plastic bottles are fine. And they protect the environment because of more effective transport. Particulate matter from unfiltered diesel engines and from hitting the brake create a far more serious health issue especially in urban areas with a lot of traffic.
Why is there so little discussion about particulate matter?
@mattbrowne: “So adults drinking from plastic bottles are fine. And they protect the environment because of more effective transport.”
Please stop saying this. Again, we’re not talking about global distribution of water to drought areas. @Mariah lives in some country that probably has a tap. Water comes out of this tap, and she wants to know what vessel she should use.
@tom_g – I meant: Adults drinking from plastic bottles instead of glass bottles are fine. And they protect the environment because of more effective transport compared to the heavy glass bottles. An even better strategy is drinking tap water. I already said this in my first post.
And we should by no means underestimate the potential damage created by lingering worries and fears. Our food and drink in 2011 has never been that safe in the entire history of humankind. It was far more risky to eat and drink in 1950 and even more in 1850 or 1750.
@mattbrowne BPA isn’t even required for bottles. It is added to plastic to make it soft. The softer the plastic, the more BPA in it.
“In general, plastics that are marked with recycle codes 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are very unlikely to contain BPA. Some, but not all, plastics that are marked with recycle codes 3 or 7 may be made with BPA.”
@cazzie – So as consumers we should not buy bottles made of plastic that is too soft. The ones we buy where we live are pretty hard. Btw, tap water also runs through hard plastic pipes. In the past many of them were made of lead. Now that was a very serious health threat.
@mattbrowne that plastic is PVA plastic. It is very inflexible and doesn’t contain BPA.
Yes… lead pipes in old houses was a serious health problem. It is, however, a someone rare find these days.
@cazzie – I wonder what makes soft plastic bottles attractive in the first place.
@mattbrowne they´re less shatterproof when blown very thin.
The ones I avoid completely are the ones that have been made for kids to put their drinks for school in. They are highly coloured and very squeezable and they STINK.. which should be a good clue that something is leaking from them, whether it is BPA or just plastic stink, who wants that in their lunch.
I´m not sure about the whole aluminium argument because it seems to be a chicken and egg argument, but I threw all by aluminium pans out when the alzheimer´s studies came out with the information that people with the disease had greater concentration of aluminium in their nervous system. The studied warned that we don´t know why that happens. Whether it is from an accumulation because of exposure, like everyone seems to assume now, or because the nerve tissue accumulates the aluminium because of other factors of the disease. Since that early study came out, they have not be able to replicate the results looking at autopsies of other groups of alzheimer´s sufferers. The have also done studies looking at groups who are exposed to high amounts of aluminium and have seen no increase in alzheimer´s or dementia.
I am worried about plastics and their impact on the environment more than I am about aluminium. Your idea about using less resources for transport of light weight bottles falls down when you look at how much petroleum product is used to manufacture the bottles in the first place.
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