We all use water bottles relatively often, whether we like it or not. Sometimes, for one reason or another, we happen to reuse water bottles, including disposable ones.
Have you ever wondered why plastic water bottles are called disposable and how their repeated use can affect your health? Estet-portal will give several reasons why you need to think twice before filling a plastic bottle with a new portion of fresh water.
Bacteria in plastic water bottles feel great
When using a disposable water bottle a second time, you expose yourself to a risk that increases in direct proportion to the amount of reuse of plastic containers. Why? With repeated use, scratches and cracks appear on plastic bottles, which are quite a cozy place for bacteria to live – just like the cutting board you have in your kitchen.
Of course, such bacteria can be combated by thoroughly washing a disposable plastic bottle, especially with warm soapy water. However, even in this case, the plastic container is damaged.
Remember that most bacteria enters water bottles from your mouth. Therefore, if such bottles are not washed, over time they turn into a homemade Petri dish. research confirms this information. And this is absolutely not surprising, given that most of the day water bottles are spent at room temperature, ideal for the reproduction and growth of bacteria.
What to do
Even special reusable water bottles are not completely safe. They also form cracks in which bacteria settle. Therefore, even such bottles require care.
The best protection against bacteria – use of disposable bottles for their intended purpose, i.e. only once. A too narrow neck does not allow proper washing of such containers. If you use reusable bottles, choose containers with a wide neck – they are easier to clean from the inside. And, of course, don't forget to wash your hands – bacteria can migrate from them anywhere, including your drinking water bottle.
Danger of spilling chemicals from disposable bottles
As mentioned above, warm soapy water is best for washing bottles. Because simple friction or hot water will damage the bottle, which is already not intended for reuse. Hazardous chemicals can be released from plastic bottles into the water you drink.
Reusable plastic water bottles are made from a harder plastic and are supposed to be more resistant to hot water than conventional disposable bottles. However, this does not mean that you are insured against all the risks associated with the use of plastic products. Therefore, the best protection is the use of glass or stainless steel water containers, although they are more expensive. But even such a container for water must be washed regularly in order to kill the bacteria living in it.
The most dangerous place in the bottle – neck
We have already figured out why water bottles – an almost perfect ecosystem for bacteria. Now it's time to find out which place in this ecosystem they like the most and why.
It is the neck of disposable and refillable water bottles that bacteria love the most. They like to nest in screw caps and neck threads. Such data is also not taken from the air, but confirmed by research, which found that it was in the region of the neck of the bottle that a large number of bacteria are located, including those that cause food poisoning.
Therefore, experts, having seen enough of such bottle ecosystems, recommend regularly and thoroughly washing reusable water bottles (well, and other liquids) and throwing away disposable bottles immediately after use. Well, or, as they joke themselves, you can learn to drink bottled water, as in advertising, – without touching the mouth of the bottle. True, for this you will have to practice.
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