Warning issued to bottled water drinkers

New research has been released

You'd have thought that few things could be healthier than drinking water, and this is true - but it seems like there are some potential risks with the bottled stuff.

This is down to the plastic it is packaged in. On average, a plastic 1L bottle of water will contain about 240,000 plastic particles, compared to just 5.5 particles in a litre of tap water.

Known as nanoplastics, they are linked with a number of health issues, including cancer, birth defects and fertility issues.

Whilst scientists were already aware of the presence of microplastics in bottled water, nanoplastics are much smaller.

In new research from the University of Columbia, scientists used lasers to analyse the particles from three popular bottled water brands in the US.

The main risk with nanoplastics is that they can directly enter blood cells and the brain because they are so small.

The plastics used to make water bottles often contain phthalates, which are a type of endocrine-disrupting chemical and may contribute to between 91,000 and 107,000 premature deaths a year among 55-64 year olds in the US, CNN reports.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says that phthalates are "linked with developmental, reproductive, brain, immune, and other problems."

The University of Columbia's research found polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles in the bottled water, a thermoplastic often used to make plastic bottles.

Study co-author Beizhan Yan, an environmental chemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said: "This was not surprising, since that is what many water bottles are made of.

"PET is also used for bottled sodas, sports drinks, and products such as ketchup and mayonnaise.

"It probably gets into the water as bits slough off when the bottle is squeezed or gets exposed to heat."

Another plastic particle found in the water was polyamide, a type of nylon, and was actually found in greater quantity than PET.

"Ironically, this probably comes from plastic filters used to supposedly purify the water before it is bottled," Yan added.

“Previously this was just a dark area, uncharted. Toxicity studies were just guessing what’s in there.

"This opens a window where we can look into a world that was not exposed to us before."

The new study’s lead author, Naixin Qian, a Columbia graduate student in chemistry, said: “People developed methods to see nano particles, but they didn’t know what they were looking at

It's not just in bottled water that nanoplastic pose a risk, with the team saying there's a "huge world of nanoplastics to be studied."

Qian explained: "By mass, nanoplastics comprise far less than microplastics but it’s not size that matters.

"It’s the numbers, because the smaller things are, the more easily they can get inside us."

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