Experts warn: why you shouldn’t drink from plastic bottles

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Plastic bottles are a practical and supposedly indispensable companion in many sports and everyday life. However, they also pose several health risks. In particular, the ingestion of microplastics is a major problem. The Department of Medicine at the Danube Private University Krems (DPU) has discovered that drinking from plastic bottles can even increase blood pressure.

Microplastics endanger our bodies
A few years ago, researchers discovered that we ingest around 5 grams of microplastics every week. These tiny plastic particles are ingested through water, food, or even the air. In humans, plastic particles have already been detected in the blood, intestines, breast milk, and brain.

Experts warn: why you shouldn’t drink from plastic bottles
For years, there has been repeated evidence that tiny plastic particles are released from plastic packaging. For example, a study by the University of California warned that plastic bottles contain around 250,000 nanoplastic particles. Although the health effects of microplastics on our health have not yet been sufficiently researched, a new study by the DPU suggests that drinking from plastic bottles can increase blood pressure.

Drinking from plastic bottles is harmful
For the study, eight healthy adults drank only tap water for a month and stopped drinking drinks from plastic bottles. Their blood pressure was measured in both arms before the study began and after two and four weeks. The results were surprising: after just two weeks, there was a significant drop in diastolic blood pressure in the test subjects who gave up drinks from plastic bottles.
These results suggest that reducing plastic use could potentially lower blood pressure. Thus, there is a possible link between lower plastic intake and better cardiovascular health.

Further studies are necessary
However, the scientists recommend that further studies with a more significant number of participants and extended measurement protocols be needed to confirm the preliminary results. However, it is clear that reducing the use of plastics is important to avoid health effects. It is, therefore, best to avoid drinking from plastic bottles as much as possible and thus reduce the number of plastic items in your bloodstream.