Everyone knows that drinking plenty of water is healthy. However, it turns out drinking water from plastic bottles might not be beneficial for you.
According to a groundbreaking study just published by researchers from Columbia and Rutgers universities, the average bottle of water contains nearly a quarter million fragments of harmful nanoplastics.
Nanoplastics are particles invisible to the eye that are smaller than a micron in size. For reference, there are 25,400 microns in one inch. A single human hair is about 83 microns wide.
Why is this troubling? According to the study, “Researchers have shown the possibility of nanoplastics crossing biological barriers and entering the biological systems raising public concern on its potential toxicity.”
And toxic they are. According to numerous studies, including a major one published at The Lancet last year, “Exposure to [micro-and nanoplastics] can lead to health effects through oxidative stress, inflammation, immune dysfunction, altered biochemical and energy metabolism, impaired cell proliferation, disrupted microbial metabolic pathways, abnormal organ development, and carcinogenicity [or cancer development].”
Plastics are non-degradable and tend to accumulate in the body. Their long-term impacts on human health are yet to be fully understood.
Earlier, researchers found microplastics, which are bigger than nanoplastics, in human lungs, blood, and the heart.
While the research on how to detox from these particles is lacking, one may start with limiting plastic exposure, using reusable bottles, and refraining from microwaving food and liquids in plastic containers.
In response to the publication, a trade association of the bottled water producers “urged people to keep calm (and keep drinking bottled water) while scientists develop a more thorough understanding of these plastics and their impact on the human body,” according to The Hill.
