[www.sciencedaily.com]

ScienceDaily (May 22, 2009) — A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles -- the popular, hard-plastic drinking bottles and baby bottles -- showed a two-thirds increase in their urine of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA). Exposure to BPA, used in the manufacture of polycarbonate and other plastics, has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans.


The study is the first to show that drinking from polycarbonate bottles increased the level of urinary BPA, and thus suggests that drinking containers made with BPA release the chemical into the liquid that people drink in sufficient amounts to increase the level of BPA excreted in human urine.

In addition to polycarbonate bottles, which are refillable and a popular container among students, campers and others and are also used as baby bottles, BPA is also found in dentistry composites and sealants and in the lining of aluminum food and beverage cans. (In bottles, polycarbonate can be identified by the recycling number 7.) Numerous studies have shown that it acts as an endocrine-disruptor in animals, including early onset of sexual maturation, altered development and tissue organization of the mammary gland and decreased sperm production in offspring. It may be most harmful in the stages of early development.

"We found that drinking cold liquids from polycarbonate bottles for just one week increased urinary BPA levels by more than two-thirds. If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be considerably higher. This would be of concern since infants may be particularly susceptible to BPA's endocrine-disrupting potential," said Karin B. Michels, associate professor of epidemiology at HSPH and Harvard Medical School and senior author of the study.

The researchers, led by first author Jenny Carwile, a doctoral student in the department of epidemiology at HSPH, and Michels, recruited Harvard College students for the study in April 2008. The 77 participants began the study with a seven-day "washout" phase in which they drank all cold beverages from stainless steel bottles in order to minimize BPA exposure. Participants provided urine samples during the washout period. They were then given two polycarbonate bottles and asked to drink all cold beverages from the bottles during the next week; urine samples were also provided during that time.

The results showed that the participants' urinary BPA concentrations increased 69% after drinking from the polycarbonate bottles. (The study authors noted that BPA concentrations in the college population were similar to those reported for the U.S. general population.) Previous studies had found that BPA could leach from polycarbonate bottles into their contents; this study is the first to show a corresponding increase in urinary BPA concentrations in humans.

One of the study's strengths, the authors note, is that the students drank from the bottles in a normal use setting. Additionally, the students did not wash their bottles in dishwashers nor put hot liquids in them; heating has been shown to increase the leaching of BPA from polycarbonate, so BPA levels might have been higher had students drunk hot liquids from the bottles.

Canada banned the use of BPA in polycarbonate baby bottles in 2008 and some polycarbonate bottle manufacturers have voluntarily eliminated BPA from their products. With increasing evidence of the potential harmful effects of BPA in humans, the authors believe further research is needed on the effect of BPA on infants and on reproductive disorders and on breast cancer in adults.

"This study is coming at an important time because many states are deciding whether to ban the use of BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. While previous studies have demonstrated that BPA is linked to adverse health effects, this study fills in a missing piece of the puzzle—whether or not polycarbonate plastic bottles are an important contributor to the amount of BPA in the body," said Carwile.
The study was supported by the Harvard University Center for the Environment and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Biological Analysis Core, Department of Environmental Health, HSPH. Carwile was also supported by the Training Program in Environmental Epidemiology.

Thanks brome!

What do you think of the stainless steel bottles, like "kleen kanteen" and "ecousable"? Some of these are made in China, and I sometimes wonder what all is in that stainless steel. How much aluminum, etc. Have you heard anything about the quality of these bottles?

omg....

i have yet to find a suitable and healthy way to drink water at work. it seems my choices are the plastic you just described, a questionable stainless steel vessel or their tapwater. maybe i'll just hydrate really well before work and then dryfast until i'm done. i don't know......

Stainless steel has many alloys (mixes of many metals) so no telling what you're getting. I know they like to put lead in to make metals more malleable (ie faucets).

The only one you can count on for purity is glass. As long as you stay away from leaded crystal which is your expensive glassware.

yea- i've thought about glass, it's what i use at home, but not so practical to bring that to the restaurant where i work. oh well, i have 4 more plastic bottles to use, and then i think i might just abstain. it's only for 4 hours or so that i'm at work most of the time.

I just did a little research online, and it appears there are different grades of stainless steel, some including lead or aluminum, some not. Both the "klean canteen" and "ecousable" brand of water bottles are rated "304", which is an "austenitic" grade that doesn't include lead or aluminum.

Good thing, since I'm using the stainless steel for hiking!

Thanks Suncloud that's good to know.

love the Kanteen. send it to school with the little man with the sport cap attachment, the baby has a small one with a spill-proof sippy lid, and i use the big one. they work great and no worries about leaching terrible stuff into our bodies.

How about #1 and #2 bottles??
Any issues with those?

Vinny

what is kanteen

where can i get it? is it at whole foods?

also, i saw that whole foods had this five gallon receptacle that looks like those five gallon plastic receptacles that you see from SPARKLETTS

it costs about 18 bucks and i'm wondering what kind of material that is

anyone know?

also, the thing is that i would like to get a good storage receptacle but if they have a skinny diameter, it is hard to clean... those scrubby things don't seem to have a good thing that will scrub the bottom of the receptacle adequately

any suggestions?

Nalgene bottles no longer use BPA

BlendTec no longer uses BPA in their containers.

Hi LaV,

Here's the website for Klean Kanteen: [www.kleankanteen.com]

eaglefly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How about #1 and #2 bottles??
> Any issues with those?
>
> Vinny
Personally I avoid plastic drinking bottles, never buying my water in plastic bottles, instead I use glass jars filled from my filtered water system at home. Here in Hawaii with the strong sunlight (and elsewhere) also of detriment is that these plastic containers are left out on pallets on the dock for long periods before moving to stores or in the back of open trucks on the way to consumers. The strong sunlight adds to the biodegrading of plastic residues in that plastic bottled water too!

I have heard on the news the highest BPA levels are in the plastic bottles with the recycling number 3 in a triangle on the bottom of the bottle. Check out those little numbers in triangles on the bottom of your bottles.
According to Consumers Reports "if you are concerned about the presence of BPA, look for unbreakable BPA-free plastic, such as polyethylene, an opaque, less-shiny plastic (sometimes marked with recycling code 1 and/or the abbreviation PET) that does not leach BPA. Other plastics not made with BPA are high density polyethylene (2, HDPE), low density polyethylene (4, LDPE), or polypropylene (5, PP). Avoid those marked with recycling code 7, which includes polycarbonate, or the abbreviation PC.

Thanks Maui
I buy my distilled water in those opaque jugs like milk comes in.
They are marked #2.
Then I transfer the water into a smaller bottle for easier carrying,and those are #1 clear.
So I guess I am safe.

Vinny



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2009 10:32PM by eaglefly.

Awesome thread! I plane on purchasing several of the 40 oz. kleen canteens very shortly. Thanks for the info.