I have been hearing so much about the evils of plastic bottles and the poor water quality of bottled water lately and decided to look into it a little more. Aside from the fact that they are bad for our environment and the fact that it can take one plastic bottle 700 years to decompose in a landfill. They could actually be detrimental to our health. I found out there is an estrogen like compound called Bisphenol A or BPA for short that can leach into your water from your water bottle. This is some information I found on the Environmental Working Group website:
BPA is found in polycarbonate plastic food containers often marked on the bottom with the letters "PC" recycling label #7. Not all #7 labeled products are polycarbonate but this is a reasonable guideline for a category of plastics to avoid. Polycarbonate plastics are rigid and transparent and used for sippy cups, baby bottles, food storage, and water bottles. Some polycarbonate water bottles are marketed as 'non-leaching' for minimizing plastic taste or odor, however there is still a possibility that trace amounts of BPA will migrate from these containers, particularly if used to heat liquids.
Also in a strongly-worded statement released by 38 scientists and published online in the journal Reproductive Toxicology. The scientists determined that people are regularly exposed to BPA levels that exceed those harmful to lab animals — singling out infants and fetuses as the most vulnerable. The statement was accompanied by a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) study that found that uterine damage caused by BPA exposure in newborn animals might predict a host of reproductive disorders in women — including endometriosis, cystic ovaries, fibroids and cancers.
In addition to this I found out that BPA is being considered an obesogen, linking these chemicals to the body's metabolism and one of many factors on why obesity has so dramatically increased in our country. Obesogens seem to have the ability to disrupt the fundamental rule of weight management and body chemistry: weight gain occurs when calorie consumption exceeds the amount of energy burned. A potential explanation is that the compounds disrupt the body's circadian rhythm and may cause weight gain by, for example, programming the body's clock to eat when it should be sleeping.
The effects can also take place during developmental stages: as a Japanese study of cells growing in lab dishes showed, cells that would normally become fibroblasts, or connective tissue, actually became fat cells in the presence of industrial compounds like BPA. (Think of it something like stem cells: before these prefibroblasts are fully formed, their future identity is highly impressionable. In this case, their would-be fate as connective tissue is actually altered so they become fat tissue instead.) In the study, existing fat cells were also stimulated to grow faster and more plentiful.
Now I want to touch on the actual water inside the bottles. We a paying a premium for water that has been commercially marketed as cleaner, better tasting and the healthy drink of choice. Which is completely untrue and actually the opposite in many cases. This myth has been used to trick consumers into paying thousands times more for a product that is the same or even more polluted than the water available from our faucets. Tap water in the United States undergoes rigorous testing for contaminants—as often as 480 times a month, far more than the once–a–week test for bottled water. One of the most popular brands of water these days is Fiji Water and this is one article on the reality of where that water really comes from.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/fiji-spin-bottle?page=1
This is enough for me personally to want to avoid plastic bottles. I also found it disheartening that many of the aluminum and stainless steel water bottles actually have a plastic lining that contains BPA. So I asked myself what is the real reason you drink bottled water? I think it tastes better and it's convenient. So what are our alternatives? What if there is a way to have portability and great tasting water? What I recommend? Get a water filter for your tap water and they range from $20 for one you can mount on to your faucet to few hundred dollars for a reverse osmosis system that attaches underneath your sink. You will be able to pick one based on your price range and the chemicals and toxins that you want filtered out of your water and it will make your water taste great.
Now what should you put your newly filtered water in when your on the go? A Love Bottle. A Love Bottle is a discovery I made while looking online for a glass bottles. Not only is it a glass bottle but it is completely safe and actually really stylish. It is made from partially recycled glass and has a ceramic swing top lid. There are 14 bottle designs and two different sizes. They are also big on being able to individualize your bottle offering bands, removable stickers and additional ceramic lids for your bottle. The smaller size bottle is about the size of an old glass coke bottle and the second is about the size of a wine bottle. Affordabley priced between $15-$18. They are also a socially responsible company, a portion of their proceeds goes to Global Water dedicated to the cause that every human being deserves clean water. It's good for you and the planet. Get yours here : http://www.lovebottle.net/index.asp
