Don’t buy drinking water containers unless they are made of glass or carry a tag that says, “BPA free”.
You may have realized that the taste is better when you use a glass drinking water container, but you know that for sports, glass is impractical.
So, you buy plastic or polycarbonate drinking water containers and hopefully you fill them with filtered-water from your tap.
But, if the label on your drinking water container does not say BPA free, then you are risking your future health.
In the 1930s, when they began using BPA (Bisphenol-A) to make plastics, they were concerned that the substance might be hazardous.
But, as with many hazardous chemicals, the benefits outweighed the risks, at least at the time.
Now, technology has advanced to the point that there are safer alternatives, but change is always difficult.
Many major companies, particularly in the United States, oppose the proposed ban of the chemical, so it is still common to see a drinking water container that is made with it.
We’ll have to just wait and see what happens on that front.
But, in the meantime, at least one company (NALGENE) that makes sports drinking water containers has stopped using the chemical.
You see, over the last 5 years, numerous studies of the effects of BPA have been completed using laboratory rats.
I know you may have problems with the idea of animal testing, but the only way to determine the long-term toxicity of a substance is to use them.
A single exposure will do not damage to a human being or an animal.
It is repeated exposure that is a problem.
The chemical can build up in bodily organs cells and tissues.
That’s why you want a glass or BPA free drinking water container.
Within the human body, BPA acts like the hormone estrogen.
Other compounds that have estrogenic activity increase the growth of cancerous tumors.
In laboratory animals, many changes were caused by small daily doses.
There were changes in the genital tract, the prostate and breast tissue.
There were also behavioral changes and changes in the basic structure of the brain.
In male animals, the levels of testosterone decreased.
All of this was from small daily dosages, meant to simulate the effect of human consumption on a daily basis.
The studies were initiated by CDC surveys that showed measurable levels of BPA in over 90% of children and adults.
The substance is used to line the inside of canned foods and of course in beverage and drinking water containers.
Another compound called phthalate also leaks into fluids stored in a plastic drinking water container.
That chemical acts like estrogen, as well.
So, if you normally buy bottled waters, you could be exposed to two different estrogen-like substances every time you take a drink.
The best advice is to buy a home purification system that sits on your kitchen counter, bottle your own and store it in glass.
One of the best manufacturers also sells glass drinking water containers and carriers for them, so that you can easily take them along wherever you go.
Drink to your health, with glass.
