Turns Out Glass Bottles Have Microplastics Too—Is Something Really Secure to Drink From?

Assume you’re avoiding microplastics once you drink from a glass bottle relatively than a plastic one? New analysis discovered that might not be the case.

A brand new examine, printed this month within the Journal of Meals Composition and Evaluation, discovered that drinks packaged in glass bottles truly contained much more microplastics than these packaged in plastic bottles and cans. The researchers consider caps will be the wrongdoer.

Microplastics—tiny items of plastic lower than 5 millimeters lengthy—are pervasive all through our oceans, soil, meals, and air. They will enter our our bodies in quite a few methods and have been linked to well being points comparable to infertility, hormone disruptions, heart problems, and most cancers.

“This examine challenges the frequent assumption that cup packaging is robotically safer,” mentioned Nicole Sparks, PhD, assistant professor of environmental and occupational well being on the UC Irvine Joe C. Wen College of Inhabitants and Public Well being. “Elements like caps is usually a main supply of microplastic publicity.”

To find out how packaging impacts the quantity of microplastics in varied drinks, French researchers used a particular microscope and chemical evaluation to look at water, soda, iced tea, lemonade, wine, and beer bought in France.

The entire samples contained microplastics, the information confirmed. However the concentrations differed based mostly on the packaging for every beverage:

Cola, iced tea, lemonade, and beer: These drinks contained considerably extra microplastics when packaged in glass bottles—in some circumstances, the quantity of microplastics was almost 50 instances greater than in plastic bottles and cans.Water: Glass bottles of water had barely larger microplastic content material, however water was the least-contaminated beverage throughout the board.Wine: Quarter-liter “brick” carton packaging was related to extra microplastics in wine, although the extent of microplastic contamination for the entire wines examined was comparatively low.

Primarily, the quantity of microplastics an individual is uncovered to could differ broadly based mostly on what they’re ingesting and from which container. A mean plastic bottle of water could comprise about 1.6 microplastics per liter (MPs/L), for instance, whereas a glass bottle of lemonade could comprise over 100 MPs/L.

It’s value noting that the researchers solely examined for microplastics, not nanoplastics. These a lot tinier particles “could have gone undetected, reinforcing the necessity for additional investigation,” added Rene Caballero, PhD, analysis toxicologist at NSF, a public well being and security group based mostly in Michigan.

Should you discover it unusual that glass-bottled drinks had been extra contaminated than plastic ones, you’re not alone. “We had been anticipating the other outcome,” examine writer Iseline Chaïb, a PhD pupil with the French Company for Meals, Environmental and Occupational Well being & Security, mentioned in a press launch.

However there’s a idea as to why: the cap.

Producers typically use paints to cowl metallic caps on glass bottles—and people chemical compounds could leach microplastics into the drinks, researchers mentioned.

Of their testing, the group famous that the microplastics present in glass-bottled drinks normally had the identical coloration, form, and polymer composition because the paint used on the caps. Plus, researchers discovered tiny scratches on lots of the caps.

“These caps shed polyester-based particles throughout manufacturing, storage, or sealing, possible attributable to friction and abrasion,” Sparks advised Well being.

As soon as researchers cleaned the caps, the quantity of microplastics considerably dropped. Microplastic contamination fell from 287 MPs/L to 106 MPs/L when researchers blew air onto the caps, and additional dropped to 87 MPs/L when the caps had been additionally rinsed with a water and alcohol combination.

One other piece of proof? Regardless that wines are normally packaged in glass bottles, the usage of a cork as a substitute of a cap possible explains why the quantity of microplastic contamination was a lot decrease.

Cleansing caps or eliminating them doesn’t utterly clear up the problem—airborne particles, contaminated water and components, and plastic manufacturing unit gear can even add microplastics into drinks, Caballero advised Well being.

Nonetheless, researchers and specialists agree the findings ought to encourage beverage producers to vary their processes to guard customers.

“The elevated ranges detected in drinks from glass bottles are regarding, as they counsel that cup with painted caps isn’t a protected various to plastic, prompting a reevaluation of packaging selections,” Amelia Meyer, MSc, a analysis program supervisor learning environmentally mediated infectious illnesses at Stanford Drugs, advised Well being.

Microplastics have been detected all through the human physique—in blood, breast milk, the digestive tract, lung tissue, and extra. Oral ingestion is regarded as the primary means that these particles get into our our bodies, mentioned Caballero.

Rising proof suggests microplastics could also be linked to irritation, oxidative stress, and intestine microbiome points. “These particles could intrude with vital organic techniques, together with metabolism, replica, and growth,” mentioned Sparks.

Over time, the microplastics—and the injury they trigger—can accumulate and doubtlessly contribute to the event of power illness and different well being points, although their impact appears to rely on particle dimension, form, chemical composition, and different elements, Sparks defined.

“Extra analysis is required to grasp how these findings translate to power human publicity,” she mentioned.

Folks, on common, are uncovered to between 39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles per yr—and that’s simply by means of meals, estimates counsel.

Relating to drinks, glass bottles might not be the protected various folks assume they’re. And although this new examine advised plastic bottled water could also be safer, U.S. analysis from 2024 discovered that bottled water comprises a median of about 240,000 plastic items, the vast majority of that are nanoplastics. Researchers have even discovered microplastics in faucet water, albeit at decrease concentrations.

So is it even attainable to keep away from microplastics when they’re so ubiquitous? Most likely not, specialists agreed. “No container is risk-free,” mentioned Sparks.