Why you should stop drinking from plastic bottles if you care about your blood pressure

Drinking from plastic bottles can be toxic to your health – and drinking straight from the tap can save your life.

A recent study published in the journal Microplastics found that drinking from plastic bottles can increase blood pressure as a result of microplastics entering the bloodstream.

As the name implies, microplastics are small plastic particles found in the vast majority of our food and water supply.

Inadvertently ingested, these particles can penetrate cell barriers in the intestines and lungs and move into the bloodstream and other tissues in the body.

In 2018 alone, exposure to microplastics — which the Mayo Clinic has linked to heart health, hormone imbalances and even cancer — cost the health care system up to $289 billion.

The new study by a team of researchers from the Department of Medicine at the Private Danube University in Austria found that blood pressure dropped significantly when participants stopped consuming liquids from plastic and glass bottles and drank only tap water for a period of two weeks.

“Obvious trends have been observed. The study results suggest, for the first time, that a reduction in plastic use can potentially lower blood pressure, possibly due to the reduced volume of plastic particles in the bloodstream,” the research team noted.

Scientists previously found that people consume 5 grams of microplastics every week, or the weight of a credit card. Microplastics have also been found in liquids packaged in glass bottles.

In the Danube study, participants’ blood pressure was measured at the beginning and throughout the study. The results revealed a “significant drop” in diastolic blood pressure after two weeks.

“Based on the findings, which show a reduction in blood pressure with reduced plastic consumption, we hypothesize that plastic particles present in the bloodstream may contribute to high blood pressure,” the researchers noted.

“We came to the conclusion, after extensive research, that drinks packaged in plastic bottles should be avoided.”

In terms of conserving water resources, separate research found that boiling and filtering tap water can reduce the presence of microplastics (and nanoplastics) by nearly 90%.