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Claim: An Instagram user claims that bottled water contains microplastics.
Verdict: True. Several available research show that bottled water contains microplastics and nanoplastics.
Full Text
Microplastics (MPs) are small pieces of plastic under five millimetres. They can come from larger plastic pieces broken down, resin pellets used in plastic manufacturing, microbeads, microfibre, etc.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) researchers define microplastics (MPs) as plastic particles ranging in size from 5 millimetres (mm) to 1 nanometer (nm). Microplastics can be found in food, beverages, and human and animal tissue.
An Instagram user, @redapple.life, shared a video of Dr William Lim on the Mel Robbins Podcast claiming that bottled waters contain microplastics because the bottles are shedding microplastics into the water.
Mr Lim, in the video shared with the inscription “You will think twice about bottled water after watching this,” referenced a study from Italy that found microplastics in people’s blood vessels.
In the caption, she noted, “Not only is plastic bottled water a really expensive way to hydrate, but it’s also really bad for you! In addition to microplastics, most bottled waters also have a positive ORP (oxidative reduction potential), which means they actually have an oxidising effect on the body that contributes to inflammation, and high inflammation is a lead indicator for many diseases.”
She then advised that people avoid plastic bottled water and invest in an electrolysed reduced water system at home. According to her, this is the only water with a negative ORP (an antioxidant effect on the body).
Seeing this as a public health issue, DUBAWA decided to verify it.
Verification
We conducted a keyword search to find the study mentioned by Dr Lim, which discovered microplastics in blood vessels. Our search led to an article by the British Heart Foundation referencing a 2024 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study found Polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and jagged-edged foreign particles among plaque macrophages scattered in patients’ external debris. Radiographic examination showed that some of these particles included chlorine.
The study also found that patients with carotid artery plaque in which Microplastics and Nanoplastics (MNPs) were detected had a higher risk of a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from any cause at 34 months of follow-up than those in whom MNPs were not detected. An article by Harvard Health Publishing referenced the above study.
We found another article by the National Institute of Health on plastic in bottled water referencing a study published on Jan. 8, 2024, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNANS). This research found that, on average, a litre of bottled water included about 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic. It also revealed that about 90% of these plastic fragments were nanoplastics. A CNN and VeryWell Health article referenced this study.
Another study titled “Microplastic particles in human blood and their association with coagulation markers” found that MPs are present in human blood and positively correlate with various lifestyle factors and notable changes in coagulation markers (PT, APTT, FIB, D-dimer, and FDP routinely used to assess bleeding, coagulation, and thrombosis). Thirty-two out of the 36 blood samples collected by participants of this study contained MPs.
Similarly, a 2023 pilot investigation of a small number of human saphenous vein tissues confirmed the presence of MPs in human vein tissue. A 2018 study also detected micro- and nanoplastics in 93% of samples of bottled water sold by 11 different brands in nine countries.
Conclusion
The claim that bottled water contains microplastics is true. Several studies reveal different degrees of microplastics and nanoplastics in bottled water.
