Healthy ? Cycling Waterbottle/Hydration packs are PLASTIC !

[Max Headroom]

While washing my water bottles and cleaning the tops - after yesterday's mtb ride, I started thinking of the plastic related risks.

Plastics are ubiquitous, cheap and convenient, but they leach chemicals that contaminate our food and drink. Scientific results to-date linked plastic to serious health issues such as endocrine disruption, weight gain, insulin resistance, decreased reproductive health, prostate and breast cancer, various diseases, disability, diabetes, cardiovascular health risks and premature death at every stage of its life cycle.

We are all aware of the plastic dangers, yet we spend hours on our bikes (often daily) drinking from plastic bottles and hydration packs, and seldom think of the plastic leaching into our bodies.

Even when it is considered a 'safe plastic' bottle, other conditions like the sun/heat or the cleaning-scrub of the bottle affects the plastic breakdown. (I have had bottles getting so sun/road reflection heated that eventually they were impossible to drink)

I checked the ratings on the bottom of my bottles for some comfort of the plastic rating.  "BPA FREE" are the common keywords we now expect to see.

Although Science shows that some BPA-Free plastic is made of BPA substitutes that are just as harmful as BPA.

(Water bottles and food containers are often labelled "BPA-free."; However, scientists warn chemical alternatives, such as bisphenol S (BPS), aren't safe for people to use.)

I noticed my bottles from the * CT Cycle Tour, * Ride Jo'burg, and some others had a Triangle with the number 4 - The symbol we associate with safe or BPE free,

However, the bottles from USN, W2W, Biogen - had nothing on the bottom - therefore I have no info on the rating - (or the manufacturer)

Are these bottles Safe ? Are these cheap imports ? Are our cycle bottle 'suppliers' negligent ? Are we killing ourselves while trying to stay healthy ? What alternatives do we have ?

Ok, I'm going to go ride my bike now with the knowledge that we are all F#%*ed in so many ways.

Edited March 15 by Max Headroom
spelling

[madmarc]

Good question - Even scarier is bottled water - literraly millions are sold every year and i bet no one ever checks to see how safe they are.

I mainly use Camelbak bottles - All these bottles handed out as freebies are cheap junk and i turf them with the goodiebag.

[Frosty]

37 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

Scientific results to-date linked plastic to serious health issues such as endocrine disruption, weight gain, insulin resistance, decreased reproductive health, prostate and breast cancer, various diseases, disability, diabetes, cardiovascular health risks and premature death at every stage of its life cycle.

Have you got links to these studies?

[Super Sywurm]

One crash or one drop and done is the new glass bottles everybody went to buy after reading this thread.

[MORNE]

29 minutes ago, Super Sywurm said:

One crash or one drop and done is the new glass bottles everybody went to buy after reading this thread.

*Klean Kanteen.
 

Nobody is dumb enough to ride with glass bottles i hope. 

[BaGearA]

56 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Have you got links to these studies?

Google doc Shana Swan 

 

Its really unsurprising the amount of microplastics we all have floating around us , even when you're religious about avoiding them the world is so that you still would have a concerning level 

[JayLow]

Interesting topic! Struggling to find unbiased sources for this, took a couple of minutes to get this one from Time: https://time.com/5581326/plastic-particles-in-bottled-water/

Highlights

• Microplastics are everywhere
• Causal link between (almost all consumer) plastics and negative health effects not established.

There's enough to worry about, I am not going to put plastic onto that list.

[Jewbacca]

16 minutes ago, MORNE said:

*Klean Kanteen.
 

Nobody is dumb enough to ride with glass bottles i hope. 

I have a bunch of alu and steel bottles with different tops that fit onto them for different situations

They such as cycling bottles. Fine on slow long runs or hikes and 100 milers, or the MTB if you're on the trails stopping to drink.

But, they are junk as cycling bottles in any sort of intensity. 

I eat food I don't cook myself pretty often, I smash fried potato more than I should and I have put a number of naughty things in my body over the years, my plastic bottles are the least of my issues

 

[MORNE]

1 minute ago, Jewbacca said:

…. and I have put a number of naughty things in my body over the years….

 

Interesting. Please go on..

[Robbie Stewart]

Well, at least he has a glass bottle so he should be fine . . .

Tour de France 1927: Gustaaf van Slembrouck enjoying a cigarette.
https://www.bikechaser.com.au/news/old-school-cycling/

[W@nted]

I tried drinking water from a metal bottle once.  Water tasted like rust. I also could not squeeze it to hydrate myself quickly enough. This can cause severe dehydration, so opted to rather use my plastic bottles/bidons going forward. 

I shall add the chemicals in plastic bidons to the list of things that are killing me slowly. 🙂

[michaelbiker]

I think worrying about plastic is a bit too much. Literally everything we eat and drink went through a plastic pipe or container at some point. Even the pipes in your house or the municipal water pipes are plastic. Go outside, get some fresh air enjoy the sunshine.
 

Stop worrying about this stuff, the stress will kill you before the plastic does. 

[Max Headroom]

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

Have you got links to these studies?

Oh, there are many - just google  'is BPA Free - safe'

Here, in no particular order, a couple :-

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200218182202.htm

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/news-BPA-free-plastic-safety-chemicals-health

https://www.livescience.com/63592-bpa-free-plastic-dangers.html

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/bpa-free

https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(16)61382-1/fulltext

https://www.nature.com/articles/jes20168

https://academic.oup.com/jes/article/3/9/1715/5537531?login=false

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/bpa-free-1.5404149

https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/many-bpa-free-plastics-are-toxic-some-are-worse-than-bpa

https://www.tonyrobbins.com/health-vitality/plastic-water-bottles-safe/

 

 

 

[Max Headroom]

3 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

I have a bunch of alu and steel bottles with different tops that fit onto them for different situations

They such as cycling bottles. Fine on slow long runs or hikes and 100 milers, or the MTB if you're on the trails stopping to drink.

But, they are junk as cycling bottles in any sort of intensity. 

I eat food I don't cook myself pretty often, I smash fried potato more than I should and I have put a number of naughty things in my body over the years, my plastic bottles are the least of my issues

 

 

They look like a good option to me, of course nothing is as easy, cheap or convenient as plastic (for almost all daily-use items), but isn't this basically what guys cycled with before plastic?

I do hate the idea that you cant sqeeze it !

 

Edited March 15 by Max Headroom

[Jewbacca]

33 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

 

They look like a good option to me, of course nothing is as easy, cheap or convenient as plastic (for almost all daily-use items), but isn't this basically what guys cycled with before plastic?

I do hate the idea that you cant sqeeze it !

 

They 'work', but they dent easily, the bottom loses it's shape pretty quickly and then they don't fit nicely into bottle cages.

So yes, they are canteens, but they are not great cycling bottles when you're moving at intensity.

I use them for trail rides and slow running or Adventure Racing with the screw off lids to drink when I can stop and use both hands.

I do believe the water tasted WAY better out of them. Like a lot better. The cycle nozzle has a pretty nifty 'flow' so water comes out without squeezing or sucking, but they are finicky.

IF you worry about stuff that much, then cool. But IMHO having 4 decent plastic bottles in rotation isn't the end of the world and likely won't be the cause of your plastic poisoning or cancer

 

[The Ouzo]

I suspect the mould in your bottle will get you before the plastic does.