Study says plastic water bottles harbor more bacteria than your toilet seat

Using a plastic water bottle makes practical sense as it is convenient to use,  saves you money and is helpful to the environment. However, recent findings showed that drinking from these plastic water bottles exposes you to a host of harmful bacteria that has been linked to pneumonia, skin infection and blood poisoning.

A test conducted by TreadmillReviews.net has revealed that certain types of refillable water bottles can do more harm than good as moisture-loving bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella thrive on its spouts and caps.

The worst type, the slide-top water bottles, had an average of more than 900,000 colony-forming units per square centimeter (CFU/sq cm). It contained the most gram-positive cocci which are believed to be the most harmful bacteria. On the other hand, squeeze-top bottles had 162,000 CFU/sq cm while screw-top containers had about 160,000 CFU/sq cm.

With only CFU/sq cm, straw-top bottles had the least bacteria because water drips down to the bottom of the straw rather than staying on the surface to attract moisture-loving bacteria.

The Missouri-based website concluded: “Based on our test results, we suggest opting for a straw-top bottle, both for the low prevalence of bacteria and the lack of harmful germs.”