Like many individuals, Carl Behnke frequently carries a water bottle with him throughout the day. Behnke rarely goes from the office to the gym and back home without it. But Behnke can be an associate professor in Purdue University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, and when he discovered a “biofilm” on the within his water bottle while cleansing it, it set his mind in motion. “I realized that I probably wasn’t being as careful as I should be when it came to cleaning my water bottle,” he explains. “And that made me curious: If someone who knows about food safety isn’t diligent, what about everyone else?”
This query led to a Study, The study, conducted by Behnke and a cohort of academics and scientists, examined how the extent of contamination of reusable bottles affects usage and cleansing behavior. The group got down to measure the extent of contamination of water bottles and understand how this level is influenced by usage and cleansing behavior. If you frequently drink water from a reusable bottle, the outcomes might make you reconsider your personal water bottle usage practices.
Change your habits
While carrying a reusable water bottle all day is sweet for you — and good for the environment — neglecting to take care of it could have negative consequences. “Do you wash your dishes after dinner?” Behnke asks. “Yes. But we often carry water bottles everywhere and don’t clean them properly.”
Maybe you rinse your bottle, but should you don’t wash it thoroughly as often as you must, you may be surprised at what forms on the surface and inside. The study consisted of two survey sections accomplished by water bottle users. The first set of questions focused on the sort and age of bottle they used, what they put in it (water, energy drinks, etc.), and frequency of use. The second section focused on cleansing behavior, from method to frequency.
Essentially, Behnke says, typical water bottle use accommodates all of the ingredients that promote bacterial growth: moisture, contamination, and infrequently warm temperatures. Dr. Yuriko Fukuta, assistant professor of drugs – infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine, agrees. “We touch our water bottles with our mouths and hands all the time, so it’s easy to transfer bacteria to them and then they just grow,” she says. “In some cases, this can make you sick, especially if you have a weaker immune system.”
Fukuta suspected that the bacteria might be staphylococci or streptococci. And there’s something else from the cohort study: “More than 20% of our samples contained coliform bacteria, i.e. feces,” says Behnke.
Proper care and cleansing of water bottles
If you would like to eliminate all of the bacteria right in your water bottle, there are just a few do’s and don’ts you must take into account:
- Fill your bottles with only water to scale back bacterial growth. Energy drinks, tea or other powders and other additives only increase the likelihood of bacterial growth.
- Keep your water bottles away from places where they may heat up. “Don’t leave your water bottle in the car and then drink from it,” says Fukuta. “Warm temperatures and time accelerate the growth of germs.”
- Rinse it out after each each day use, recommends Behnke.
- Wash it thoroughly once every week, preferably by hand and with a special bottle brush. When you are done, leave it the wrong way up on a drying rack to dry completely – don’t put your bottles away wet.
- Avoid sharing water bottles with others. “If it’s your saliva and just water, it’s not a big problem,” Behnke says. “But when you share something, you introduce other contaminants.”
The best sort of water bottle to curb bacterial growth
According to Fukuta, the most effective options are bottles with wide mouths which are easy to scrub and dry, and people with an integrated straw that keeps your hands away as much as possible.
If your goal is to forestall your water bottle from turning right into a breeding ground for germs, the only approach is Behnke’s, which he modified after conducting the research. “I rinse my bottle once a day,” he says, “and wash it once a week with a good detergent, a bottle brush, and a spray of Clorox bleach.”
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