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Topics: Health, News, Climate Change
Niamh Shackleton
Healthcare experts have issued a stark new warning about a specific type drinks bottle after a man died.
With global warming on the rise, people have long been told to use reusable water bottles in a bid to reduce plastic pollution — a hugely contributing factor to climate change. Stainless steel bottles are seemingly a customer favorite, with people also using glass, plastic, and aluminum ones too, according to recent data published by The Round Up.
And the popularity of using these kind of bottles isn't going anywhere anytime soon, with the market expecting to boom to an eye-watering $12.61 billion by 2030. But healthcare experts have now been forced to use a warning about a specific type of bottle.
Metal water bottles are one of the most commonly used bottles, but it turns out there's only a certain amount of years you should be using them for.
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The news comes after a man in Taiwan ended up getting lead poisoning for using a metal bottle for too many years. He went on to develop pneumonia and has since died, Daily Mail reports.
Apparently, the man had been feeling unwell for the best part of a year, and blood tests eventually revealed that he had lead poisoning.
Initially, it was unclear what had caused the poisoning, but medics put two and two together when they discovered that the patient had been a long-time user of a stainless steel water bottle.
They proceeded to examine the container to discover that the inner lining of it had begun to corrode and there were signs of rust. Despite this, the man admitted that he still frequently used the bottle and put a range of different beverages in it, from coffee to fizzy drinks.
Reportedly, using the metal bottle for fizzy drinks may have increased his exposure to the toxic metal.
The man's doctors said of this, per Daily Mail: "The thermos may have been used for a long period of time, and in particular, toxins generated when containing carbonated beverages such as cola may have entered the body."
There have been previous warnings issued about this, in particular about damaged bottles being overused.
Janilyn Hutchings, Certified Professional in Food Safety at StateFoodSafety told Delish last year: "This might seem obvious, but reusable water bottles don't last forever. Over time, water, and especially more acidic drinks like lemonade, slowly breaks down the material your bottle is made of."
This can then cause chemicals to leak into the liquid that you're drinking.
She went on to add: "If you are cleaning or sanitizing your water bottle using methods that are not approved for that material or water bottle that you're working with, that means that you can accidentally be doing damage to the structural integrity of that bottle."