You may want to think twice before taking a sip from that plastic water bottle that's been sitting in your hot car. According to new research, really high temperatures can increase the amount of dangerous chemicals released from the bottle's plastic into the water.
In the study, scientists from the University of Florida and Nanjing University in China investigated the effects of storing 16 brands of bottled water (all sold in China) at three temperatures: 39 degrees F, 77 degrees F, and 158 degrees F. And they checked the levels of two substances — antimony (a trace heavy metal) and bisphenol A (BPA) — in the water.
After a four-week period, they found that the higher the temperature and the longer sitting time, there were higher levels of antimony and BPA detectable in the water. They also determined that only one brand actually met the Environmental Protection Agency's legal limit of .0006 milligrams of BPA per liter of drinking water.
Higher levels of BPA and antinomy can cause a host of problems for your health. For example, BPA is a chemical that mimics estrogen in the body, therefore blocking the natural production, distribution, and function of natural hormones. And antinomy has been found to play a role in the development of lung, heart, and gastrointestinal diseases.
So should you worry? "If you drink [a hot bottle of water] once in a while, I don’t think that’s a concern. One is no problem. Even a few is no problem. It’s cumulative," study author Lena Ma told Yahoo Health. "I don’t want to mislead people, saying bottled water is not safe. Bottled water is fine. You can drink it — just don’t leave it in a hot temperature for a long time. I think that’s the important message."