It’s time to come clean!
Dr. Jason Singh, a primary care physician based in Virginia, is very concerned that you are not washing your water bottles often enough to prevent bacterial growth.
“I know there are folks out there — I’m looking at you — that will go weeks without washing your crusty-a– water bottle, or maybe just a quick rinse before you fill it up,” Singh declared on TikTok last week.
“Every time you take a sip, you’re not just drinking water,” Singh continued. “You’re creating a microscopic exchange between your oral microbiome, which is full of strep [bacteria] and [other] gram-positive organisms, and you’re exchanging it with the bottle’s ecosystem.”
Research finds that most microorganisms form a biofilm on a surface like a water bottle within 48 hours. The bacteria forge a protective layer and multiply, creating a complex community where they can communicate and cooperate to spread infection.
Biofilms can be beneficial, harmful or neutral depending on the type of bacteria. Researchers blame 65% to 80% of human infections on biofilms, particularly those that develop on medical devices like catheters, pacemakers and heart valves.
A 2023 study suggested that reusable water bottles can harbor 40,000 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.
“That’s why it’s recommended to wash your water bottle with soap every two days,” Singh said. “Use soap, hot water [and] a bottle brush to mechanically disrupt the biofilms. Really get up in your bedazzled Stanley and kill off that biofilm, and then allow it to completely dry.”
Other experts recommend washing the bottle every day if you drink from it daily and definitely at least once a week.
University of Alabama at Birmingham biologists advise using hot water and dish soap to scrub all interior and exterior surfaces where bacteria could hide and rinsing the bottle with clean water.
Kill residual bacteria or mold by sanitizing with a bleach solution or a commercial sanitizer meant for food contact surfaces and let the bottle completely dry before using it again.
And if you’re getting your water from a tap, that should be washed often too. Researchers from Tufts University encourage soaking faucet heads for five minutes in a pan containing water that was recently boiled.
“The cleaning method of soaking was efficacious in removing E. coli to non-detectable levels,” the scientists reported.
