Re-using plastic bottles could be as a bad as licking a toilet seat or your pet’s bowl, according to new research.
A study testing four types of water bottle – screw-top, slide-top, squeeze-top and straw-top – revealed that certain types could have as much bacteria as a kitchen sink if left unwashed for a week.
The proliferation of germs is caused by a build up of sweat plus all the germs we encounter on a daily basis, which, if left unwashed, could easily make people unwell.
The average person’s water bottle was found to have over 300,000 colony forming units of bacteria, with most of these the most harmful types such as E.coli and salmonella.
There were a host of bacteria linked to skin infections, pneumonia as well as blood poisoning.
A spokesperson from TreadmillReviews, which conducted the study, said: “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”.