 What is the Safest Water Bottle Material? What is the Safest Water Bottle Material?So, what types of water bottles are actually the safest to use? In the world of big water bottles, brands are always looking for ways to differentiate and stand out. This includes using different types of materials like copper, stainless steel, and even titanium. Some are safer than others, so let's take a look at eight of the most common water bottle materials to learn about historical issues and what the current science says. If you're new to the channel/blog, welcome! What's Next?
Video ReviewIf videos are more your thing, check out my Youtube video that covers most of the same information.
Copper Copper Bottles Are Copper Bottles Safe, and Do They Work? At the bottom is copper. This material has a very long history, particularly related to Ayurveda and in regions and countries like India.  Copper Bottle Listing with Bold Claims There does seem to be some benefit relating to microbes and purification, but you see a lot of listings like the one shown above that claim all kinds of health benefits from using copper bottles so let's talk about that. From what I've read, many of these other health claims are at best unproven and at worst deceptive and misleading. Also, copper bottles tarnish as surface that's exposed to air undergoes a chemical reaction, so they require a lot more maintenance, usually involving acidic water from soaking with lemons or limes. But that leads into the next concern, leaching.  Copper Leach Test Do Copper Bottles Leach? Injesting too much copper can lead to health issues, and copper leaches when in contact with certain liquids and solutions, primarily ones that are acidic or higher in temperature, which is actually what's happening when you clean the bottle with lemon water. You can actually see this if you pour some lemon water into two glass containers then sit a copper bottle in one of them for a few hours. I let this one sit for 8 hours, and after that the bottom part did look a bit cleaner and fresher. But then I took these water quality test strips, and you can see from these markers that the acidic lemon juice picked up a lot of copper from the bottle.  Copper Leach Test Results If you rinse the bottle out well after cleaning and only drink cold water at a neutral pH, you honestly should be fine. But you'd certainly want to avoid acidic or hot drinks like coffee, soda, or juices, and that's enough of a concern for me to rank copper at the bottom when there are much safer options available. Plastic Plastic Bottles Are Plastic Bottles Safe? Next is plastic, which is the most commonly used material in water bottles worldwide. Some of the biggest brands include Nalgene, Camelbak's Eddy bottles, and YETI's Yonder series. However, plastic has a spotty safety record primarily due to leaching. Back in the early 2000s, bisphenol-A chemicals, also known as BPAs, were all in the news. These are commonly used in many plastics including popular water bottles at the time. But studies found negative effects primarily related to hormone disruption after longer term cumulative use. That's why every bottle on the market today is BPA-free, and bottles have shifted to alternative formulations. However there are a growing number of studies like this one that indicate potential issues with BPA replacements like BPS and BPF, and other chemicals like phthalates come with their own concerns.  Health Effects of BPA Substitutes Are Tritan and Polypropylene Plastic Safe? The most common type you'll see marketed for bottles is Triton plastic, which is a specific branded formulation that's become the go-to option for big brands like Camelbak, Nalgene, and YETI. This is completely free of phthalates and all bisphenols, even the common substitutes. Also, most lids contain some combination of polypropylene and in rarer cases ABS (like with Stanley's Aerolight Transit), and often times straws are LDPE because it is more flexible. All of these are recognized as food-safe by today's standards.  Tritan is Made Without Bisphenols or Phtalates It's worth noting that "plastics" is a HUGE category, and most studies today show that many plastic types that are classified as food-safe are OK for regular use in contact with food and water. But given the poor history and current uncertainty around many of the chemicals used in its construction, there is a growing number of people who are choosing to avoid plastic as much possible by picking bottles that limit plastic contact with their drink or mouth. That's enough for me to rank plastics a little lower. Aluminum Aluminum Bottles Do Aluminum Bottles have Plastic Liners? Next up we have aluminum, and probably the biggest name within this category is Sigg, the big bottle manufacturer based in Switzerland. I ranked aluminum fairly low for a reason you might not expect because in reality, it's effectively more like a plastic bottle. Aluminum naturally reacts with air to create a protective oxide layer on the outside. However, it doesn't really take much to disrupt that oxide layer, either through physical damage, or with a salty or basic solution. You can increase the thickness of this protective layer through a process called anodizing, but that usually just applies to the outside of the bottle, leaving the inside susceptible to corrosion from the liquid inside. That's why every aluminum can and bottle I'm aware of on the market has a plastic lining on the inside, and I recently did an experiment to show you that lining that you can see in this video. A similar lining is also included on the inside of paper cups and aluminum cans.  Plastic Liner (Soda Can)  Plastic Liner (Paper Cup)  Plastic Liner (Sigg Aluminum Bottle) This lining has a very practical effect because without it, the paper cups would quickly fall apart and the aluminum would corrode. Having a plastic liner is better than not having one. However, that plastic liner comes with similar questions you read about in the previous section. Back when Nalgene had all the negative publicity with BPAs, many people switched to Sigg's aluminum bottles only to find out later that the inner plastic coating also has BPAs. There was a lot of fallout because of how Sigg handled the situation. While it seems like Sigg's new formulation and the ones used in aluminum cans and paper cups are all safe, in my mind they still have questions because when you really get down to it, your water's actually contacting plastic. Silicone Silicone Bottles Are Silicone Bottles Safe? Next is silicone. These bottles aren't quite as popular as other ones like plastic or stainless steel, but you can still find a decent number of options like this one, particularly in niches like hiking because they're lightweight, durable, and packable. Most studies and references I've seen point to the fact that food-grade silicone is safe for regular use. It has a lot of similarities to plastic, but plastic is petroleum-based compared to silicone which is silica-based. Silica is what you find in something like quartz sand and is also used to make glass, and it has fewer chemicals and toxicity concerns like you find with petroleum product used to make plastic. But it's still a very synthesized material that's being studied more and more, so many people are understandably worried that studies might come out later showing health impacts much like what happened with BPAs and plastic. Silicone is also fairly notorious for holding onto odors longer than other materials, though that isn't necessarily an indication that the bottle is unsafe.  Is the Silicone Pinch Test Accurate? You also may have seen something called the pinch test. The idea is that you can pinch silicone, and if it turns white, then there are fillers that might not be safe. The pinch test is not necessarily an accurate way to measure material safety, and silicone that turns white when pinched could still be safe according to FDA or other food-safety standards. Instead, you really need to have some kind of actual test result that analyzes the composition to know for sure. To learn more about this, check out this article. Overall, food-grade silicone seems quite safe and in general is currently recognized as being stable and few risks, but it's worth keeping an eye on future studies. Ceramic-Lined Ceramic-Lined Bottles Are Ceramic-Lined Bottles Safe? Next is ceramic. To clarify, we're not looking at traditional ceramics like you'd find with coffee mugs because those aren't really used that often for water. But you certainly could, and there are some places where you can buy something like a tumbler with traditional ceramic construction, though sometimes you might need to get it from a local ceramicist. The main thing to check on there is if the glaze and ceramics are free of lead and cadmium, and if you're good on those then you should be safe. Instead, our main focus is instead with ceramic linings.  Examples of Ceramic Coatings This is really more of of a sub-category under stainless steel bottles where a very thin ceramic coating is applied to the inside of the bottle. It's marketed as ceramic, but it's really not, at least in the traditional sense. Sometimes it's even referred to as "quasi-ceramic" to indicate how it's not quite the same. Often times the ceramic lining a layer of silicone dioxide It's something that's fairly common on cookware, and you're seeing it more and more in bottles like Frank Green, Simple Modern, RTIC, and more recently YETI, usually in their coffee-focused products. The main promoted benefit is that the ceramic coating can give your water, coffee, or tea a purer taste without that hint of stainless steel that can bother some people.  Fellow's Instructions Mentioning Cracked Lining For the most part this material seems safe, but the main concern with ceramic-lined bottles is with chipping and potentially swallowing bits of the lining. According to a many posts and reviews I've seen, that ceramic coating can crack and chip, like if you drop your bottle or use something like a frother. Because it cracks inside the bottle, you probably won't realize it very easily so there's a chance you could accidentally drink small broken off pieces of that lining.  Reddit Post with a Picture of a Cracked Ceramic Lining If you're careful with your bottle and don't use mixers or frothers inside them, ceramic lined bottles should be safe. Just be aware of the potential concerns if the lining is physically damaged. Titanium Titanium Bottles Next up is titanium, which is non-reactive and safe in most applications and that's why you even see it used in things like medical and dental implants where material safety is really important. Also, titanium is more resistant to corrosion than aluminum, so you don't need a plastic coating. That all translates to titanium looking like a safe option for a water bottle material based on the information I found in articles like this (which mentions there are potentially some issues, but it's very rare). Though it's worth noting that because it's still a relatively new material for use in water bottles, there aren't that many scientific studies yet compared to other materials like plastic.  Titanium Bottles are Usually Expensive Honestly, the main harm you'll experience is probably with your wallet more than your actual health because most of the titantium bottles currently on the market are quite expensive. But if you can afford it, titanium does appear to be a safe choice. Is this Post Helpful? Real quick, this post contains some links to Amazon. If you're buying a bottle or cleaning accessory anyways, it'd be great if you'd consider using a link to buy. I get a small commission at no cost to you, and those commissions are what help me continue to stay unbiased and free of direct sponsorships. Stainless Steel Stainless Steel Bottles Next is stainless steel, which is what you find with most of the viral and popular water bottles today like YETI Ramblers, Stanley Quenchers, and Owalas. Stainless steel is very safe and widely used in food preparation and other food contact uses, which makes it a great choice for water bottles. It comes in several different grades that can be confusing, and you'll often see terms like 304 or 316, along with 18/8 or 18/10 thrown around. These terms reference the chemical composition, for example 18/8 has 18% chromium and 8% nickel. Some grades are technically safer or more resistant to corrosion than others, so if you want the highest quality steel possible go with a bottle made with 316 or 18/10. But honestly, any of these stainless steel classifications should be safe for use as a water bottle. Here's a link to an article that goes into even more detail if you'd like to learn more about the different grades of steel.  NIckel Allergies The only real concern I can think of related to steel is for people who have nickel allergies, which is more widespread than many people realize. But if you're fortunate to not have that allergy, then you can feel safe using a stainless steel bottle. Glass Glass Bottles And last but not least is glass. This is widely regarded as being possibly the purest and safest choice in terms of leaching because it avoids metals, chemicals, and other questionable additives like you find with something like plastic.  Example of a Listing for a Borosilicate Glass Bottle If you go with glass, I'd highly recommend picking a bottle that's specifically made of borosilicate glass, which is a different formalation including boron that makes it more temperature and shock resistant. Borosilicate glass helps prevent the obvious problem; it's breakable and can shatter into small, sharp pieces.  Ello Syndicate is not Borosilicate Glass but Includes a Silicone Sleeve The good news is that many popular glass bottles like this one by Ello come with a protective silicone sleeve, but it's still more likely to break than something like stainless steel so please be careful with it. There are also some cool options like this one that has a stainless steel outer bottle and a glass bottle that fits inside, which gives you vacuum insulation while letting you sip from a glass bottle.  Bottle with a Glass Inner and Stainless Steel Outer No Top Tier? No Bottles in Top Tier Now you might have noticed I didn't rank anything in the top tier, and that's intentional. Most bottles use a combination of materials, like glass bottles having plastic lids and just about every bottle using silicone seals. So in reality, almost every bottle you buy can realistically come with some risk, or at the very least some components that might be worth keeping an eye on in case science and studies come out with new information. That's not intended to scare you because most of the bottles on the market are probably perfectly safe assuming you use and maintain them properly. And either way drinking water more regularly and improving your hydration is still one of the best things you can do for your health. Other Contaminants Options for Removing PFAS and Microplastics Which Bottles Contain Lead?  Info about Stanley and Lead Stanley was in the news a few years ago when it was reported that lead is used in their bottles. In reality, lead is used in the vast majority of vacuum insulated stainless steel bottles as part of the seal on the bottom that holds the vacuum. That seal is always covered up with something like paint or a tab, so it's not realistically a risk unless your bottle is extremely damaged. But if you want to avoid anything with lead, the easiest way it to pick a bottle that does not have vacuum insulation. Or you can go with the stainless steel brands like Owala, Hydro Flask, or Zojirushi that use lead-free seals. Do Bottles Contain Microplastics or PFAS? Info about PFAS and Ways to Filter It While picking the right water bottle is an important choice, unfortunately there are other contaminants like microplastics and PFAS that existing almost everywhere in the environment, including many people's water supplies. If you haven't heard of PFAS yet, here's my deep dive into that topic. Long-story-short, they are chemicals that last a very long time (aka "forever chemicals") and have been linked to health issues to the point that several major lawsuits have been awarded against key offenders, including this one for over $10 BILLION with 3M. Very few bottles have filters capable of removing something as small as PFAS, but GRAYL's GeoPress is one that has tests to back it up. And for microplastics, there is a lot of evidence that these particles exist in A LOT of places already. But given that the majority of bottles contain plastic lids and threads, there are a growing number of people actively looking for bottles that reduce plastic use and contact with their drink or mouth. Bottle Cleaning Don't Let This Happen - Clean Your Bottle Regularly And finally, the biggest health risk overall in my opinion isn't the material type or contaminants like PFAS or microplastics. Instead, the biggest risk is not cleaning your bottle regularly. Bottles are notorious for hiding germs, mold, and bacteria, so getting on a regular cleaning schedule is really important. Check out this post for my recommended best practices and please get in that habit regardless of which bottle you get, including these two accessories I've used for years. Hope this helps, and happy hydrating!
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