Estrogens Found in Bottled Water

Mineral water has been found to be contaminated with estrogens.

In a report published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, German scientists Martin Wagner and Jörg Oehlmann measured the estrogen activity in 20 different brands of commercially available mineral water – some bottled in glass, and others bottled in in PET or Tetra Pak plastic. (They did not give out the brand names, sorry.)

The researchers were surprised to find significant estrogenic activity in 12 of the brands, with activity the equivalent of as much as 7.5 ng/L of 17 beta-estradiol, the naturally occurring sex hormone. Estrogen activity was lower when some of these same brands of water were bottled in glass, or in plastic bottles that were deemed returnable and reusable. The researchers proposed that the estrogen activity is from xeno-estrogens leaking from the plastic bottles, or in the case of glass bottles, from plastic used in the bottling process.

To prove it, they bred snails in both the plastic and glass bottles – snails bred on plastic had higher reproductive output, a lab measure of estrogenic activity of the plastic.

Our results demonstrate a widespread contamination of mineral water with xenoestrogens that partly originates from compounds leaching from the plastic packaging material….Overall, the results indicate that a broader range of foodstuff may be contaminated with endocrine disruptors when packed in plastics.

The amount of estrogenic activity in some mineral waters is around the same amount that has been found in milk, another modern food product known to be contaminated with hormones. So if you’re only drinking hormone-free organic milk, you may want to rethink your water source as well. If you drink mineral water, glass-bottled brands may be a better bet.

I for one, will use this as just one more reason to stick to my favorite source of H20 – NYC water, straight from the tap.

8 Responses to Estrogens Found in Bottled Water

  1. Stick to NYC tap, but when you are in Vegas, stay clear! Lake Meade has a VERY HIGH estrogen content. Since this is the source of drinking water in the LV area, maybe just stick with a clear liquor…

  2. Could the estrogen source be the several million women on hormone based contraception and estrogen replacement? It seems that much of the estrogen is excreted in urine.

    Just a physicist who wonders…

  3. … and all of them wait to pee in las vegas?

    just kidding — i also wonder about all kinds of meds being flushed and/or excreted, and the effects thereof.

    but there must be substantial differences in different water systems. and, there must be different contributors, as well. who’da thunk that plastic bottles could make a difference?

  4. Schruggling-
    I guess that’s the price you pay when you decide to build a city in the middle of a desert…..

    The Scientist –
    Apparently, it’s not just the ground water estrogens that are at issue, since glass bottled water had much less estrogens than the plastic. Still, I’ve read about tap water in some places being contaminated with pharmaceutical residue, so it’s not beyond possible.

    I think in the end we are just going to have to get super filters for our water to clean all the crap out that we are tossing in.

    Kathy a –
    Just one more thing to worry about, huh?

  5. I wonder if this is why I got breast cancer at age 39 (docs say it probably developed when I was about 31).

    Now that I’m post menopausal and on tamoxifen, I’m glad I’m getting some estrogen somewhere. However, should this be a concern if I switch to an AI?

  6. Anonymous –

    I have no idea what impact these miniscual amounts of estrogen have. Alone, probably not much. But added in with all the other known and supected environmental hormone contaminants in food products, perhaps there’s enough to cause endocrine disruption. We just don’t know.

    I doubt the occasional bottled water is a problem. But if this is a person’s main water intake, and it is contaminated with estrogens, it certainly gives me pause.

  7. Anonymous here.

    Thanks doc. I’ll try not to think that the contaminants are feeding breast cancer cells lurking in my body.

    I do wonder how much these estrogenics has to do with the epidemic of breast cancer in young women. I’m told BC under 40 was relatively rare just a decade ago. Now how many do you see in women like me, with no family history?

    Thanks so much for this blog. I really enjoy it.

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