Drinking from a water bottle could expose you to hundreds of thousands of moisture-loving bacteria and is potentially worse than licking your toilet seat or your pet’s food bowl.

An investigation into the hygiene of reusable water bottles found fitness fanatics trying to stay hydrated during a workout could be making themselves sick.

The Treadmill Reviews website asked EmLab P&K to test 12 water bottles which had been used by an athlete for a week without being washed.

‘Based on the 12 water bottles we tested, we found that reusable drinking containers may be crawling with an alarming number of viable bacteria cells,’ Treadmill Reviews said.

Based on the findings, more than 300,000 colony-forming units of bacteria per square centimetre (CFU/sq cm) could be found in your water bottle.

‘To put it bluntly, drinking from the average refillable bottle can be many times worse than licking your dog’s toy,’ according to the website.

The study tested four different types of water bottles: slide-top, screw-top, squeeze-top and straw-top.

The slide-top design is a gym goers favourite for its relative lack of spillage, but these containers are by far the worst for bacteria.

‘When it comes to germ content, these containers make the biggest splash. The spot your lips touch is absolutely writhing with bacteria: over 900,000 per CFU/sq cm  on average,’  Treadmill Reviews said.

‘The squeeze-top bottles are crawling with nearly 162,000 CFU/sq cm, while the screw-top containers host just under 160,000 CFU/sq cm.

‘While they are aren’t as bacteria-ridden as the slide-top lids, drinking from these bottles can still be worse than eating a meal from your pet’s dish or lapping up water from your kitchen sink.’

Surprisingly, the straw-top bottles tested came back with relatively low bacteria levels –  just 25 CFU/sq cm.

‘This may be because water drips to the bottom of the straw rather than sticking around to attract moisture-loving germs,’ the website said.

The average used pet toy has less that 3,000 CFU/sq cm, according to Treadmill Reviews.

Source Daily Mail