Is Tritan (material for shakers) safe?

[Manuel]

Hey everyone,

I just looked into health risks of plastic as I needed a new water bottle, and there's one study that suggests that BHPF, which was detected in Eastman Tritan's BP-free copolyester, may negatively influence pregnancies in mice: "The mice exposed to the highest dose of BHPF had 24 percent fewer live pups per litter than the control group."
source: https://www.popsci.com/bpa-free-plastic-bad-for-human-health#page-2

Now that doesn't necessarily mean that Tritan bottles are bad for humans, humans are different from mice, it's unclear how much Tritan bottles leech BHPF (though the study did detect BHPF in 7% of tested humans) and in what concentration level, but I was wondering if anyone looked into this more and has any thoughts if there might be health risk?

Also, I'm curious what kind of plastic the regular (non-premium) shaker is made of, as the website only mentions BPA-free but not the material, and I wonder if you considered offering shakers made of glass or stainless steal?

Happy to hear your thoughts
- Manuel

PS: All other sources I found deemed Tritan to be safe, just this one study here seemed inconclusive about this, so no need to panic

[trtr]

shakers made of glass or stainless steal

Great post - will be paying attention to any replies from Queal /others, as I'm on the lookout for a glass shaker.

I do have a couple of steel drinking bottles that I use when I want to take water or Queal with me.

But when I make up a shake I like to see what's going on inside, so wouldn't go steel.

I figure if it never leaves the house the fragility of glass will be a smaller problem.

[Manuel]

I just checked amazon, there are glass shakers starting from 10€, and this one is made of special Soda-lime float glass, which they claim to be five times as strong as normal glass:

Glasslock Shaker, Glas, Blau/Transparent, 9 x 9 x 14.1 cm, 2-Einheiten: Amazon.de: Küche & Haushalt

From another glass bottle (no shakers) manufacturer named Soulbottles I heard that they also have especially strong glass, which does not break when dropped on the floor, so glass is not necessarily fragile. A downside would be that it's heavier, but for home use only that would not be an issue.

[trtr]

Soulbottles

Thanks for that.

Those are a bit small for me though. I did find this on Amazon UK -

Blender Bottle Radian Glass| Protein shaker cup | Diet shaker| Fitness Shaker | BPA Free | with Blender Ball | 820ml - plum: Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

Quite a bit more expensive than yours though.

[Floris_Queal]

Thank you for the interesting question!

The regular shakers are made of Polypropylene (PP).

Tritan (and PP) is considered safe and is authorised/checked by the FDA (America) and the EFSA (Europe)
(see more about the EU process here: https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/food-contact-materials )

We have considered other shakers including the one by Blenderbottle, alas the price isn't one that we think we can offer you versus the current premium option we have. But I do say personally that a glass shaker really looks nice!

With regard to the linked article. I'm very hesitant to extrapolate to humans. Not only because there is a very small chance that it translates to humans (from mice), but also because the dosages in those experiments are always very high (100x per kg) and involve digesting the substance instead of someone drinking from something that might contain it. I hope that clarifies that a bit

[trtr]

Was thinking about this a bit more and i think any leaching (if any happens at all) will be dependant on at least a couple of things other than the type of plastic that the bottle is made of;

1. How long the shake/liquid is in contact with the bottle?

2. Temperature of the liquid? I'm assuming the warmer the liquid the more prone to leaching the bottle will be...

So for me the time is very short, as I fill the shaker from a steel water bottle thats kept in the fridge and then a few minutes to make the shake at most, before I drink it straight down.

But the next thing I do about 90% of the time, is tip into the empty shaker, my tea or coffee that i've just made and then swill it round before drinking it down again.

So thats about 250ml of hot drink thats swilled round, which cools it down a lot in the shaker. Since it's now cool enough, I then drink it down pretty quickly,

So I think the risk to me of anything from the shaker leaching into the Queal shake is really very small, but maybe I'm making it a bit higher by next swilling the hot tea/coffee. How much higher I have no idea and so I may still get a glass shaker…

Edit - another thought. In the fridge is yoghurt, milk, cheese, juice - all in plastic of an unknown type that are in contact with the plastic for days/weeks! There could've been water and some soft drinks too at another time.

Why am I concerned about Queal / hot drinks in contact with a shaker for a few minutes, when I dont worry about those drinks / foods

[Manuel]

Hi Floris,

I just noticed I never replied, sorry for the delay!

Thanks for taking the time to clarify! Good to know that the results of this study with Tritan and mice do not necessarily compare with drinking from the Queal shaker made of PP.

I did stick with the Queal shakers for now, based on your info the risk seems negligible and the PP shakers also just really handy for traveling. I might buy a glass shaker for home later if I feel like having one.

[Manuel]

Why am I concerned about Queal / hot drinks in contact with a shaker for a few minutes, when I dont worry about those drinks / foods

Good point