4 Reasons You Should Never Drink From Plastic Straws
Celebrities have been known to launch all kinds of trends-contouring, meticulous pantry organizing and Oreo-stacking, and that's just a few of the Kardashians' antics-but they're not experts in these fields, by any means, so it's worth giving any recommendation a healthy dose of skepticism before trying it yourself. That's why, when Adrian Grenier politely declined a straw during a recent interview, we were prepared for a potentially woo-woo rationale behind it, like it interferes with the alignment of his dog's chakras, or that a $475 call with a life guru showed him that his existential angst was rooted in his subconscious disdain for the sipping noise he makes when drinking through one.
Thankfully, neither guess was remotely close. It turns out the answer is much more practical-and has a much bigger impact on the world at large.
They're Killing Whales.
About 500 million disposable straws are used each day, according to Ecocycle.org. That's enough to fill 127 school buses each day, and almost all of them are headed to landfills, since plastic straws aren't accepted for recycling. Many of these straws wind up in the ocean, where they break down into small particles that whales and other marine life mistake for food.
After seeing a photo of whales beached onshore, their stomachs full of plastic they'd eaten, Grenier decided to stop using straws entirely.
"Right now, I'm focused on single-use plastics, because it's the most obvious, easy fix. That means I don't use plastic straws, if I can help it, and other single-use plastics, like grocery-store bags or [cases of] plastic water bottles," says the actor, who also launched a foundation, The Lonely Whale, to help reduce water pollution.
The more we talked to people about the pros and cons of drinking through straws, we found other reasons why many people are changing the way they sip.
They're Giving You Smoker's Lips.
Even if you don't smoke, that daily iced coffee habit can give you the same look over time. We'd hoped it was just a wives' tale, but celebrity esthetician Renée Rouleau says you have legitimate cause for concern.
"When drinking out of a straw, the movement of the mouth area that you have to make will encourage the breakdown of collagen and elasticity more quickly, causing unnecessary wrinkles and lines," she told Marie Claire.
They're Not Protecting Your Pearly Whites.
If you're all, "Free Willy isn't my problem, and I don't care about wrinkles, because I just dropped $300 on teeth whitening, and I need to keep my Chiclets fresh," first: Are you a character from a Ryan Murphy show? Second: That straw may not be preventing your teeth from getting stained after all.
"If you've tasted the drink, the teeth have been exposed," writes Mark Burhenne, DDS. "The only way to protect your teeth using the straw method would be to place the tip of the straw at the back of the mouth behind the teeth and tongue so the liquid goes straight from cup to back of the throat without touching the teeth."
That defeats the purpose of actually enjoying the drink, though, and it's worth noting that some dentists disagree with Burhenne's statement. Ultimately, Burhenne suggests limiting your sugar-y drink and coffee intake, and sipping water or brushing your teeth afterward to minimize potential staining and tooth decay.
They Make You Fart.
There, we said it. The F word. But it's true: Drinking through a straw can cause gas, which can turn you into Toots McGee for the rest of the day. Not so sexy.
At this point, it's still unclear how drinking through a straw will impact your dog's chakras, but these four reasons make a compelling case to pass on the plastic.
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