Fountain Soda Is Much Worse For You Than Regular Soda—Here's Why

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Picture this: you approach the soda machine. In our post-COVID world, we're all a little wary of touching a button that many other people have also come in contact with, and one that may or may not have been sanitized recently. But you push through that potential obstacle and start dispensing ice. Here, the first opportunity for a contaminated beverage begins. In a study conducted among ten fast-food franchises, it was found that 60% of the locations' ice cubes had higher bacteria levels than the water samples taken from their toilets.

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But let's say you skip the ice. The next opportunity for contamination is less avoidable: with the exception of McDonald's, whose syrup is delivered from The Coca-Cola Company in stainless steel glass tanks "for freshness," restaurants get their syrup delivered in plastic bags. Some of the acetaldehyde from that bag could transfer into the mix, the same way it sometimes transfers into the drink itself from a plastic bottle.

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While there's less hard data about the risk of plastic contamination, there is no shortage of studies to prove that the stream of soda itself is contaminated. One study in particular, from the International Journal of Food Microbiology, found possible fecal contamination, antibiotic-resistant microbes, and E.coli in soda samples.

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"The large number of beverages and soda fountain machines containing E. coli is still of considerable concern… and suggests that more pathogenic strains of bacteria could persist and thrive in soda fountain machines if introduced," the authors of the study wrote.

Soda is not a healthy beverage option no matter how you spin it, but if you must indulge in the sweet, carbonated treat, do it from a glass bottle or can.

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