Hot or Cold Water When Washing Your Hands?

Hot water or cold water for washing hands? It might not make a difference.

FOX’s Alex Hein explains in “Housecall for Health”:

This is Housecall for Health.

Sure, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends a minimum handwashing temperature of at least 100 degrees to kill harmful bacteria, but could we be scorching ourselves for no reason?

Researchers at Rutgers University will have you thinking so, as their new findings suggest that washing hands in cold water is just as effective as washing them in blazing hot water.

Instead of focusing on the temperature, researchers concluded that technique can remove contaminants just as well as long as sanitary products are used.

One of the study leads said safety is really going to come down to what a person feels comfortable doing when washing their hands, whether its doing so in colder water or warmer water, so that time is dedicated to properly scrubbing and ridding of bacteria.

The team said their results should cause the FDA to consider changing its policy for handwashing guidelines, and believe that it could save energy in things like dishwashers and washing machines.

For more on this story, check FOXNewsHealth.com.

Housecall for Health, I’m Alex Hein, FOX News.

Follow Alex Hein on Twitter: @Ahlex3889