Pesticides Mean Poisoned Fruits And Veggies?
Recently I blogged about soil depletion as well as reduced fruit and veggie nutrient content. You can find this blog here. The bottom line: yes our soil is becoming depleted. And yes, our fruits and veggies are lower in vitamins and minerals than they were in the past. Yet the take-home messages, for me, are simple:
- Eat more fruits and veggies (I recommend 10-15 servings/day). This will help ensure that even if the produce you’re choosing is lower in per serving vitamin and mineral content, you’re making up for this in an increase in total servings.
- If you’re not getting your 10-15 fruits and veggies, supplement with a green food product and/or a multi-vitamin. Even JAMA (The Journal of The American Medical Association) recommended the multi-vitamin thing.
That’s right, eating organic isn’t necessarily the answer to the soil depletion problem – despite what some internet zealots will have you believe. However, this doesn’t mean that there’s no value to eating organic.
In fact, there are some fruits and veggies that you might want to consider buying organic. And I say this as there are some fruits and veggies that carry higher risks for containing contaminants. You see, the organic question, for me, is more about potential contaminant risk than nutrient content.
I recommend very high fruit and veggie intakes (10-15 servings per day). So whether you go organic or not, if you follow this recommendation, you’ll get enough micro- and phytonutrition. However, with this recommendation comes a bit of a risk. The higher the intake, the higher our risk of contaminant exposure.
So, what can we do?
Well, for starters, we can become informed consumers. Learning which fruits and veggies carry the highest contaminant risk can help us make better decisions about whether or not to go organic.
For example, the Environmental Working Group’s analysis of federal testing data found:
Peaches and apples topped the Dirty Dozen list. Almost 97 percent of peaches tested positive for pesticides, and almost 87 percent had two or more pesticide residues. About 92 percent of apples tested positive, and 79 percent had two or more pesticides. The rest of the Dirty Dozen include sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes.
Onions, avocados, and sweet corn headed the Consistently Clean list. For all three foods, more than 90 percent of the samples tested had no detectable pesticide residues. Others on the Consistently Clean list include pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and papaya.
Yes, it’s necessary to eat more fruits and veggies. Yet it’s also necessary to learn more about our fruits and veggies to maximize the benefit while minimizing the risk.
To do your own investigation regarding contaminants, pollutants, etc, check out this web site here:
http://www.ewg.org
Here are some specific pages that discuss toxins/toxics in our water/food:
Water – http://www.ewg.org/featured/170
Food – http://www.ewg.org/featured/169