Toxins and pesticides are at dangerous levels in many of the foods we eat, and could be responsible for cancer and learning problems in the very young, a new study has found.
Many of the food samples tested by researchers had levels of cancer-causing toxins that were way above safe levels. Although pesticides were one obvious source, carcinogenic toxins were created in some of the foods during the cooking and processing stages.
The toxins are staying in the body, say researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, after they tested 364 children, 207 of whom were of pre-school age. All the children had such high levels of arsenic, dieldrin, DDe and dioxins in their bodies that each could cause cancer. And 95 per cent of the children had high levels of acrylamide, a cooking by-product found in processed foods such as potato and tortilla chips and crisps.
And researchers found that pesticide levels were especially high in foods such as tomatoes, peaches, apples, peppers, grapes, lettuce, broccoli and strawberries.
(Source: Environmental Health, 2012; 11: 83).
