Since Chloé was born I’ve been feeding her mostly organic foods, including milk and snacks. But, I had no idea that some non-organic fruits or vegetables that I thought were safe to eat, aren’t.
I just read an article on Stonyfield’s website about persistent pesticides and the effects it has on children. My mouth dropped as I read some of the facts.
– Pesticide exposure has been shown to cause cancer, nervous-system and lung damage, reproductive dysfunction, and possibly dysfunction of the endocrine and immune systems. Research shows pesticide exposure may also heighten the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.
– In May of 2010, the President’s Cancer Panel recommended food grown without pesticides (as well as chemical fertilizers, antibiotics and growth hormones) to help decrease the risk of contracting cancer.
It turns out that babies, toddlers and kids are more vulnerable than adults to pesticide exposure. Their young digestive tracts absorb toxins more readily than adult digestive tracts, so their young kidneys don’t detoxify as efficiently as adult kidneys. As a result of this, toxins circulate longer in babies’ bodies, boosting exposure to four times that of adults. I had no idea it was that severe.
But according to research, parents can immediately and dramatically reduce the pesticide content in a child’s body by switching to organic foods.
Researchers at the University of Washington found that by putting children on a mostly organic diet for just five days, they could “virtually eliminate exposures to a dangerous class of insecticides known to disrupt neurological development in infants and children.” That’s amazing!
Check out what makes the Dirty Dozen list and the Clean 15:
While I understand organic food is pricier, I have noticed while shopping at my local supermarket, each week some kind of organic produce is on sale, so I just switch my grocery list up depending on what’s the most affordable. I also buy frozen organic fruits and vegetables, which helps the produce last longer.
Get a free shopper’s guide to pesticides in produce.
Source: Stonyfield.com