Dirty dozen: is your healthy diet a deadly chemical cocktail?

She Knows LowCarb Energy, Spring, 2006 by Julie Anne Eason

If you eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, chances are your healthful diet includes such lovely chemicals as diphenylamine (damages the brain and nervous system), thiabendazole (damages the reproductive and nervous systems as well as the brain) and ophenylphenol (causes cancer and birth defects in animals).

Pesticides on food crops have been controversial for decades. Are they safe? How much is too much?

The United States Department of Agriculture states that any pesticide residues on produce sold in the U.S. are within acceptable tolerances. Yet, independent studies have been released showing even very low doses of these chemicals can seriously damage hormone signaling and organ development, especially in young children. What's going on?

Part of the confusion stems from the fact that each of us has a buildup of toxic chemicals in our bodies. A study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York found 167 different chemical pollutants in the blood and urine of study participants. Of those 167 compounds, 76 are known to cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 cause birth defects. None of the people studied worked with chemicals or lived near an industrial facility. So how did those chemicals get there? Likely through a combination of what the subjects ate, drank, breathed and absorbed through their skin. But until someone pinpoints a certain chemical as the direct cause of a specific health risk, the government will not regulate its sale.

There's no way to look at a piece of fruit and figure out what toxic chemicals may be lurking on its surface. To help consumers make informed choices about the food they eat, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a not-for-profit consumer watchdog group in Washington, D.C., analyzed more than 100,000 separate tests performed on 46 popular fruits and vegetables by the USDA and FDA from 1992 to 2001 and ranked each food according to its overall pesticide load. The result: their Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce, a handy wallet card that names those foods that consistently contain the greatest amounts of toxic residue. (Print out a copy at www.ewg.org.) According to the EWG, eating the top 12 most contaminated foods regularly exposes you to up to 20 chemical pesticides every day.

The best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family from these substances is to buy certified 100 percent organic products (although even that isn't a guarantee, because even they have tested positive for trace amounts of pesticides). While choosing organic foods won't necessarily reverse existing chemical damage to your body, doing so can help prevent further harm. Dr. Laurie Steelsmith, author of Natural Choices for Women's Health (Three Rivers Press, 2005; ISBN 140004796X) says, "Eating organically can help prevent a further body burden of pesticides. The nutrients in fruits and veggies may help your liver cope with some of the pesticides you are (already) exposed to."

But what if you can't buy organic?

Going organic can be pricey; produce can cost up to 15 percent more than conventionally grown items. So if you can't afford organics, should you forego conventional produce altogether? Definitely not, says Steelsmith. "Fruits and veggies are chock full of good nutrients that you don't want to miss out on and are, in fact, essential to good health."

The good news is, EWG studies showed that just by avoiding conventionally grown varieties of the 12 most contaminated items, you can lower your pesticide exposure by 90 percent. So keep eating that healthy produce, but choose organic for those top 12 chemical bad guys.

The Dirty Dozen: The 12 Most Contaminated Fruits and Veggies

Apples

Bell peppers

Celery

Cherries

Imported grapes

Nectarines

Peaches

Pears

Potatoes

Red raspberries

Spinach

Strawberries

The 12 Least Contaminated Fruits and Veggies

Asparagus

Avocados

Bananas

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Corn (sweet)

Kiwi

Mangos

Onions

Papaya

Peas (sweet)

Pineapples

WHAT ABOUT WASHING?

Washing with water and even peeling your produce can get rid of some residues, but not all. Some chemicals seep into the flesh of the item, while others are designed to cling to the surface, unable to be diluted or washed away by rainstorms. Peeling the skin off fruits and veggies may get rid of more chemicals, but it also gets rid of vital nutrients as well.

Commercially available products like Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash are a convenient way to remove up to 98 percent of residues on produce. According to Dr. Steelsmith, regular soap works fine, too, since most pesticides are fat soluble. Of course, you'll want to use a mild natural soap to avoid adding chemicals back into your food. "I use Dr. Bronner's liquid soap to remove pesticides from non-organic foods," she says.

Five ways you can afford organic

1) Grow your own--You don't need to plow out the back 40 (especially if you don't have a back 40). Start a small herb garden by your doorstep, grow tomatoes in five-gallon buckets, or plant a raspberry vine on your patio.