ConsumerReports:
A recent study in the journal Lancet Public Health suggests that low
levels of lead from food and other sources contribute to about 400,000
deaths each year, more than half of them from cardiovascular disease.
Getting too much methylmercury can cause nerve damage, muscle
weakness, lack of coordination, and impaired vision and hearing. And
over time, cadmium exposure can lead to kidney, bone, and lung
diseases.
(http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30025-2/fulltext)
"And annual sales of baby food now top $53 billion and are projected
to reach more than $76 billion by 2021, according to Zion Market
Research.
Our tests had some troubling findings:
• Every product had measurable levels of at least one of these heavy
metals: cadmium, inorganic arsenic, or lead.
• About two-thirds (68 percent) had worrisome levels of at least one
heavy metal."
...Exposure to even small amounts of these heavy metals at an early
age may increase the risk of several health problems, especially lower
IQ and behavior problems, and have been linked to autism and attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder.
"The effects of early exposure to heavy metals can have long-lasting
impacts that may be impossible to reverse," says Victor Villarreal,
Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of educational
psychology at the University of Texas at San Antonio who has
researched the effects of heavy metals on childhood development.
Exposure to inorganic arsenic may also affect IQ, according to a
recent Columbia University study of third- through fifth-graders in
Maine. Students who had been exposed to arsenic in drinking water had
IQ levels 5 to 6 points lower, on average, than students who had not
been exposed.
Long-Term Risks
The risks from heavy metals grow over time, in part because they
accumulate in the kidneys and other internal organs.
"These toxins can remain in your body for years," says Tunde Akinleye,
a chemist in Consumer Reports' Food Safety Division who led our
testing. Regularly consuming even small amounts over a long period of
time may raise the risk of bladder, lung, and skin cancer; cognitive
and reproductive problems; and type 2 diabetes, among other
conditions.
And research has shown that even in adults, frequent, consistent
exposure to low levels of heavy metals can contribute to other serious
health problems.
Read full at:
https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/heavy-metals-in-baby-food/
