In October 2019, Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF), a partnership of nonprofit environmental organizations, released a widely publicized report about heavy metals in baby food. It analyzed cereals, purees and juices and found that most of the products contained heavy metals, including lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium, which can affect developing brains. Of course, the dose makes the poison, and despite the alarming headlines, none of the amounts of metals in the HBBF report actually exceed Health Canada?s limits on what it considers safe. Nonetheless, many major media outlets, including CNN and NBC, ran stories warning parents that 95 percent of baby foods ?are unsafe and contain toxic metals.?
So how freaked out should parents be" Do we need to make dietary changes" We spoke to Ryan Prosser, an environmental toxicologist at the University of Guelph (and father to an 18-month-old) to tell us what’s really going on. Q: How concerned should we be about heavy metals in baby food"
We should be concerned about heavy metals in all food?not just in baby food, but in food generally, because they can have adverse effects, especially for the developing brain. It isn?t new that we?re exposed to metals in our food. So it?s not a ?the sky is falling? issue, but it?s something that should be monitored closely.
Q: The HBBF report found that four of the seven of the rice products exceeded the Food and Drug Administration?s proposed limit for inorganic arsenic of ...