Sure, some parents get a little paranoid over every little thing their kids eat — and now, with a new study that reveals how toxic baby foods really are, they have something to show for their mealtime stringencies.
According to a new investigation published by Healthy Babies Bright Futures, 95% of the 168 baby foods that were tested from major US manufacturers contained some form of metal. Almost all of them contained lead, 75 percent contained cadmium, 73 percent contained arsenic, and 32 percent contained mercury. One in four foods contained all metals listed.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has made it clear from nearly a decade ago that yes, baby foods contain contaminants, but that a diverse diet will prevent any legitimate damage. But this recent study dove deep into how these baby brands are affecting kids’ IQs — birth to 24 months. The verdict? “All four metals are linked to IQ loss from exposures early in life,” HBBF reports. “The scientific evidence spans decades and continues to build: at least 23 studies published in the past seven years confirm these four heavy metals’ impacts to a child’s healthy development,” HBBF reports.
The researchers found that fruit juices, rice-based products, and sweet potatoes are the worst culprits of them all. For example, sweet potatoes, which retain more metal than most fruits, are naturally contaminated with heavy metals — whether found in soil and water, airborne, from fertilizer, and/or from industrial operations. Homemade purees, in this case, won’t prevent your baby from consuming metal. “Even in the trace amounts found in food, these contaminants can alter the developing brain and erode a child’s IQ,” the researchers wrote.
Overall, parents should avoid baby foods with rice, juice, and orange root vegetables until the FDA does more to establish and finalize health-protective standards for heavy metals found in baby food.
But how scared should parents really be?
According to toddler-nutrition expert and dietitian Kacie Barnes, it’s normal to find traces of heavy metals in ALL foods that are grown, not just orange root vegetables. “Heavy metals are present in our environment. So unless we created all our food in a lab, there’s going to be small traces of heavy metals,” she tells SheKnows, explaining that parents don’t need to avoid avoid small traces of metal entirely. “The concern over heavy metals in baby food is not as serious as the news makes it out to be. Heavy metals like lead and arsenic are found in the soil, and it’s impossible to completely avoid them.”
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Still, she explains that we don’t yet know precisely how much metal is unsafe for a baby to consume: “No one is ever going to do an experiment on a baby to find out just how much of a heavy metal their system can handle before experiencing health problems, because it’s cruel!”
Overall, though, Barnes agrees that rice cereal should not be offered to babies since it has a higher concentration of arsenic — and it doesn’t have a ton of nutritional value anyway. “Newer research supports offering babies a variety of foods from the start, like soft veggies and fruits, even meat and beans,” Barnes concludes, urging parents to branch out from traditional “first foods” like rice cereal and apple juice.
Moral of the story: Diversify your baby’s foods and take parenting studies with a grain of salt.
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