Page 46 - Spring2018

Seed grains per day, but teens can consume 80 percent more contained lead, arsenic, mercury, pesticides and

are treated than average. Starting in the 2000s, the food acrylamides. Soy formulas contained seven
manufacturers began to remove HFCS from times more cadmium than other formulas.
with food products due to consumer education efforts Another big source of heavy metals in the
methylmercury and choices, but it is still very much apparent in food chain is rice, containing high levels of mer-
to kill the food chain, especially in fast foods favored cury and arsenic. Rice-based infant cereal can
by children and foods served to children in be contaminated by mercury leaching into soil.
fungus and school lunches. In 2009, four factories in the In the U.S., Consumer Reports tested domestic
were the U.S. were still using technology that used mer- rice and found high levels of arsenic. 38
source of cury to produce the product. HFCS’s presence is Rice baby cereal is the most common first
still relatively unnoticed in condiments, such as food, which is introduced to the infant between
contaminated mustards and ketchup, and in cheaper varieties four and six months of age. In a 2017 study in

wheat and of jams and other sweetened products. 32 The Journal of Food Chemistry, researchers re-
Protein powders are popular with teens ported results from testing one hundred nineteen
barley that and young adults, as well as bodybuilders of infant cereals sold in the U.S. and China and
caused a all ages. Young women are especially fond of estimated the total mercury (THg) and methyl-
major mercury protein powders in shakes and smoothies. Yet mercury levels. Rice-based cereals contained

poisoning in these health-conscious groups are perhaps not methylmercury levels significantly higher than
aware that they are contaminating their bodies those of non-rice cereals. They concluded that
Iraq in 1971. with heavy metals every time they sip their cereal consumption could be a potential path-
protein shake. way for methylmercury exposure in infants.
39
The Clean Label Project recently com- Another 2017 study, from the University of
pleted a study of one hundred thirty-four protein South Carolina, measured methylmercury
powders from fifty-two brands at a third-party and inorganic arsenic in thirty-six baby rice
testing lab, which screened for toxins like mer- cereals, eight teething biscuits and four baby
cury and other heavy metals, pesticides and cereals made with oats or wheat. Rice cereals
other contaminants associated with cancer and and teething biscuits were 61-92 times higher
other diseases. Over 70 percent of the protein in methylmercury and higher in total arsenic,
powders had detectable levels of lead, and 74 compared to wheat or oat baby cereals. 40
percent showed cadmium. In addition to lead Seed grains are treated with methylmer-
and cadmium, the powders contained varying cury to kill fungus and were the source of con-
levels of mercury and arsenic. taminated wheat and barley that caused a major
Overall, products from plant protein such mercury poisoning in Iraq in 1971. The seeds
as soy or hemp contained twice as much lead were imported from the U.S. and Mexico. People
and high amounts of other contaminants, which suffered major neurological consequences
could be due to plants absorbing heavy metals including numbness, lack of coordination and
from the soil. 33-34 In 2010, Consumer Reports blindness. Around four hundred sixty people
published a report about the heavy metals they reportedly died. It was the largest mercury
found in protein powder. poisoning up to that time. 41
The Clean Label website does not give an
explanation of their five-star rating and how they MERCURY IN BREAST MILK
assigned a score for each product for four ele- Inorganic mercury and methylmercury can
ments: heavy metals, pesticides, contaminants pass from a mother’s body into breast milk and
and nutrition. They only mention that the heavy into a nursing infant. The amount of mercury in
metal content accounted for over 60 percent of the milk will vary, depending on the degree of
the score. 36 exposure and the amount of mercury that enters
In 2017, the same company tested almost the nursing woman’s body. There are significant
five hundred infant formula and baby food benefits to breastfeeding, so any concern that a
products for heavy metals and contaminants nursing woman may have about mercury levels
and found that over 30 percent of these products in her breast milk should be discussed with her

44 Wise Traditions SPRING 2018