June 14th, 2021
Wow, it is a crazy reality that this even needs to occur, yet it does. Mercury and arsenic have been showing up in unacceptable amounts in baby foods for years and we are finally seeing movement on the regulatory front. These metals have the ability to cause reactive oxygen species development that damage cells wherever they are found. Heavy metals tend to damage the cells in the location that they bioaccumulate. For the brain, that is mercury and arsenic's home of choice. Thus, infants that accumulate these metals in the brain tissue, will suffer cell death and developmental damage. The FDA is now recalling infant rice cereal to limit the damage that is posed through these foods via arsenic bioaccumulation. While this is useful, it is late and begs the question on why we are eating rice cereal to begin with in infants. In our clinic we recommend vegetables and fruits at 6 months of age and not grain based carbohydrates that are not particularly healthy in mass quantity. Mass produced foods will always run the risk of contamination and corporate systems are not aligned with safety first protocols to limit a newborn's risk.
My solution:
1) Buy organic vegetables and fruits and make your own baby food. The trust factor is lost after years of continued issues with the food corporations. This change should have been a top priority for the companies long ago and not a based on legal or governmental policy. Your infant's growing brain needs not be exposed to any toxins!
2) Limit the volume of heavy metal exposed foods in children. Rice and apples and byproducts made fro them are high risk foods these days based on the soil that they are grown in. If you are gluten free, you have to reduce your consumption of refined foods that can be filled with rice flour and syrup lest you trade one problem for another.
Dr. M
Loria Consumer Reports
Jaishankar Interdis Toxicology
EWG article
