Is there anything safe to eat anymore?
We all have read and or heard that fat, vegetables, fruits, sugar, meat, diary and processed foods being bad for us for a host of reasons. Vegetables are bad because of toxins in our soil and pesticides.
The week we start with vegetables… and the effects pesticides. Who can afford to pay 40% higher price for organic produce?
93.3 The Beat's Dr. Fitness and The Jacksonville Association of Exercise and Nutrition Professionals a local non-profit teamed up to present our very own screening of “What the Health” with a panel of local nutrition experts who will help us to better understand healthy eating.
AMC 24 Regency on October 3, 2017 6:30pm-8:32pm
through Tugg and your support is essential! Get your Tickets before September 26, 2017
in order to attend this incredible event!
Get your tickets here:
7 Nasty Effects of Pesticides in Food!
Cancer
The dreaded diagnosis of cancer has been linked in over 260 studies worldwide to agrochemicals. Worse, scientists have linked pesticides with several types of cancers, including that of the breast, prostate, brain, bone, thyroid, colon, liver, lung, and more. Some researchers from USC found that “those who lived within 500 meters of places where methyl bromide, captan and eight other organochlorine pesticides had been applied, they found, were more likely to have developed prostate cancer.”
But even indirect exposure, such as through parental use, has been found to affect children in a terrible way. A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives has linked parental use of pesticides with an increased risk of brain cancer in children. “Parental exposures may act before the child’s conception, during gestation, or after birth to increase the risk of cancer,” the study said. And when the parents are exposed to the pesticides may also play a role in the different cellular changes that lead to cancer.
Obesity and Diabetes
Because pesticides have also been linked to obesity, it’s logical that it would be connected to diabetes, in which obesity often has a role. Some researchers found a higher prevalence of obesity in the participants with high urinary concentrations of a pesticide known as 2,5-dichlorophenol (2,5-DCP). It is important to note that 2,5-DCP is one of the most widely used pesticides on the globe.
Robert Sargis, MD, PhD, revealed his recent study findings at the Endocrine Society’s 94th Annual Meeting, stating that agricultural fungicide created insulin resistance in fat cells. The journal Diabetes Carepublished in 2011 that people with excess weight and high levels of organochlorine pesticides in their bodies had greater risk of becoming diabetic.
Parkinson’s Disease
Long-term exposure to herbicides and pesticides have been associated in over 60 studies with Parkinson’s. You don’t have to be a conventional farmer to be wary of these findings. Use natural methods to keep pests and weeds out of your home and garden today.
Infertility and Birth Defects
One of the most well-known negative effects of pesticides, infertility is continuously found to be a result of exposure to these agrochemicals. Atrazine—a weed killer used in agriculture as well as on golf courses and which has been found in tap water—may be partially responsible for climbing miscarriage and infertility rates. As for men, one 2006 study pinpointed chlorpyrifos with lowering testosterone levels. This pesticide is often found in strawberry fields and apple and peach orchards.
Other researchers tested roundup on mature male rats at a concentration range between 1 and 10,000 parts per million (ppm), and found that within 1 to 48 hours of exposure, testicular cells of the mature rats were either damaged or killed.
Avoid pesticides even if you’re already pregnant. These chemicals are responsible for causing various birth defects, too. A report revealed that the top selling herbicide Roundup disrupts male hormones due to the main active ingredient – glyphosate.
Autism
Admittedly, pesticides aren’t solely to blame for autism, but they may be a hefty part of the equation. Leading scientists are attributing the condition to genes and insecticides exposed to the mother while pregnant as well as to the child in early years. This is because many chemicals affect the neurology of bugs, inadvertently affecting the neurological function of children, too. A 2010 Harvard study blames organophosphate pesticides—found in children’s urine—to ADHD.
What is the best way to to avoid pesticide exposure and pesticides in food? Don’t use pesticides, and buy organic. Organic isn’t always easy or cheap, so keep in mind these updated dirty dozen fruits and vegetables to always buy organic (plus 15 cleaner foods you can afford to buy conventional). NASA has also suggested raising air purifying plants indoors to clear your home of indoor air pollution. Remember to remove pesticides from your home, too.
Additional Sources:
Dr. Fitness and The Jacksonville Association of Exercise and Nutrition Professionals a local non- profit dedicated to those living in North Florida. Have set up our very own showing of “What the Health” with a panel of local nutrition experts who will help us to better understand healthy eating.
AMC 24 Regency on October 3, 2017 6:30pm-8:32pm
through Tugg and your support is essential! Get your Tickets before September 26, 2017
in order to attend this incredible event!
Get your tickets here: