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Austin Babies
Arsenic in apple juice?? What is this world coming to?
Maybe you have discussed this already, but Consumer Reports has a new report on arsenic levels in apple and grape juice across several brands in the US. Having worked in a community suffering from arsenic contamination in the groundwater, this has me concerned and not wanting to give E the grape juice I just bought!
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Re: Arsenic in apple juice?? What is this world coming to?
Yeah, Dr Oz came out with that info a while ago, but it's been renewed in the last week or so with some new findings.
I'm not planning on giving any juice until at least a year, so I haven't been following it too closely. Any reason why you're wanting to start juice so early?
it's been discussed (i tried searching for it to link, but i'm terrible at the superninja search). arsenic levels in juice have been tested and tracked for the past 20 years. the issue w/ the information that dr. oz put out is that it does not differentiate between organic and inorganic arsenic, which are two different things.
The Consumer Reports article says that the kind of arsenic in apple juice is the inorganic [bad] kind and that it's at levels higher than what is acceptable for drinking water. And that it doesn't matter if it's organic or regular apple juice - the pesticides from 50 years ago can still be present in the soil, even if the apples are currently grown organically without pesticides.
I have seen firsthand what low-level arsenic contamination can do. It is not pretty.
Our pediatrician suggested white grape juice as a poop inducer since E has terrible gas and doesn't poop without effort.
gotcha... we used some prune juice for her a few times for that same reason. wonder if arsenic is a concern with that too. if not, maybe it's a good alternative?
I was just talking about regular apples not juice. Like I said though, I think that the arsenic is present in the seed area so if you're eating whole apples (or juicing your own) it's not an issue. I'll try to find the article where I read that. Sorry for the post hijack.
No need to apologize - I would like that article!
That's possible - I'll look into whether or not it has been tested. Thanks!
I'm not questioning the second. At all. I have no doubt that long term arsenic contamination is not good news. Do you recall what the levels were? I am making an assumption (and stretching my memory past its limits) that you are talking about the kids/families in Peru? I did a super quick google and saw that Peru was dealing w/ levels upwards of 500 ppb in their water sources. Is that right or way off base?
As for the first, personally, I don't think that holding apple juice/grape juice/whatever juice to the same standard as water is even necessary. I get that they need some kind of marker or comparison point, but we don't use juice the way we use water and we certainly shouldn't consume it the way we do water.
I'm pretty sure it's cyanide that is the concern in apple seeds. Arsenic is found more in the flesh of the apple- including organic, because of the arsenic in the soil and ground water.
CIA- you probably already saw this, but the FDA updated their site after Dr. Oz's show, also testing for both organic and inorganic.
https://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm271595.htm
When I was reading up on this the first time, I came across studies that stated the organic arsenic wasn't anything to sneeze at, so I'm glad to see this:
Some scientific studies have shown that two forms of organic arsenic found in apple juice could also be harmful, and because of this, the FDA counts these two forms of organic arsenic in with the overall content for inorganic arsenic.
You get points for trying : ) Before I started grad school, DH and I worked in a community in rural Mexico that was (and is still) dealing with low levels of arsenic and lead contamination in their ground water. I can speak more specifically about it over email (screenname dot linguist at gmail - NOT Linquist! ; ) ). But the levels were much closer to the EPA limit of 10ppb than the Peruvian case you found.
This is an interesting point. It is true that water is consumed at much higher levels than juice and is used for other things like bathing and cooking. And with a balanced diet, we tend to excrete arsenic, reducing the risk it poses. So I agree, it's not a doomsday scenario. But as I've been thinking about this article throughout the day, I think the thing that worries me the most is that these levels are found in foods that are consumed by small children (the article mentioned rice cereal and baby food as well), which is the population most at risk for arsenic effects, and it is not regulated at all, meaning there is no limit, even if that limit shouldn't be the same as drinking water.
And the EPA limit is a limit, not a guideline. If arsenic levels exceed 10ppb, the government is supposed to shut down the water source and provide an alternative because it is not safe for consumption. I don't like the idea of products that are created and consumed by babies and small children flirting with that limit.
Thanks for this, I had not seen it. At least they are considering setting a standard. I guess that's progress.
It is a cyanogenic acid in the apple seeds. This is why you need to core the apple if you feed them to your dogs.