What are the common toxic heavy metals in our food?

Although iron is essential it is also toxic and the toxic metals include:

• Arsenic
• Lead
• Mercury
• Cadmium
• Iron
• Aluminium

Arsenic - It is the most common cause of acute heavy metal poisoning. It is released from different industries to the environment. Shellfish, cod and haddock contain arsenic. Paints, rat poison, fungicides are the other sources. The target organs are kidneys, central nervous system, digestive tract and skin.

Lead - It accounts for most of the cases of paediatric heavy metal poisoning. It reduces the intelligence of the children. The old houses still have the lead pipes. Industry produces every year 2.5 million tons of lead and most of this is used in batteries. Bones, brain, kidneys and thyroid gland are the target organs. The paints also contain lead salts to dry them quickly. Therefore children should not be allowed to lick painted doors or windows. It is a problem throughout the world. Back hair dye and black printing ink have also lead.

Mercury - Its emissions are there from nature as well as from the industry. Chloralkali plants and paper industries are significant polluters. Dental amalgam is also a source of pollution. Fishes have more mercury. Target organs are the brain and kidneys. The present problem of mercury in our environment is the incandescent light bulbs, which we use in our houses. Some politicians want to ban these bulbs because they consume much more electricity. Politics and industry, therefore, recommend energy saving compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. But, the problem is they keep silent about the mercury present in these energy saving CFL bulbs which then could become one of the serious environmental contamination to our soil and ground water. When these bulbs are used up, they form solid wastes. In Western countries we can give back fused bulbs where we bought them and it is the law which regulates this. What will happen in other countries where there are no such possibilities? People simply throw used up bulbs with their household waste or near their houses, the mercury goes to the soil and ground water. The plants take these metals and the animals along with their feed or grass and we are the last in this chain to get it from our food. We must be very careful to keep ourselves and our families free from such poisons.

Cadmium - it is used in nickel-cadmium batteries, PVC plastics and paint pigments. Cigarette (tobacco) also contains cadmium. The absorption is through respiratory system. Liver, placenta, kidneys, lungs, brain and bones are the target organs.

Iron - it is a heavy metal of concern because iron supplements may acutely poison young children, 5 to 9 years. If the children consume 30mg iron tablets per day, it may spoil their health. The health problems associated with free radicals are dangerous to children. Too much of iron supplement is not healthy for adults. It accumulates in liver, heart muscles, kidney and other organs, rusting a reddish brown oxide coating forms on iron by the action of oxygen and moisture there and producing countless number of free radicals.

Aluminium - it is not a heavy metal but it is ingested through the use of food additives, antacids, nasal sprays and antiperspirants. Other sources are drinking water automobile exhaust, tobacco smoke, aluminium foil, aluminium cookware, ceramics and fancy fire works. Target organs for aluminium are the central nervous system, kidney and digestive system. The question of Aluminium and Alzheimer’s disease is not yet answered. It is proved that aluminium could cross the blood-brain barrier without any problem.

Lead contamination in chocolates – is it possible?

Cocoa plants do not take lead from the soil and there is no natuaral possibility. The lead contamination may have many other reasons – some countries use still leaded petrol and contamination through water or other sources.

Chocolate is a processed food. The international voluntary standard limit for lead in cocoa beans or powder is 1 microg per g. I all studies lead are found in the chocolate and if eaten in high quantities may bring problem to the children.

Particularly in India where lot of advertisements are made for brain food in the television, it is of great interest to find lead in these formulas. There are more ads for the chocolates. Parents who buy these costly brain food (?) must ask their children to limit the consumption of their cacao products. It is for chocolates, icecreams, pudding, hot drinks based on cacao.

There are two important reasons for this and they are:

• There is no known limit for lead’s effect on children’s brain function and even small quantities of lead can cause problems in neurological functions including impaired IQ. The marks of your child will not be good in the school.
• Chocolates are high in calories and one of the reasons among obesity in Children. You need not ban your child in eating chocolates but reduce it drastically. Explain them the facts.

We read a lot about the chocolates, but lead is a environmental poison present in many thing which we use daily. The cumulative effect is more important than from only the chocolates.

We must eat healthy food and this always good for our health. The parents must think and learn first about all these dangers.

Lead vs. Benzene in Petrol in our World

It is good that in our world we have lead from the petrol. Lead is not poisonous to adults. Even a pregnant woman had no problem with it.

But, lead makes only problems to the children, particularly for the school going children. It could reduce their intelligence thus their capacity of learning. There are studies from World Health Organization (WHO) involving hundreds of thousands of school going children which proved these adverse effects.

We have done a great job, but the substitute for lead in petrol, benzene is more dangerous. Up to 5% of benzene is mixed with petrol to get the similar characteristics of the leaded petrol.

Benzene comes out with the exhaust gases to the environment. It is present everywhere now and bad for our health.

Benzene is cancerous but nobody talks about that.

Long-term health effects of exposure to benzene:

• The major effect of benzene from long-term exposure is on the blood. (Long-term exposure means exposure of a year or more.) Benzene causes harmful effects on the bone marrow and can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also cause excessive bleeding and can affect the immune system, increasing the chance for infection.
• Some women who breathed high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries. It is not known whether benzene exposure affects the developing fetus in pregnant women or fertility in men.
• Animal studies have shown low birth weights, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage when pregnant animals breathed benzene.
• The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that benzene causes cancer in humans. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, cancer of the blood-forming organs.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/benzene/basics/facts.asp

Now-a-days we know continuous environmental exposure is also a great risk for our health.

Are there any heavy metal pollutants in mother’s milk?

We belong to countries where cadmium, lead and mercury are present in breast milk and things must be avoided to reduce the contamination of these metals from water and food. The other two metals found are arsenic and manganese.

Most of the countries have banned lead from petrol and lead pipes in the houses. These have reduced the amount of lead in breast milk. Cadmium is accumulated quickly in the kidneys, thus only in low levels in blood as well as in breast milk are present. The prenatal trans-placental exposure to an infant is a much greater concern. Drinking water can be a source of heavy metal exposure. Methyl mercury comes from fishes and cadmium exposure from shell- fish is high. The baby instant food is a source of exposure for many metals including cadmium, aluminium and others.

Tobacco smoke contains also cadmium.

The millions of small batteries what we use and throw also contain lot of poisonous trace elements like lead, cadmium, etc. If possible use only rechargeable batteries.

Energy saving bulbs contains mercury and all these wastes are normally special poisonous wastes which should be destroyed in a careful way. Here recycling means getting raw materials from the poisonous waste.

Thermo papers for your laser printer contain mercury.

Lead salts with other salts are added with paints to make them dry quickly. Lead salts are sweet and the children like this taste and lick them. Observe them when they stand near the painted windows.

Reduce known exposure to poisonous metals as for as possible.

Is breast milk free of pollutants, toxins and heavy metals?

It is not pure and can contain several chemicals residues and few heavy metals. Still, our recommendation is to breastfeed as long as you can because the advantages are more than the disadvantages.
All the breast milks in this world contain residues of DDT or their metabolites, other pesticide residues and pollutant toxins such as dioxins. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzofuranes (PCDFs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) are also often present. These are accumulated in the fat of the human beings. The simple way to minimise this risk is to increase the weight of the mother so that more body fat is available for the same amount of chemical residues in her body, thus the fat of the breast milk also contains less pesticide residues. This should be carefully planned with the help of your doctor and dietician because factors such as pregnancy high blood pressure and diabetes must be considered very cautiously.

Diet is a main factor which influences breast milk levels of persistent organic pollutants which come from fish consumption or living near agricultural land where pesticides and other chemicals are indiscriminately used.

Could you compare the situation in India and Germany?

In India doctors advise working mothers to breastfeed for at least for 6 months. But it is difficult for the working mothers here – they cannot get six months leave because of several reasons. This gives them and the babies many problems.

In Germany the situation is entirely different. The mothers’ jobs are protected from the law for 36 months. This means a mother can decide how long she would stay with her child. Within 36 months she could join at any time without problems. For the first year they get financial support from the government. This is called the so called “Baby Year” in Germany. Now-a-days there are husbands who opt for this “Baby year”. The reason is the far better income of the wife.

With all these facilities a German mother breastfeeds her child normally for four months.

What is the recommendation for breastfeeding?

The World Health Organization (WHO) urges its member states to strengthen activities “to protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding for six months as a global public health recommendation and to provide safe and appropriate complementary foods, with continued breastfeeding for up to two years of age or beyond”. It is because of the fact that breast milk provides the most complete form of nutrition for infants, protects from chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes. The benefits to the mother are the improvement of maternal health through the physiologic responses associated with breastfeeding. The German mothers breastfeed their infants normally for four months.

My personal opinion is 12 months. Such children have no or fewer allergies. Allergies are one of the biggest health problems today. If you have allergies your life quality comes down drastically. Why not 12 months?

Could cow milk be given at any time to an infant?

Cow milk could be given when the infant is more than one year old, otherwise the infant may develop an allergy to milk and milk products if the cow milk is given too early.

Moreover, the protein content of the cow milk is higher than that of the breast milk which can also give problems to the baby. Cow milk contains almost the same components of the breast milk. However, the amount of some components varies considerably and the antibodies which must protect them till they develop their own immune system are absent in cow milk.

What are the benefits to the infant?

The infant has to work hard to get the milk from mother’s breast. It helps the proper development of the jaws. The risk of allergies, asthma, respiratory and other infections can be decreased.

The infant has reduced risk for overweight, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.The infant has strong immune system and the risk of sudden infant death syndrome is decreased.

Breast milk and breast feeding

Breast milk contains the right amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, digestive proteins and hormones which the babies need. Apart from this, breast milk contains antibodies from the mother which can help the baby to resist infections. These are not present in any of the infant’s formula.

What are the benefits to the mother?

The risk of osteoporosis, ovarian and breast cancer and the risk for diabetes-2 are decreased. The mother’s weight comes down quickly to pre-pregnancy level, uterus reaches its original size earlier and the menstrual cycle becomes also normal quickly.

The bond between mother and the baby becomes stronger. There is no or less depression after the child birth.

Mother milk costs nothing to other formula milks. Moreover, the milk bottle makes the baby lazy and that is not good for the whole life.