STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Nearly all baby foods sold in the United States include trace amounts of lead, but some contain much more of the potentially harmful metal than others.
A recent study conducted by Healthy Babies Bright Future (HBBF) found that 95% of all popular baby foods in the country contain toxic heavy metals, with 94% containing lead.
Researchers tested 168 different baby food items, consisting of 61 brands and 13 types of food, including infant formula, teething biscuits, cereals, and fruit juices, all of which were selected by parents at their local stores and online. The study tested for lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, with lead being, by far, the most prevalent of the group.
Of the 158 baby food items that tested positive for lead, these 10 contained the highest amount, measured in parts per billion (ppb):
- Healthy Times Organic Brown Rice Cereal - 4+ months: 67.4 ppb
- SOBISK Breakfast Biscuits - Golden Oats Snack: 60.1 ppb
- NurturMe Organic Quinoa Cereals - Quinoa + Sweet Potato + Raisin Cereal: 39.8 ppb
- Sprout Organic Quinoa Puffs Baby Cereal Snack - Apple Kale Snack: 39.3 ppb
- Gerber Sweet Potato - Sitter 2nd Food Veggie: 29.3 ppb
- Beech-Nut Classics Sweet Carrots - 2: 27.2 ppb
- Parent’s Choice (Walmart) Organic Strawberry Rice Rusks - Stage 2, 6+ months: 26.9 ppb
- Beech-Nut Classics Sweet Potatoes - Stage 2, from about 6 months: 24.1 ppb
- Beech-Nut Classics Sweet Carrots - Stage 2: 23.5 ppb
- Earth’s Best Whole Grain Rice Cereal: 22.5 ppb
According to the study, lead was found in 94% of baby foods, cadmium in 75%, arsenic in 73% and mercury in 32% of foods. Twenty-six percent of baby foods contained all four metals, 40% contained three metals, 21% contained two metals, and 8% contained only one metal. Only 5% (nine baby foods) contained no metals.
These metals found in baby foods can lead to various problems for children, including IQ loss, attention deficits, and other learning and behavioral issues.
According to the study, while the FDA has proposed to limit the amount of toxic heavy metals in baby food in the past, no action has been taken.
ADVICE FOR PARENTS
HBBF recommended five healthier food substitutions that can help in reducing babies’ exposure to heavy toxic metals:
- Rather than rice snacks, parents can give their children rice-free snacks, which which contain much lower levels of toxic metals.
- Parents can use organic teething foods, like frozen bananas and chilled cucumbers, instead of teething biscuits or rice tusks.
- Multi-grain cereals, like oatmeal, can also be fed to babies instead of rice cereal.
- Babies can drink tap water instead of fruit juice.
- Feed babies a variety of fruits and veggies instead of just carrots and sweet potatoes.