Despite of fact conventional food is considered safe, many parents use more and more organic food for their kids. Many are even making their own baby food from organic ingredients. Since last year, according to marketing statistics, sales of organic baby food have jumped nearly 18 percent, double the overall growth of organic food sales. Especially new parents or expecting mothers, switch the diet of their children to organic food.
The concern regarding children food is that they are more vulnerable to toxins in their diets. As children grow rapidly, their organs and brains are forming and they eat more for their size than adults do. A study targeting kids whose diets were changed from regular to organic found that their pesticide levels decreased almost immediately.
The level of pesticide detected in the children remained imperceptible until their diets were switched back to conventional food. Eating organic is definitely not cheap. Buy fruits and vegetables known to have lower pesticide residues.
Scientists say the
lowest pesticide levels are found in
asparagus, avocados, broccoli, bananas, cauliflower, onions, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos, papaya, pineapples and sweet peas.
On the other hand, the
highest pesticide levels, meanwhile, are found in
apples, bell peppers, cherries, celery, imported grapes, nectarines, pears, peaches, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, and strawberries. 1. Milk: “When you choose a glass of conventional milk, you are buying into a whole chemical system of agriculture,” says Dr. Greene. People who switch to organic milk typically do so because they are concerned about the antibiotics, artificial hormones and pesticides used in the commercial dairy industry. One recent United States Department of Agriculture survey found certain pesticides in about 30 percent of conventional milk samples and low levels in only one organic sample. The level is relatively low compared to some other foods, but many kids consume milk in large quantities.
2. Apples: Apples are the second most commonly eaten fresh fruit, after bananas, and they are also used in the second most popular juice, after oranges, according to Dr. Greene. But apples are also one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables. The good news is that organic apples are easy to find in regular grocery stores.
