April is World Autism Awareness Month, the perfect time to make the public acknowledge this often misunderstood yet common neurological disorder. While the specific cause of autism has not been discovered, researchers found several risk factors for it, including exposure to heavy metals from early life. Today, more baby food than you could imagine contains at least one heavy metal, be it arsenic, cadmium, lead, or mercury. Alarmingly, many jarred and canned baby food has a content of heavy metals that exceeds the safe limit by tens or even hundreds of times.
Feeding your infant or toddler contaminated baby food increases their risk of developing autism. At the moment, 1 out of 54 children born after 2008 develops autism, and the rate of this disorder has increased from 1.16% to 2.00% in America between 2007 and 2012. Tainted baby food is more than likely a contributing factor. At the turn of the century, more and more manufacturers started being careless about the content of heavy metals in their products and placing financial profit over children’s health.
Keep in mind that, due to the nature of their cultivation, grains are particularly prone to contamination with heavy metals. For that reason, it’s best to choose grain-free baby foods like Serenity Kids. This way, you can ensure that the food you’re giving your baby is safe to eat and will not harm their health.
The Link Between Heavy Metals Exposure and Autism
While some heavy metals, such as zinc, iron, and selenium, are essential nutrients, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury act as neurotoxins once inside the body. Neurotoxins are substances that are destructive to nerve tissue, including the brain. Infants and toddlers are more susceptible to the negative impact of neurotoxins because they have a greater uptake by the gastrointestinal tract and an underdeveloped detoxification system. As a result, the heavy metals ingested from baby food remain in their bodies forever. Exposure to heavy metals has a chronic effect on the nervous system of children, as they accumulate in their bodies, increasing their risk of not only autism but other neurodevelopmental disorders and problems, such as cognitive damage, learning disability, lower IQ, behavioral abnormalities, and hearing, speech, and vision impairment.
The four heavy metals of concern in baby food are of paramount importance because of their pathophysiological significance. Their accumulation in children’s bodies can damage vital organs such as the nervous system. Eventually, the buildup of heavy metals in children’s blood creates free radicals, which lead to the production of oxidative stress. Free radicals are very harmful to children’s health, as they can cause a wide range of serious diseases, whereas oxidative stress can damage proteins, DNA, and cells. Many children with autism share a chronic flaw in the body’s natural defenses against free radicals. Before offering you some valuable advice on significantly lowering your child’s intake of heavy metals from baby food, it is essential to comprehend how serious the contamination issue is.
Some research suggests a link between exposure to heavy metals and autism. However, there is insufficient data to indicate that exposure to heavy metals causes autism.
Therefore, it’s critical to note that these studies are observational and do not prove causality. Remember that there may be other factors that contribute to both exposures to heavy metals and the development of autism.
There are substantial health risks associated with heavy metal toxicity, so it’s best to limit your child’s exposure to them as much as possible. However, it’s important to also keep in mind that the evidence linking heavy metal exposure to autism is not solid and that the cause of ASD is likely to be more complicated.
Shocking Findings of the Congressional Investigation on Baby Food
During the winter of 2019, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi and the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy began a thorough investigation of some of the most popular baby food companies in the United States. Out of the seven asked to participate, three outright refused to collaborate with the investigators and share their internal practices. Nevertheless, the investigation found outrageous concentrations of heavy metals in the ingredients of the four manufacturers that agreed to participate.
For instance, a company was found using ingredients in baby food with over 300 ppb arsenic when the safe limit is 10 ppb, while another company would allow products with as much as 886 ppb lead on the market when the safe limit is 5 ppb. Furthermore, a baby food manufacturer used ingredients with more than 340 cadmium, when the safe limit is 5 ppb, and another was found using ingredients with over 900 ppb arsenic. As for mercury, none of the companies would test for it or would test for it very rarely.
How to Decrease the Content of Heavy Metals You Are Feeding Your Child
If you are a new mom, it is natural to worry about this concerning news and to want to seek alternatives to commercial baby food. You can start by doing one of the most natural things you can do as a mother – breastfeeding. If you breastfeed your newborn for as long as possible, their need to store baby food will be delayed. While 80% of mothers in America breastfeed, less than one-third keep doing it for at least one year, as pediatricians recommend.
Replacing commercial baby food with natural alternatives is another way to substantially decrease the content of heavy metals your child ingests. You can replace rice puff snacks with rice-free snacks to reduce the concentration of heavy metals by 93% and replace teething biscuits with a frozen banana to lower the toxic metal content by 91%. Moreover, replacing infant rice cereal with other cereals will lower the heavy metals level by 84%, and replacing carrots and sweet potatoes with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables will reduce the content of the toxic metal by 73%.
Heavy metal contamination is more likely to occur in conventionally grown foods, hence opting for organically grown foods is preferable. The selection process should also prioritize products with a lower potential for heavy metal contamination. When possible, go for fresh produce over canned, as heavy metals can seep into canned food.
Toxins in Rice
When it comes to rice, you should feed it to your child sparingly, as it is notorious for containing a lot of arsenic. Rice crops absorb 20 times more arsenic from the soil and water than other crops. You can also replace regular rice with basmati rice or sushi rice, as these types have less arsenic. When you cook rice, use plenty of water to rinse it and boil it in plenty of water, which you should drain at the end to get rid of as much arsenic as possible.
Finally, fish is another food category you can tackle to decrease the content of heavy metals your child eats. When it is time to introduce solids into their diet, choose fish with a low mercury content, such as canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish. You should avoid shark, ray, swordfish, barramundi, gemfish, orange roughy, ling, and southern bluefin tuna.
If you are still at a loss about where to get safe, non-toxic food for your baby or toddler, you can now request the products you need from ethical companies by virtue of the Toxic Baby Food Replacement Initiative. You must fill out the form at the bottom of the page, and someone will contact you shortly.
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