There has been several articles in the media recently underlining the dangers of eating a diet entirely made up of ultra processed foods. Regular readers will know that I have long advocated a cook from scratch approach to foods and evidence is piling up to reinforce this approach.
Convenience and saving time especially when cooking for a family daily is a major undertaking and it is understandable that buying a family sized portion of a complete meal and perhaps adding a few vegetables saves time and is quick to prepare. However, what concerns me most, is that our future generations are facing a timebomb of both obesity and ill health that has never been encountered before.
I don’t say this lightly because we already have created a fear culture for the next generation with climate change, WWIII, energy crisis and the threat of even more jobs being taken over by the AI movement.
My philosophy is that I can’t do anything about the estimated weather changes ahead of us. I can’t personally do anything about the dictators who seem to have worked their way up the food chain, whose sole motivation in life is to scare the crap out of our children, I doubt my opinion about the wisdom of allowing AI’s to do anything other than manual tasks is not advisable, and with the current voting systems I can’t do much about who gets into power.
The one thing I can take responsibility for is my own health and that of my husband, specifically what I put into our bodies that is harmful, particularly in the long term. This means looking into the way our fresh produce is farmed and if I do use a packet, jar or tin of food, including some frozen items, I want to know what is in it.
I don’t want to add to the fear culture, but I do believe that it is important to be informed about the fuel we put in our bodies as it is our only true asset, and if we want to live a long and active life, we need to give it what it needs to achieve that in the healthiest way possible.
What’s in our food – Pesticides
Image Pixabay.com
Pesticides can cause short-term adverse health effects, called acute effects, as well as chronic adverse effects that can occur months or years after exposure. Examples of acute health effects include stinging eyes, rashes, blisters, blindness, nausea, dizziness, diarrhea and death. Examples of known chronic effects of the pesticides in use today are cancers, birth defects, reproductive harm, immunotoxicity, neurological and developmental toxicity, and disruption of the endocrine system – Pesticide reform
Fetuses exposed to pesticides often used on citrus and apple trees are up to 87% more likely to develop rare eye cancer that may leave them with vision problems or blindness Study from the University of California
The type of pesticide used in food production and its usage will vary from continent to continent but to give you an idea of the prevalence in our food chain here is some data from the USA site
Nearly 75 percent of non-organic fresh produce sold in the U.S. contains residues of potentially harmful pesticides, EWG’s 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ finds. In this year’s guide, blueberries and green beans join our Dirty Dozen™ list of the 12 fruits and vegetables sampled that have the highest traces of pesticides. Environmental Working Group
Here is their Dirty Dozen for 2023 in the USA
Of the 46 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides:
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale, collard and mustard greens
- Peaches
- Pears
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Bell and hot peppers
- Cherries
- Blueberries
- Green beans
Some highlights from the Dirty Dozen testing:
- More than 90 percent of samples of strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines and grapes tested positive for residues of two or more pesticides.
- A total of 210 pesticides were found on Dirty Dozen items.
- Of those, over 50 different pesticides were detected on every type of crop on the list, except cherries.
You can read more of their report Environmental Working Group
The Main Pesticide Types – Agriculture Irish Government
Organophosphate Pesticides
These pesticides affect the nervous system by disrupting the enzyme that regulates acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. Most organophosphates are insecticides. Some are very poisonous (they were used in World War II as nerve agents). However, they usually are not persistent in the environment. Examples include malathion, chlorpyrifos and phosmet.
Carbamate Pesticides
These pesticides affect the nervous system by disrupting an enzyme that regulates acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. The enzyme effects are usually reversible. Examples include carbonfuran and oxamyl.
Organochlorine Insecticides
Most of this group of pesticides have been removed from the market due to their health, environmental effects and their persistence in the environment (e.g. DDT and chlordane). However many tropical countries still use DDT to control malaria. Some other examples are aldrin and dieldrin.
Pyrethroid Pesticides
These were developed as a synthetic version of the naturally occurring pesticide pyrethrin, which is found in chrysanthemums. Examples include cypermethrin and deltamethrin.
Triazines
The triazine herbicides work by inhibiting electron transport of photosynthesis. Certain crop plants are resistant to triazines, for example maize roots contain an enzyme that renders them inactive. This makes them useful as selective weedkillers. However, many weeds have now evolved triazine resistance. Examples include atrazine, propazine, simazine, prometone and prometryne.
Triazoles
Triazoles inhibit the biosynthesis of sterol, a critical component for the integrity of fungal cell membranes, resulting in abnormal fungal growth and eventually death. Because their site of action is very specific, there are resistance concerns. Applicators of triazoles are advised to rotate fungicide chemical families in their disease management programs, not simply rotate to a different member of the triazole family. Examples include epoxiconazole, cyproconazole and flusilazole.
Neonicotinoids
Neonicotinoids are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine. On May 24, 2013, the European Commission imposed a number of use restrictions on neonicotinoid insecticides, which are suspected to be a contributing factor of bee colony collapse disorder. Examples include acetamiprid, clothianidin, nitenpyram, thiacloprid and imidacloprid.
The difference between organic and inorganic pesticides:
Most pesticide active ingredients are either inorganic or organic pesticides. From a scientific view, inorganic pesticides do not contain carbon and are usually derived from mineral ores extracted from the earth. Examples of inorganic pesticides include copper sulphate, ferrous sulphate, copper and sulphur. Organic pesticides contain carbon in their chemical structure. Examples of organic pesticides include captan, pyrethrin and glyphosate.
Efforts to reduce the use of pesticides in Ireland and in Europe
Ireland is just one of three member states to have already achieved a target set out under the EU Farm to Fork Strategy to reduce pesticide usage by 50% by 2030, Andrew Owen-Griffiths from the EU DG Health and Food Safety told delegates at the recent Teagasc Crops Forum.
The Farm to Fork pesticide reduction targets are not just limited to agriculture, but also cover the forestry and road and railway maintenance sectors, Owen-Griffiths explained; it aims to reduce by 50% the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides, and reduce use by 50% of more hazardous pesticides. Agriculture and Food Development Authority
How to remove pesticide residue from your fresh fruit and vegetables.
- It is important that you wash your own hands in hot water and soap before handling fresh produce.
- Make sure your work surfaces are thoroughly cleaned with very hot water and detergent after preparation of fresh fruit and vegetables.
- It is better to clean your fruit and vegetables under running water and I use a strainer and shake it as I wash. I also soak my leafy vegetables in hot salted water to get rid of unwanted lifestock as well as residue. Some sources suggest disgarding the outer leaves although I tend to keep them.
- Wash fruit and vegetables even if you are planning to peel them.
- Scrub harder skin produce such as melons, marrows and other gourds with a brush under running water.
- You might also prefer to peel fruit and vegetables but there are a lot of nutrients in the skin and fibre that add to your requirements so I prefer to clean thoroughly instead, particularly potatoes.
- All this is particularly important if you are eating uncooked produce especially during the summer months, and cooking can reduce the nutritional value of most foods.
I hope this has been useful and if you have any questions you can always email me on sally.cronin@moyhill.com
©Sally Cronin Just Food for Health 1998 – 2024
I am a qualified nutritional therapist with twenty-five years experience working with clients in Ireland and the UK as well as being a health consultant on radio in Spain for four years and with my own weekly show in the UK on local radio for two years. Although I write a lot of fiction, I actually wrote my first two books on health, the first one, Size Matters, a weight loss programme 20 years ago, based on my own weight loss of 154lbs. My first clinic was in Ireland, the Cronin Diet Advisory Centre and my second book, Just Food for Health was written as my client’s workbook. Since then I have written a men’s health manual, and anti-aging programme, articles for magazines, radio programmes and posts here on Smorgasbord.
If you would like to browse my health books and fiction you can find them here Sally’s books and reviews 2024
Thanks for joining me for this series and as always delighted to receive your feedback… keep young at heart… thanks Sally.
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