Originally published May 28 2014
Heavy metals myth busted: Everyday vegetables and fruits have almost ZERO lead, cadmium, mercury and tungsten
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) In response to Natural News releasing accurate, scientifically-validated information about toxic heavy metals found in rice protein products, there has been a sustained disinfo campaign to try to distort the truth by claiming everyday fruits and vegetables contain high levels of toxic heavy metals.
"There's lead in everything!" the denialists claim, hoping you won't realize the statement is false. There actually isn't lead in everything: most foods measure ZERO lead, it turns out.
In fact, a close look at the "Total Diet Study Statistics on Element Results - U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition" document reveals that the MEDIAN amount of lead in most fresh vegetables is zero.
Click here to download the FDA document yourself (PDF) and turn to page 84.
As you can see on the right-hand side in the "median" column (which means "average" in a layman's sense), nearly all the foods tested ZERO lead!
For example:
* Eggs: zero lead
* Canned corn: zero lead
* Flour tortilla: zero lead
* Corn chips: zero lead
* Lima beans: zero lead
* Banana: zero lead
* Grapefruit: zero lead
* Orange juice: zero lead
* Raisin Bran cereal: zero lead
... and so on.
Deliberately confusing the difference between "maximum" vs. "average"
The FDA, you see, tested dozens of samples of each different type of food, and they compiled the minimum, maximum and median lead found in each food.
But those who are trying to deny the truth about heavy metals in rice protein are citing the "MAXIMUM" column of this document, implying that the single most contaminated sample ever found by the FDA is what's present in all foods. Once they establish this lie, they then say, "See, our rice protein is lower!"
Except that it isn't. Even when taking the MAXIMUM column from this document, there isn't a single contaminated food tested by the FDA which has a higher concentration of lead than what we've documented in rice protein.
That's because we consistently found lead in rice protein at .300 - .500 ppm. Yes there's nothing in this chart that even comes close to .300. Even in the MAXIMUM column, most of these foods are in the range of .020 - .050, far less than what we found in rice protein. (In terms of unit conversion, mg/kg is the same as ppm, in case you were curious.)
So how did the heavy metals denialists make these foods look more contaminated than rice protein? They multiplied the maximum concentration ever found by the FDA by large serving sizes, comparing for example "one cup" of collard greens with just "one scoop" of rice protein.
Such comparisons are wholly dishonest and smack of the kind of deceit and trickery we sadly continue to see from a few of the rice protein companies that remain in a state of denial about the Table of Elements. Fortunately for us all, most companies are rapidly reformulating, and it looks like the re-launch of new, low-metals formulations is now imminent.
Natural News will be publicizing those brands that achieve low heavy metals numbers on store shelves as the products appear. Our goal in this is to help support the business of those companies producing the cleanest products.
Fruits and vegetables tested by the Health Ranger in the Natural News Forensic Food Lab
When it comes to numbers from the FDA, I don't just blindly believe their charts. I do my own research to validate the FDA's numbers.
To do so, I purchased a long list of fresh fruits and vegetables at a grocery store in Central Texas. Those samples were then prepped for the lab, and I fed all the exceed organic produce to my goats.
Here's what we found in our lab: (ALL these foods tested at zero tungsten)
Organic Cucumber: .002 ppm lead, zero cadmium
Organic Strawberries: .006 ppm lead, .002 cadmium
Organic Plums: ZERO lead, ZERO cadmium
Organic Oranges: .001 ppm lead, ZERO cadmium
Fuji Apple (flesh): ZERO lead, ZERO cadmium
Tomato: .001 ppm lead, .011 cadmium
Blueberries: .005 ppm lead, ZERO cadmium
Grapes: .001 ppm lead, ZERO cadmium
Banana: ZERO lead, ZERO cadmium
The highest lead I found, in fact, was in potatoes, which clocked in at .040 ppm lead and .019 cadmium.
As you can see from the combined results of my own lab plus the FDA's document, most fresh groceries contain near-zero lead, cadmium, mercury and tungsten. (Yes, the mercury level in all these foods was ZERO, too. The highest mercury I found was just .004 ppm in some Kale.)
So people who are claiming that all these foods are "higher in lead" than rice protein are flat-out lying to you. It's simply not true.
There isn't lead in everything: most foods contain ZERO lead
The ignorant claim that "there's lead in everything" is false. Even at parts per billion -- which is one-one-thousandth a part per million -- most foods contain zero lead.
In fact, if you take a look at our laboratory testing results for popular breakfast cereals, you'll see that nearly all of them contain zero lead.
The exact same is true for junk food breakfast cereals.
If you really want to see some lead, you have to check out the sea vegetables results which show far higher concentrations of lead in almost every product tested.
But most everyday fresh produce foods -- including fruits and vegetables -- are either zero lead or close enough to safely consider them zero.
In fact, one of the best ways to remove lead from your body is to switch to eating nothing but fresh, wholesome fruits and vegetables! If you never eat "concentrates" of any kind and only stick to whole foods, you'll probably never encounter any significant level of lead unless you're eating seaweeds.
Don't be suckered by bad science
I really want to thank Natural News readers for all your support as we have shaken up the protein industry in a good way. While there was a lot of resistance when we first started going public with this information, nearly everyone has now confirmed our lab results and realizes that the Natural News Forensic Food Lab is a genuine, legitimate and highly accurate analytical laboratory.
As one of the many voices of the rapidly-expanding Clean Food Movement, my goal is to see cleaner, more transparent foods for us all.
That's why I support removing heavy metals from proteins as well as labeling GMOs. It's why I fight for your right to know what's in your food every single day. It's why I flew to New York to appear on the Doctor Oz show and shared this message with his viewers.
I pursue this work because it is my passion... and because I don't want to see the next generation of children growing up as victims of extreme heavy metals poisoning.
As always, I thank you for your ongoing support. Lots more research results will be published this year!
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