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Unfortunately, lead and other harmful heavy metals can be found in many store-bought foods, such as baby foods, juices, some seafood, imported foods and spices. You may even remember hearing about recent examples, like cinnamon-flavored applesauce pouches and Lunchables, containing lead, or a wide swath of baby foods containing arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. These metals are neurotoxicants and can seriously harm developing brains. Sometimes these metals are used as coloring agents, but more often, they end up in human food because plants like rice absorb them as they grow in contaminated soil.
Home- and locally grown food can also pose a threat to children’s neurodevelopment. Lead can be found in high concentrations in soil when exterior lead-based paint from older (built or painted before 1978) houses or buildings have chipped or peeled off. Additionally, lead was widely used in gasoline before the 1980s; therefore, soil along major roadways may still contain high concentrations of lead.
Industrial areas, or neighborhoods in former industrial areas, may have lead-contaminated soil from emitted pollution. Children may ingest lead contaminated soil from produce, plants may absorb contaminants, or children may come in contact with them while in the family garden. Always test your soil before establishing a home, community, child care, or school garden.
PFAS, or Forever Chemicals, are harmful human-made chemicals that can disrupt our hormones and cause health problems. In children, studies have revealed associations between increased exposure to PFAS and high cholesterol levels, asthma, decreased vaccine response, decreased kidney function and developmental effects. Additional studies of adult populations have associated PFAS with ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, and kidney and testicular cancer.
PFAS are often used in grease-proof food wrappers including pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, burger or sandwich wrappers and other take-out containers. PFAS in packaging can leach into food and drink, where they can be ingested. Studies show that over 90% of the population have detectable levels of these chemicals in our blood. Up to half of all paper wrappers and 20% of all paperboard/cardboard containers may contain PFAS. Although 3 different PFAS have been banned for use in food packaging by the FDA, many others (not yet well-tested but also suspected of causing health problems) are not subject to regulations. PFAS is also used to make non-stick cookware.
Polystyrene foam, colloquially but mistakenly called “styrofoam”, is a material used in disposable food and beverage containers. Food or drinks that are hot, oily, or acidic can break down polystyrene in foam containers and cause it to leach into the food. This chemical has been identified as a possible contributor to cancer.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used to make a variety of hard, clear plastic products, including baby bottles, sippy cups and food packaging. It is also often used in the lining of metal food cans. BPA can leach out of its container and into our food and drink and end up in our bodies. BPA is an endocrine disruptor. In the past several years, many manufacturers have replaced BPA with Bisphenol S or Bisphenol F, but these replacement chemicals may be as equally harmful as BPA. BPA is an endocrine disruptor, which can cause developmental defects in babies and young children.
Industries without adequate regulations can emit pollutants into our air, water, and soil. These can then find their way into our food systems through the plants and animals we eat, the land they are raised on, or the water we drink, grow crops with, or use as an ingredient in food, and even the wind.
Some of these chemicals were emitted during a synthetic chemical and industrial boom post World War II, but we are still dealing with them today. Others, like PFAS, are still being used widely, even though there’s evidence that they can hurt our health and remain in our environment indefinitely. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic substances that hurt the environment and our health and pass from one species to another through the food chain, becoming more concentrated. This is called bioaccumulation.
Mercury is one harmful chemical element that bioaccumulates as bigger fish eat smaller ones. While fish does provide key nutrients that help support healthy growth for fetuses and children, Mercury in large fish can harm children’s brain and development. Follow FDA guidelines to select fish that are less likely to contain high levels of mercury to protect children’s neurodevelopment.
