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February 16th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda THURSDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) — A sweetener used in many
organic foods may be a hidden source of arsenic, new research
suggests.
Researchers at Dartmouth College also note that the sweetener, organic
brown rice syrup, is found in some infant formulas. Their report appears
in the Feb. 16 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.
Arsenic is a natural element that can contaminate groundwater. As the
Dartmouth team explained, rice may be particularly prone to contamination
because it pulls in arsenic from soil. There are no federal limits
currently set for arsenic levels in food.
Study author Dr. Brian Jackson, director of the Trace Element Analysis
Core Facility at Dartmouth, set out to determine the concentrations of
arsenic in commercial food products containing organic brown rice syrup,
including infant formula, cereal/energy bars and high-energy foods used by
athletes. Jackson and his colleagues bought commercial food products
containing organic brown rice syrup and compared them with similar
products that did not have rice syrup in them.
In all, 17 infant formulas, 29 cereal bars and three energy shots were
all purchased from local stores in the Hanover, N.H., area.
Of the 17 infant milk formulas tested, two had listed organic brown
rice syrup as the primary ingredient. These two formulas, one dairy-based
and one soy-based, had arsenic levels that were more than 20 times greater
than the other formulas, the researchers found.
One of the infant formulas had a total arsenic concentration that was
six times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s safe drinking water
limit of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for total arsenic. The amount of
inorganic arsenic, the most toxic form, averaged 8.6 parts ppb for the
dairy-based formula and 21.4 ppb for the soy formula, the study said.
Cereal bars and high-energy foods using organic brown rice syrup also
had higher arsenic concentrations than those without the syrup, the study
showed.
“The baby formula findings are concerning,” Jackson said. Infants and
people who eat gluten-free diets, which are largely rice-based, are most
at risk for consuming too much arsenic via food, he explained, while “the
risk for the occasional cereal bar eater is low.”
Efforts by HealthDay to reach the Organic Trade Association for
comment were unsuccessful.
This isn’t the first time arsenic levels in foods have made the
headlines.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” caused a public health stir
in 2011 when he reported that roughly one-third of apple juice samples
he’d tested had arsenic levels exceeding 10 parts per billion, the limit
for drinking water. At first, Oz was criticized by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, but his findings were later confirmed by a Consumer
Reports study that showed many apple and grape juice samples were
tainted with arsenic.
What exactly are the health risks with arsenic?
“All we can fall back on is what we know about exposure through
drinking water; risk of certain cancers or heart disease are slightly
elevated in drinking water with a certain level of arsenic,” Jackson said.
“Moms should know that these rice-based formulas may contain arsenic and
should limit exposure. Look at the ingredients when you purchase
formula.”
Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington
University in St. Louis, said consumers shouldn’t panic over the Dartmouth
findings.
“As a registered dietitian, I would encourage consumers to not worry
about this study, but to use it as a reminder that foods that grow in soil
are growing with a wide variety of chemicals, both those found naturally
in the soil and those that may be there from use of chemicals to foster
growth,” she said. “Whether the amount of any one chemical is enough to
worry about is still a question that needs better research. Focusing on
single foods as ‘dangerous’ or ‘harmful’ ignores how those foods impact
the whole diet.
“Whether organic foods contain more arsenic, or other minerals, than
conventional foods is hard to estimate, but this study does remind us that
organic is not necessarily equal with healthier/better for you/safe from
harm,” she added. “Ask a registered dietitian to help decipher new
studies, and how those studies translate to their individual eating
goals.”
More information
Learn more about arsenic in foods and drinks at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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