elgaeb051 wrote:I tend to buy organic for the most toxic veges and let it go at that.
Recently, I think it was EWG had blueberries on its list . . . I let it go but now Consumer Report mentioned, in their latest magazine to avoid blueberries and strawberries. I already avoided the strawberries, but I eat a lot of blueberries.
I was disappointed . . . organic fruit is so much more expensive.
While I understand that buying local . . . you probably get more nutrients, etc., it seems to me that one would still purchase the organic form of the most toxic as they can.
Anyway, thank to Jeff and everyone else who has contributed to this thread. I need to go back and reread it.
E
This thinking, of avoiding the most toxic ones is based on the Dirty Dozen list that is put out on a regular basis by the EWG and similar reviews by organizations like Consumer Reports. However, there is a basic flaw in the results. It assumes equal consumption of all products tested.
In other words, if strawberries were tested and found to have the most residue, lets say "X", and potatoes were found to be in the middle of the list with only half the amount of residue found, lets say "1/2 X", then if you were to eat the exact same amount of strawberries and potatoes each year, then the list would be correct and the strawberries would give you twice the residue so maybe you should consider avoiding them.
But, what if you eat only about 1 pound of strawberries a year but you eat 30 lbs of potatoes? The list no longer applies as you would be getting in 15x the amount of residue from the potatoes, even though they only had half the amount or residue on each sample.
Here is the actual methodology and as you can see, average annual consumption is not considered.
Contamination was measured in 6 different ways:
* Percent of samples tested with detectable pesticides
* Percent of samples with two or more pesticides
* Average number of pesticides found on a single sample
* Average amount (level in parts per million) of all pesticides found
* Maximum number of pesticides found on a single sample
* Total number of pesticides found on the commodity
Here is some examples from their list (50=worst, 1=best)
Lets look at average consumption.
50) Celery 6.2 lbs/yr
49) Peaches 9.05 lbs/yr
48) Strawberries 8.2 lbs/yr
39) Potatoes 117.73 lb/yr
21) Tomatoes 85.75 lb/yr
20) Bananas 25.062 lb/yr
3) Corn 24.3 lbs/yr
Now lets look at "Average amount (level in parts per million) of all pesticides found"
50) Celery 0.316
49) Peaches 1.066
48) Strawberries 0.789
39) Potatoes 1.602
21) Tomatoes 0.033
20) Bananas 0.030
3) Corn 0.004
So, lets do a little math and..
Average amount consumed multiplied by the average amount of pesticide found on each sample equals (=) potential amount of pesticide consumed per person per year.
50) Celery 1.95
49) Peaches 9.64
48) Strawberries 6.46
39) Potatoes 188.6
21) Tomatoes 2.82
20) Bananas .75
3) Corn .09
So, which do you think are the real "Dirty" ones, Celery or Tomatoes? Strawberries or Potatoes?
My math and methods are not perfect, and need more work (so please do not stop eating potatoes), but they do show the flaw in the logic and their system.
In Health
Jeff
