News reports say the plasticizer DEHP turned up in hundreds of foods made in Taiwan, traced to a flavor company that used it as a clouding agent. A government analyst found it by chance in a probiotic product at 600 ppm. Affected foods include sports drinks, juices, tea drinks and jams.
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Chemical
Chemical hazards: fluoride, pesticides, BPA and other contaminants.
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Chemical
The Watermelon You Should Never, Ever Eat
Watermelon fields around Danyang in eastern China burst after farmers applied the growth regulator forchlorfenuron during wet weather and too late in the season. About 20 farmers and 115 acres were affected, and surviving melons turned out fibrous and misshapen.
Chemical
New evidence suggests acrylamide can cause cancer
Two-year National Toxicology Program studies dosing rats and mice with acrylamide in drinking water found clear evidence of carcinogenic activity in both sexes, with tumours at multiple sites. Acrylamide forms through the Maillard reaction when foods such as potatoes and grains are cooked hot.
Chemical
U.S. Scientists Find BPA in Canned Foods (PR)
An FDA study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found BPA in 71 of 78 canned foods, with canned green beans reaching 730 parts per billion. EWG, whose 2007 tests found the chemical in 55 of 97 cans, says buyer beware is not adequate health policy.
Chemical
Reports Find Dangerous Metals in Meat and Seafood
Consumer Reports found measurable mercury in every tuna sample it tested, from 0.018 to 0.774 parts per million, and an FDA spokesman said the agency has never pulled a product over it. A government report notes drugs, pesticides and heavy metals survive cooking in meat.
Chemical
Aluminum foil, containers and cookware may contaminate dairy products
A Journal of Food Science study found 65% of market milk samples carried aluminum above permissible limits, with processed cheese wrapped in foil reaching 428% of the provisional tolerable daily intake. The authors call the levels a health hazard.
Chemical
Have Food Allergies? Read the Label
FDA's Rhonda Kane explains that since 2006 most packaged food labels must name any of the eight major allergens, milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts and soybeans, either in the ingredient list or in a 'Contains' statement.
Chemical
FDA Steps Up Border Enforcement Against Foods Containing Illegal or Undeclared Colors (PR)
The FDA added 26 firms to Import Alert 45-02 in April and 38 in March over illegal or undeclared color additives in imported food, more than 20% of all firms added to any import alert that month. US color approvals do not match other countries'.
Chemical
BPA exposure may be associated with wheezing in children (PR)
A Penn State researcher followed 367 children whose mothers almost all had detectable BPA in urine during pregnancy. At six months, wheezing odds were twice as high where mothers' BPA was higher. Only 16-week levels were associated with wheezing, not those at 26 weeks or birth.
Chemical
The 'Other' Sweetener That's Made from Sugar, but is Closer to DDT
Researchers tested whether sucralose curbs hunger or steadies blood sugar and found it did neither when swallowed. Mercola cites other work suggesting that sweet taste without matching calories may unsettle the body's energy regulation and push people to seek calories elsewhere.
Chemical
Prenatal exposure to pesticides linked to lower IQ in children
In a birth-cohort study of Latino farmworker families in California, children whose mothers had the highest urinary organophosphate metabolite levels during pregnancy scored about 7 IQ points lower at age 7 than those with the lowest exposure.
Chemical
New vitamin D-fortified food could battle widespread need for the sunshine vitamin (PR)
An American Chemical Society podcast reports that bread baked with high-vitamin D yeast delivered the vitamin in laboratory tests, which lead author Connie Weaver says answers doubts that the D2 form yeast produces would work in bread.
Chemical
The Dark Side of the Rainbow of Food Dyes Being Used to Color Your Food
Mercola notes the FDA now concedes synthetic food colorings affect some children, points to a Lancet trial linking common dyes and sodium benzoate to hyperactivity, and argues the dyes also pull children toward brightly colored processed foods high in calories.
Chemical
Dietary cholesterol, egg intake not associated with heart risk (PR)
At Experimental Biology 2011, speakers reviewed evidence that saturated fat may raise blood cholesterol more than dietary cholesterol does, and said major epidemiological studies do not link higher dietary cholesterol intake to coronary heart disease. The release comes from the egg industry.
Chemical
Coffee in capsules contains more furan than the rest (PR)
University of Barcelona researchers measured furan, listed as a possible human carcinogen, across brewing methods and found the highest levels in one well-known brand's capsules at 117 to 244 ng/ml, against 43 to 146 for espresso and 20 to 78 for drip. All stayed within safe limits.
Chemical
Canned food, packaged foods are major sources for BPA and phthalates
Twenty people from five families cut urinary BPA by 66% and DEHP metabolites by 53 to 56% during three days of eating fresh food instead of their usual canned and packaged meals, Silent Spring Institute researchers found. Maximum reductions reached 76% and 93 to 96%.
Chemical
Radioactive material from Japan found in drinking water in Idaho and Washington
EPA's RadNet found about 0.2 picocuries per litre of iodine-131 in drinking water at Boise and Richland, consistent with releases from Fukushima. An infant would need nearly 7,000 litres to match one day of natural background dose; EPA expects similar results in coming weeks.
Chemical
Victoria Inness-Brown’s Aspartame Experiment
Mercola interviews Victoria Inness-Brown about the two-and-a-half-year home experiment in which she gave animals aspartame-laced liquid comparable to diet soda. She says the Bressler report's mention of DKP tumors prompted her to look for and photograph tumors herself.
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