Are your favorite fruits and veggies on the clean 15 list? 🍓🥬🍇🍑🍐

Everyone should eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whether organic or conventionally grown. The health benefits of outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure. BUT….

… most of us are trying to minimize our exposure to pesticides. Several toxic pesticides are used in the U.S. that have been banned in the European Union because of their risks to human health.

Today, I’ll share with you (2) well-known lists just released for 2024: the Dirty Dozen™, (the 12 fresh non-organic, or conventional, fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues), and the Clean Fifteen™, (the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables with very low or no traces of pesticides).

Before we get started, if you missed last week’s blog on“Humor in Healthcare; laughter IS the BEST medicine!”, you can use this link, Here.

OK, ready to find out if your favorite fruits and veggies are on the clean 15 list?

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EWG's Shopper's Guide is designed to support people who would like to minimize their exposure to pesticides. It includes two well-known lists: the Dirty Dozen™, and the Clean Fifteen™. You can read more about EWG and the full list of foods tested, Here.

It is recommended that consumers concerned about their pesticide exposure consume organic versions of Dirty Dozen items and either conventional or organic versions of the Clean Fifteen.

Remember, organic produce generally tends to have low pesticide residues.

First, the Dirty Dozen™ list. Please try to consume organic, non-GMO versions of these 12 well known produce items. Your family and children will thank you in the long-run!

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Of the 46 items included in the analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides - #1 ranked absolute worst and so on! (Note: even vigorous and special washing techniques did not help) :

  1. Strawberries

  2. Spinach

  3. Kale, collard and mustard greens

  4. Grapes

  5. Peaches

  6. Pears

  7. Nectarines

  8. Apples

  9. Bell and hot peppers

  10. Cherries

  11. Blueberries

  12. Green beans

Some Dirty Dozen highlights:

  • A total of 209 pesticides were found on Dirty Dozen items.

  • Across all 12 items, 95 percent of samples had pesticides.

  • Over 90 percent of samples of strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines and grapes tested positive for residues of two or more pesticides. 

  • More than 50 pesticides were detected on samples from each item on the Dirty Dozen, except cherries.

  • The most pesticides were found on kale, collard and mustard greens, with 103 individual chemicals found across the items in the category.

  • Hot peppers and bell peppers were next, with 101.

  • All of the produce on the Dirty Dozen had at least one sample with at least 13 pesticides — and some had as many as 23.

  • The neurotoxic organophosphate insecticide acephate, prohibited from use on green beans in 2011, was detected on six percent of that crop’s samples.

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Now for the good news! The 15 types of produce listed below had the lowest amounts of pesticide residues and made it to the Clean Fifteen™ list.

Of the 46 items included in the analysis, these 15 fruits and vegetables were the least contaminated with pesticides - #1 ranked the absolute best and so on! So, feel free to purchase and consume these (15) items whether organic or not 🤩

  1. Avocados

  2. Sweet corn

  3. Pineapple

  4. Onions

  5. Papaya

  6. Sweet peas (frozen)

  7. Asparagus

  8. Honeydew melon

  9. Kiwi

  10. Cabbage

  11. Watermelon

  12. Mushrooms

  13. Mangoes

  14. Sweet potatoes

  15. Carrots

* A small amount of sweet corn, papaya and summer squash sold in the United States is produced from genetically modified seeds. Buy organic varieties of these crops if you want to avoid genetically modified produce.

Some Clean Fifteen highlights:

  • Almost 65 percent of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues.

  • Avocados and sweet corn were the cleanest produce – less than 2 percent of samples of each showed any detectable pesticides.

  • Just over 10 percent of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had residues of two or more pesticides.

  • No sample from the first six Clean Fifteen items tested positive for more than three pesticides.

This year, the overall picture remains problematic: Too many pesticides are still found on too much of the produce millions of Americans eat every day.

Many peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown links between pesticides and human health problems. These findings raise important questions about the safety of pesticide mixtures found on produce.

In 2022, the USDA collected and tested several types of baby food, including sweet potatoes, green beans, peaches and pears, for pesticides. This is the first time the agency has sampled baby food for pesticides in over a decade.

The results, released in January 2024, show that non-organic baby foods are considerably less contaminated by pesticides than their whole fruit and vegetable counterparts, suggesting that baby food manufacturers and suppliers may be taking extra steps to reduce pesticides in baby food. 

This is just the first round of results from a series of USDA tests that will be conducted through 2024. A more complete picture of these and a few other types of baby food (carrots, peas and applesauce) will be available next year, once more samples have been analyzed and the results released by the USDA. 

THE BOTTOM LINE

“Check out EWG's Dirty Dozen list to help decide when you should splurge for organic produce – part of our annual Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce”

“Bravo to the EWG for helping us stay safe and healthy….”

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS:

  • The 2024 Dirty Dozen™ is loaded with fungicides that can disrupt human hormone systems.

  • This year, 75 percent of non-organic produce – and 95 percent of items on the Dirty Dozen – is coated with pesticides.

  • Almost 65 percent of the 2024 Clean Fifteen™ fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues.

Non-organic produce is loaded with fungicides that may harm human hormone systems.

… most of us are trying to minimize our exposure to pesticides. Several toxic pesticides are used in the U.S. that have been banned in the European Union because of their risks to human health.

Across fruits and vegetables from the Dirty Dozen™list, four of the five most frequently detected chemicals the fungicides fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, boscalid and pyrimethanil. 

Two of these, fludioxonil and pyrimethanil, also show up in the highest average concentrations of any pesticides found on the Dirty Dozen. Both fungicides may be endocrine disruptors with potential to harm the male reproductive system.

This year, 75 percent of all conventional fresh produce sampled had residues of potentially harmful pesticides. But for items on the Dirty Dozen, a whopping 95 percent of samples contain pesticides!

I hope today’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists have been helpful. Please do yourself and your family a favor by limiting these non-organic dozen foods.

Make an appointment and come talk with us if you are having doubts or questions about your family’s health. We will give you the honest truth, and the clinical research that supports it.

To make an appointment with me use this link: HERE.

Or, you can always give me a call at (973) 210-3838

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We bring tools such as these to you, our patients, by using proven cutting-edge therapies to extend the health-span, life-span and years of health for everyone (no matter their age)!

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Dr Derek Ferguson