Just What's In That Gerber Can?

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Granted, Halloween is coming up, but this may not be quite the fright you're looking for: A recent study by the Clean Label Project found that many of the most popular baby foods out there tested positive for arsenic—including 80% of all infant formulas.

The study looked at 500 infant formulas and 60 brands of baby food products. Each product was scanned for over 130 toxins, including heavy metals, BPA, and pesticides.

For a little added legitimacy, the Clean Label Project had the products reviewed by a third-party chemistry lab to check their work and look at other possible problems such as environmental contaminants.

Details on each brand reviewed can be seen on the Clean Label Project website's brand report cards.

Now granted, the Clean Label Project didn't publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal, so it's worth taking with a grain of salt. However, their findings are pretty concerning: 65% of the brands tested positive for arsenic, 36% for lead, 58% for cadmium, and 10% for acrylamide. Some tested as high as 600 parts of arsenic per billion.

The brands in question include Gerber, Enfamil, Plum Organics, and Sprout.

Naturally, Gerber has responded with doubt regarding the study. In an email to USA Today, Gerber said the study is generating "unnecessary alarm," adding that they "want to reassure parents that the health and safety of babies is our number one priority…all Gerber foods meet or exceed US government standards for quality and safety."

So what's a good parent to believe, let alone do? Speaking to Mercury News, Dr. Keith Fabisiak, Assistant Chief of Pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente's Campbell Medical Center, offered one solution: make your own baby food.

"When parents ask me the question, 'What is the best brand of baby food to feed my baby?' my answer is always home-made," Fabisiak said. "Even the baby foods that are labeled as 'organic' or 'all natural' can still contain significant amounts of contaminants like lead and arsenic, so the best baby food is the one that you make yourself."

Obviously that's not going to work for all parents, so luckily there are other things you can do, like increasing your child's intake of fruits and vegetables and cutting back on juice (or cutting it out altogether).

Some contaminants are just part of our environment and can't be entirely removed. But it also behooves a parent to learn as much as they can about the food their baby is consuming. Hopefully government regulations around contaminants in food will continue to improve with new studies and data as well.

The Avocado You Didn't Know You Needed Is Here

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Was anyone actually looking for a low-fat avocado? Even if not, the option is now here—well, in Spain, anyway.

Eurobanon's Isla Bonita has released a "light" avocado that has 30% less fat than the regular kind. According to the company, it's also milder in flavor with a juicier and lighter pulp. Additionally, it has a slower oxidation rate, gets ripe faster than traditional varieties, and is available year-round.

If you're looking for details on how (and maybe why) this fruit was developed, you're out of luck. Isla Bonita has said they won't release the exact location of the avocados' cultivation, though they do admit that they're grown somewhere other than Latin America, where most avocados on the market today come from.

While a low-fat food can be a great thing, particularly for those wanting to eat healthy, nutritionists are already questioning this development. After all, avocados, though high in calories and fat (322 calories and 30 grams of fat), also contain vitamins B, C, and E, as well as minerals like potassium and folate. They're low in sugar, high in fiber, and contain monosaturated "good" fat that can help lower cholesterol. You want to eat them in moderation, but they can easily be part of a healthy diet.

While it's pretty common for people to look for low-fat alternatives, professionals say this "light" avocado may not be the best route. 

"Being that fresh avocados are pretty much a perfect, creamy, dreamy, and delicious produce pick, I'm a tad skeptical about fussing with something that's not broken," said Joy Bauer, founder of Nourish Snacks. However, she admits a potential upside: "If this new product has all of the same nutrient attributes—without any suspect add-ons needed to reduce some of the fat—perhaps this will be a new way for those looking to lose a few pounds to enjoy avocado."

Other nutritionists are far more negative. 

"This sounds like an awful idea to me!" said Keri Glassman, MS, RD, CDN. "It reminds me of low-fat peanut butter, which I say is about as good as eating vitamin-free vegetables! Foods should be eaten in their whole real form."

The "light" avocado will be launched at the October Fruit Attraction trade fair in Madrid and is already being sold in supermarkets and specialist stores in Spain. Its nutritional make-up has been verified in lab tests, and it's received the Spanish Health Foundation's Food Health Programme approval.

We'll have to wait a bit for it to be released in the US, as it's only available in Spain right now. But when the time comes, it will be interesting to see how quickly American consumers pick up on it.

Sharing Your Genetic Information Could Save a Life

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No one likes to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have a genetic disease like Lynch Syndrome or other kinds of cancer, you can save the lives of your family members by letting them know and encouraging them to get tested. There are a variety of resources to help you do this, including sites like Kintalk.org and IHaveLynchSyndrome.org.

Kintalk, “an educational and family communication site for individuals and their families with hereditary cancer conditions,” is one example of the way technology is making it easier for families to talk about genetics. Funded in part by Silicon Valley businessman Thomas Weisel and run by a board of directors including Dr. Jonathan Terdiman, Kintalk helps families confidentially share information about hereditary cancers and keep up with screening opportunities. There’s also a forum where visitors can share information and support.

Then there’s IHaveLynchSyndrome.org, an educational and awareness organization created by Georgia Hurst, who has tested positive for Lynch Syndrome herself. That diagnosis—along with the death of her brother from cancer—has put Hurst on a mission to connect patients and healthcare professionals—especially genetic counselors. Using tweet chats, blog posts, podcasts, and more, Hurst’s organization gives sufferers and their families access to all the information they need to make informed decisions about their care.

The big question when it comes to this sort of thing is how much (if anything) you tell your family. On the one hand, your genetic information could very well save their lives; on the other hand, you might be scaring them unnecessarily.

In Hurst’s case, she decided to let her family know—with mixed results. A cousin got tested and came out negative. Other family members refused to get tested and, Hurst says, were angry that Hurst was “trying to scare them.”

It’s particularly tough if you want to let your children know. “Whether to tell children and when and how to tell them is one of the most common reasons people seek support in the process of genetic testing,” says Karen Hurley, a clinical psychologist who specializes in hereditary cancer risk.

This is particularly true when it comes to breast cancer.  Do you let your daughter know about her potential risk even she hasn’t reached puberty yet? Dr. Jill Stoller, a pediatrician who carries a BRCA mutation (which means she’s more likely to develop breast cancer) decided to tell her daughter Jenna. When Jenna was 18, she chose to get tested. “She told me that the stress of not knowing was worse than knowing,” Stoller said.

On the other hand, Massachusetts special ed teacher Ann Little decided not to tell her 13-year-old daughter when Ann learned she had the BRCA gene—though she did tell her older children. “It would be a huge, dark cloud hanging over her,” Little said about her decision.

It’s a tough choice to make—deciding whether or not to tell your family about a genetic predisposition for cancer. Definitely a downer. At the same time, though, by sharing information—particularly through an online option like Kintalk or IHaveLynchSyndrome.org—you give your family a fighting chance at early diagnosis and treatment. In this case, ignorance definitely isn’t bliss.