Which Vegetables & Fruits Are Highest and Lowest in Pesticides?
Increasing vegetable and fruit consumption has been shown to help reduce the risk of developing many chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s, colon cancer, stroke, heart disease, and more.
As you increase produce consumption, though, you may also increase your risk for exposure to pesticides. Small levels of pesticide exposure over prolonged periods of time may increase the risk of damage to the nervous and endocrine systems.
Should you only buy organically grown produce? That’s a tough call. Organically grown produce is becoming more widely available,and prices are falling. But for many people, organic produce is still prohibitively expensive and not easy to obtain.
The truth is that pesticides are used more heavily in growing some crops than others. The Environmental Working Group has put together a useful guide showing the produce with the highest and lowest pesticide levels, including:
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HIGH: Apples, pears, nectarines, peaches, berries of all kinds, leafy greens, celery, bell peppers, etc.
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LOW: Onions, avocados, mangoes, papayas, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, etc.
You can find the complete list here.
Note that the testing results took into account how most people prepare these produce items before eating them. For example, apples were washed before testing.
Your best bet is to buy organic if possible for those vegetables and fruits that show higher pesticide levels, but not to worry so much about buying organic for produce that shows lower levels.
And even if you can’t find or afford organic produce, you’re better off eating more non-organic produce than no produce at all. Just wash all non-organic produce as well as you can. You can also remove the peel (e.g., with an apple or pear), but then you lose some of the good nutrients contained in it. It’s a trade-off.
April 24th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
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