Should you worry about heavy metals in your baby’s food?

Recent news about heavy metals found in baby food can leave parents with a lot of questions.

The low levels of heavy metals found in foods likely are a relatively small part of a child’s overall heavy metal exposure risk, but exposure from all sources should be minimized. Heavy metal exposure can be harmful to the developing brain. Metals, found naturally in the Earth’s crust, are also released into our environment as pollution and get into the water and soil used to grow food. Metals can also get into food from food manufacturing and packaging. Some of the most common metals that get into food include arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury.

Stronger rules are needed for testing and limiting the amount of heavy metals in foods for babies and toddlers. But there are steps parents can take now to help reduce exposure:

Think variety. Give your child a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of fruits, vegetables (wash in cool water before serving), grains and lean protein.

Switch up your grains. Fortified infant cereals can be a good source of nutrition, but rice cereal does not need to be your baby’s first or only cereal. Rice tends to absorb more arsenic from groundwater than other crops do. Serve a variety of grains, such as oat, barley, couscous and bulgur. Try to avoid rice milk and brown rice syrup, which is sometimes used as a sweetener.

Avoid fruit juice. Offer toddlers and young children sliced or pureed whole fruits rather than juice. Some fruit juices can contain concerning levels of heavy metals.