Eating a lot of fruits or vegetables with higher levels of pesticides may raise the levels of dozens of pesticides in your urine, according to a new study.
"We compared the amount of pesticides on fruits and vegetables to actual measurements of pesticides in people," said lead study author Alexis Temkin, vice president of science for the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, a health advocacy organization that publishes a list of extremely contaminated produce dubbed the "Dirty Dozen." It's part of the annual EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which also includes the "Clean Fifteen," a list of the least contaminated fruits and veggies.
The latest study compared levels of pesticides found by the US Department of Agriculture in produce with urine samples gathered by NHANES, or the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is conducted annually by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We found consuming different types of fruits and vegetables changes your pesticide levels accordingly, with greater consumption of the higher-residue foods increasing pesticide levels in urine more than consumption of the lower-residue foods," Temkin said.
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