Many of the snacks you and your family enjoy are flavored with high-fructose corn syrup. A new study reveals that many of those products contain some levels of mercury — a poison that can hamper brain development and cause serious kidney problems, among other things.
A group of scientists suspected that the way big companies process high-fructose corn syrup also puts mercury in the popular foods they sweeten.
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy randomly tested 55 popular food items that use this kind of corn syrup. A third of the products contained mercury.
Nashville mother Michelle Barber went down the list and couldn’t believe how many products were in her kitchen.
“Now it makes me wonder about all the food in my pantry,” she said.
She knows the mercury levels are legal but still wonders if she can, in good conscience, give her daughters products she knows contain mercury.
The doctor who conducted the study said since mercury is toxic in any form, it’s time to get it out of corn syrup.
Dr. John Benitez is the managing director of the Tennessee Poison Center at Vanderbilt. He said that all of these items are well below the legal levels of mercury; they are just traces.
It is legal but unwanted.
Benitez said he can’t help but notice the wide range of mercury in products using the same ingredient.
The Food and Drug Administration permits one part per million of mercury in food products. These products tested range from 30 to 350 parts per trillion.
Reference: – http://www.msnbc.msn.com
