Food Contamination with Heavy Metals

Food Contamination with Heavy Metals

It may be hard for us to imagine that there are heavy metals in our food!

You may ask yourself: "What the hell are the heavy metals and how can they contaminate my food?"

These metals are naturally present in small amounts in the earth's crust and do not decompose.

On the other hand, they are called heavy metals because they weigh more than other metals in equal amounts.

Smoke from cars, and from industrial and agricultural activities have caused the level of heavy metals in water, soil and air to increase and contaminate aquatic organisms and agricultural products.

These contaminants have the chance to enter food during processing and packaging in factories.

Apart from this, heavy metals may also enter our bodies through the kitchen utensils we use at home.

Some of these metals, such as mercury, lead and cadmium are very dangerous to the body even in small amounts!

Since the rate of absorption of these metals is higher than their excretion, they are stored in the body and cause harmful effects such as kidney dysfunction, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, autism, and cancer.

It is interesting to know that the time it takes for the body to excrete half of the metal it has ingested is about 20 years for mercury and 32 years for lead!