Over time, consumption and exposure to heavy metals can lead to health problems in both adults and children. Maybe you don’t think it happens too often, because who would willingly eat contaminated food?
The truth is, heavy metals are actually present in our everyday lives, even if you’ve sworn to eat clean and healthy for the rest of your life. That box of breakfast granola you just bought? Might be contaminated with arsenic. That bottle of organic sunflower seed oil your mom recommended? Could be packed with cadmium and nickel. Well, how about that extremely healthy green juice you just bought from the supermarket? Well… it probably contains lead, arsenic, and cadmium too.
Why are heavy metals dangerous?
Remember those metallic elements in the periodic table you probably learned about while in secondary school? It’s one and the same as these ‘heavy metals’ often found in our environment. They are high in density, hence the name ‘heavy’.
Some of them are actually essential for our health and wellbeing in trace amounts, such as zinc, iron, copper, calcium, and potassium. However, in excessive amounts, they cause heavy metal poisoning and other illnesses like immunity disorders, decreased thyroid and adrenal functions, and decreased insulin sensitivity.
Where do heavy metals come from?
Plainly speaking, heavy metals occur both naturally and as a result of human activity.
Heavy metals are naturally present in the environment. Plants and crops take in nutrients and heavy metals from the soil and air, which then get transferred to humans and animals through consumption.
On the other hand, our food also gets contaminated with heavy metals through man-made activities such as food processing, leaching of heavy metals from metal food containers or metal pipes, and industrial settings.
What are the foods commonly associated with heavy metals?
It’s perhaps widespread knowledge that seafood, in particular, contain higher amounts of mercury. Nonetheless, different species of fish and other seafood contain varying amounts of mercury in their bodies depending on the level of pollution in their environment. In general, larger and longer-lived fishes like swordfish, tuna, and king mackerel have higher levels of mercury.
Rice is also often found in the centre of controversy over its high amount of arsenic. This heavy metal is more readily-absorbed by rice crops compared to other grains but differs according to a few factors: the type of rice, where it’s grown, how it’s processed, and how it’s cooked.
You can read up more about the most common food with heavy metals here.
How long do heavy metals stay in my body?
Your body is often working hard to remove toxic heavy metals from your body through a process called chelating. Chelating is the bonding of heavy metals with other items for quick and effective removal. However, depending on the severity of the heavy metal poisoning, these heavy metals may still accumulate and stay in your body up to over a hundred years, even after the body starts decomposing.
Long story short: Heavy metals can stay in the body long enough to cause brain and organ damage, up until your body decomposes after death.
Is there a law that regulates the level of heavy metals in our food?
There’s a whole segment in the Malaysian Food Regulation 1985 that shows the permitted levels of heavy metals like Arsenic (As), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Cadmium (Cd), and Antimony (Sb) in specific foods.
Examples below include the permitted levels of Arsenic, Lead, Mercury and Cadmium in fish, fruit juices, and spices.
|Max permitted levels in mg/kg||Arsenic (As)||Lead (Pb)||Mercury (Hg)||Cadmium (Cd)||Antimony (Sb)|
Here’s some good news for you
Ginger root (Zingiber officinale) usually contains about 0.1mg/kg of cadmium (Cd), 2.69mg/kg of lead (Pb), and 0.002mg/kg of mercury (Hg), well under the maximum permitted level for ginger in Malaysia (1mg/kg, 10mg/kg, and 0.5mg/kg respectively). However, just because these heavy metals are under the allowed levels, it doesn’t mean they won’t accumulate in our bodies over a longer period of time to cause harm.
Because of that, TYT is equally concerned about the level of heavy metals that may be present in our cold-pressed ginger drinks. So, we’ve sent our drinks to an independent lab for analysis of these heavy metals, and we’re extremely pleased to show you our lab report:
|Cadmium (Cd)||Not Detected < 0.1|
|Mercury (Hg)||Not Detected < 0.01|
|Arsenic (As)||Not Detected < 0.1|
|Lead (Pb)||Not Detected < 0.1|
TYT’s Cold-Pressed Ginger drinks are free from heavy metals and are therefore 100% safe for the entire family, including pregnant mummies and elderly folks at home. Our Cold-Pressed Ginger drinks are available in 3 delicious flavours and 1 sugar-free variety. Besides containing literally 0% heavy metals, they have a ton of benefits for your health too!