An apple a day … could be filling your body with pesticides.
A new study suggests that washing fruit, a precautionary measure taken by many consumers, is not enough to remove toxic chemicals and pesticide residue.
Published on Wednesday in the American Chemical Society’s journal Nano Letters, the study adds fresh intel to the debate over the health risks of pesticides and what, if any, is the threshold for consuming contaminated produce.
The study’s purpose was to share a technique researchers hope will enhance the detection of pesticides in food products, but it also proved that washing isn’t cutting it when it comes to chemical removal.
As the study states, “cleaning operations cannot wholly remove pesticides.”
Using their method to examine pesticide contamination in an apple, researchers noted that the pesticides went far further than skin deep, penetrating the peel and making their way into the pulp layer.
However, when the apple peel and a top layer of pulp were removed, contamination decreased significantly.
Dongdong Ye, a professor at China’s School of Materials and Chemistry at Anhui Agricultural University and the paper’s author, hopes that people will reach for the peeler instead of panicking.
“Rather than fostering undue apprehension, the research posits that peeling can effectively eliminate nearly all pesticide residues, contrasted with the frequently recommended practice of washing.”
The study found unequivocally that “the risk of pesticide ingestion from fruits cannot be avoided by simple washing other than peeling.”
However, while losing the skin may help prevent chemical exposure, it also reduces nutritional value.
As Healthline notes, a raw apple with skin contains up to 332% more vitamin K, 142% more vitamin A, 115% more vitamin C, 20% more calcium, and up to 19% more potassium than a peeled apple
In March, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit advocating for a cleaner food supply, released its infamous “Dirty Dozen” list of the most pesticide-prone produce.
The group found that a whopping 75% of conventional fresh fruit and vegetables sampled contained residue of potentially harmful chemicals and placed apples at number 8 on their list of pesticide-packing produce.
In May, Consumer Reports found concerning levels of pesticides that posed “significant risks” to consumers in 20% of the fruits and vegetables it tested. The nonprofit organization called on the Environmental Protection Agency to ban organophosphate and carbamate pesticides and lower the legal limits of contamination.
In a conflicting report, the USDA maintained that 99% of the produce they tested contained pesticide residues within the legal limits of contamination and which did not “pose a risk to consumers’ health and are safe.”
They also claim that more than a quarter of the produce tested had “no detectable residue at all.”
The EWG takes care to note that the health benefits of a fresh-forward diet “outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure.”
However, those who want to limit exposure should opt for peeling off the pesticides and eating organic, where only natural pesticides can be used, whenever possible.
