Report Says Nearly All US Baby Foods Have Harmful Metals.<br />The analysis and tests were done by Healthy Babies Bright Futures.<br />Of nearly 170 types of food tested, 95 percent contained lead.<br />One in five even had over 10 times the public health limit.<br />The report also reveals that cadmium and arsenic were discovered in over 70 percent of the foods.<br />Even in the trace amounts found in food, these contaminants can alter the developing brain and erode a child's IQ. The impacts add up with each meal or snack a baby eats.<br />Among the foods and drinks containing the metals were sweet potatoes and fruit juices.<br />Rice-based products, such as infant cereal, were the biggest culprit, .<br />This is due to the food absorbing inorganic arsenic while it is in water.<br />These popular baby foods are not only high in inorganic arsenic, the most toxic form of arsenic, but also are nearly always contaminated with all four toxic metals.<br />The report adds that the FDA and baby food companies must take more action.<br />We need the FDA to use their authority more effectively, and much more quickly, to reduce toxic heavy metals in baby foods, HBBF research director Jane Houlihan, <br />via statement.<br />Pediatrician Tanya Altmann recommends a variety of other products instead of rice as a first food.<br />Best first foods for infants are avocado, pureed veggies, peanut-butter oatmeal and salmon. They all provide important nutrients that babies need, help develop their taste buds to prefer healthy food and may decrease food allergies
