High Arsenic and Lead level in Apple and Grape Juice.

[Cat Herder]

This is a short summary. The entire article can be found at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...our-juice.html

Arsenic in your juice
How much is too much? Federal limits don’t exist.
Consumer Reports Magazine: January 2012

* Roughly 10 percent of our juice samples, from five brands, had total arsenic levels that exceeded federal drinking-water standards. Most of that arsenic was inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen.

* One in four samples had lead levels higher than the FDA’s bottled-water limit of 5 ppb. As with arsenic, no federal limit exists for lead in juice.

* Apple and grape juice constitute a significant source of dietary exposure to arsenic, according to our analysis of federal health data from 2003 through 2008.

* Children drink a lot of juice. Thirty-five percent of children 5 and younger drink juice in quantities exceeding pediatricians’ recommendations, our poll of parents shows.

* Mounting scientific evidence suggests that chronic exposure to arsenic and lead even at levels below water standards can result in serious health problems.

* Inorganic arsenic has been detected at disturbing levels in other foods, too, which suggests that more must be done to reduce overall dietary exposure.

[small_steps]

There was a story about this on the doctors a couple of months ago. I don't think I've bought any juice since then. I just serve water to my dck and milk for their meals of course. My own need to drink more water anyway.

[Cat Herder]

I wish I could serve water instead of juice, but unfortunately my clients would see it as "mean", "lazy" or "cheap".

It is still in the guidelines, here, that milk (6-8 oz) is to be served with all meals and 100% juice (4-6 oz) with all snacks.

I guess I could "loophole" it by adding a whole, fresh fruit to each snack and serve water instead...:confused: Has anyone has success with that meeting parents expectations?

The general consensus is that water is for the playground only since "milk or juice will spoil". I hear "Oh, he/she won't drink PLAIN water." often. I get the when I tell them I give infants sips of water from their bottles during spoon feeding.

Anyone else?

[SilverSabre25]

I have never been so happy to have parents that are more than thrilled that I rarely serve anything other than water. Since I'm not on the food program, we don't even drink milk all *that* often...we get our calcium in other forms. My parents all know this, and they either don't' care, or are happy with it. At least, I assume they are because no one has ever said anything about it.

I sometimes buy OJ to have with breakfast. I can't remember the last time we had some other kind of juice...

I bet if you look you can find some good literature from "teh Internetz" on how juice is not good for kids--empty calories, too much sugar, something that might convince them.

You're in the Deep South though right?

[morgan24]

I don't serve juice either. They get water and a fruit with something else. They also have water available all day. I have retrained many juice only drinkers into water only during the day and milk at lunch. Once I get them off having to have juice all the time their appetite kicks in and they start eating better.

The two doctors argued the arsenic in juice out on Good Morning America. Dr. Oz said juice had to much arsenic in it and Dr. Besser(I think that was his name) disagreed.

[Cat Herder]

You're in the Deep South though right?

Yep.... Even our tea is served cold with 1.5-2 cups of sugar to the gallon, standard, and is consumed by most adults (and school aged kids) at every meal.

[countrymom]

I hate dr oz, but how can you prove that its made with arsenic when I buy apple with 3 ingredients in it. If its pure juice then I find it odd that it would have arsenic. Dr oz is a moron, he always finds something wrong in food, his dd is on the chew, but she isn't as bad as him. I'm just wondering where is he finding his info, does he work inside the company, does he have any valid proof.

[Sunchimes]

I couldn't get your link to work, so here's another one in case any one else has a problem.

http://news.consumerreports.org/home/2011/09/getting-the-facts-straight-on-arsenic-and-apple-juice.html

And here's a link to the brands Dr Oz tested.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/arsenic-apple-juice

I've never served apple or grape juice. I read somewhere that apple juice was the worst juice to serve kids because it has the least amount of nutrients of any of the juices, so it's basically just almost empty calories. I'm using Capri 100% juice, but I may cut that out now that I know others aren't serving juice. My parents never ask what they eat and when I try to tell them, they just "Yeah yeah, whatever". They are involved parents and care about things, so I'm going to assume they trust me. But, the box that the juice pouches come in make really, really great building blocks when I cover them in contact paper.

[Sunchimes]

I don't know about the accuracy of his info, but from my farm background, I know that arsenic can remain in the soil for a long time, seeping into the tree and then into the fruit. It hasn't been all that long since arsenic was allowed in many common areas, so much of it still remains in soil and water. If you built your child a swing or built a deck out of pressure treated wood before 2004, that wood has arsenic in it, and chances are the soil around it is contaminated. If the orchard owner used PTW to build a fence around his orchard, it in that soil. The arsenic treated wood was banned for household use in 2004 (2003?), but not for commercial uses. To further complicate matters, most of the concentrate in juices doesn't even come from the USA but from other countries that don't have the same regulations on arsenic (or other things).

I know this is probably more than you wanted to know, but this is one of my hot buttons and something I've argued against for many years.

[Cat Herder]

I couldn't get your link to work, so here's another one in case any one else has a problem.

http://news.consumerreports.org/home/2011/09/getting-the-facts-straight-on-arsenic-and-apple-juice.html

Thank you!!! I don't know why mine was not working. :confused:

[MarinaVanessa]

I wish I could serve water instead of juice, but unfortunately my clients would see it as "mean", "lazy" or "cheap".

I don't have that problem here at all. I've never offered juice as a drink, it's always been milk and water only. I preffer to give actual fruit instead of juice even to my own kids. I'm in CA and actually very thankfull to our frood program and to our new drink regulations. I blame them .

We have a new safety code that limits juice to only 1 serving a day per child which is only a few ounces each. I tell parents that because it's such a small amount that it's not worth it to serve juice so I give them fruit instead and they seem to be fine with that.

I also don't have an issue with the kids drinking water. I serve milk only during meals and not for snacks. The rest of the time they drink water. EVERY SINGLE parent has told me that their child will not drink water and withing 2 days they're drinking at least 2-3 cups of water in their Nuby cups (20-30oz). The DC kids 4yo and older can reach and are allwed to get their own water so it's hard to say how much they actually drink but they are constantly re-filling their cups from our water filtration system on our fridge. Our water is always cold too so they like it better that way. I've had a DCM ask her DCB why he didn't drink water at home and he says "Cuz our water is hot" ::

[Ariana]

I hate dr oz, but how can you prove that its made with arsenic when I buy apple with 3 ingredients in it. If its pure juice then I find it odd that it would have arsenic. Dr oz is a moron, he always finds something wrong in food, his dd is on the chew, but she isn't as bad as him. I'm just wondering where is he finding his info, does he work inside the company, does he have any valid proof.

There was a study a while ago about arsenic in rice and rice milk products which my daughter eats and drinks a lot of due to her dairy allergy. Arsenic is naturally found in soil it's the organic kind. INorganic arsenic comes from pesticides that are sprayed on produce as they're growing. I's sprayed on rice and apples to get rid of bugs. There seems to be evidence which suggests that organic produce and juice is ok because they haven't been sprayed with pesticides.

Here's the rice article:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1892142/