Many fruits and vegetables are heavily contaminated with pesticides, and some sometimes contain worrying amounts. This is particularly the case for a green vegetable which stands out for its high concentration of pesticides. Discover this vegetable that is best bought organic at the market or in the supermarket.
The importance of consuming five fruits and vegetables per day for health no longer needs to be proven, but it remains important to ensure their quality. This is what underlines a study recent study by the Environmental Working Group, an American non-profit organization that analyzed more than 47,510 samples of 46 different fruits and vegetables, to expose the magnitude of this contamination by pesticidesrevealing at the same time that only 15 of them contain low levels of pesticides, substances necessary for their cultivation when we want to be able to eat them in all seasons.
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Faced with this worrying observation, the organization has chosen to make public a list of 12 fruits and vegetables most affected by pesticides in 2024, those with the highest concentrations of these substances potentially dangerous to health. A reference list that allows consumers to know when it really becomes wise to opt for fruits and vegetables from organic farming to avoid being exposed to these alarming rates, if they cannot afford to buy them all certified organic. While the fruit most contaminated by pesticides is a red fruit, the vegetable that holds the record for pesticide residues is none other than a green vegetable. This shows that even vegetables considered to be among the healthiest are not always healthy. The worst of these would be spinach, available from December to June. They are at the top of the list in the vegetable category, so it would be better to favor organic spinach, especially if you eat it frequently.
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Pesticides in fruits and vegetables: here are the health risks
Even if foodstuffs contaminated by pesticides are controlled to guarantee the safety of the population, in the long term, we still do not know the effects of ingesting such a quantity of pesticides on health.
As the Ministry of Health indicates: “Epidemiological studies have highlighted links between exposure to pesticides and the risk of the appearance of cancerous, neurological pathologies and even reproductive disorders.” Caution is therefore essential.
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Pesticides: green vegetables, the bad students of the gardener
Even if they are essential for a balanced diet rich in fiber good for intestinal transit, green vegetables stand out in particular in this ranking.
Kale, cabbage, mustard greens, peppers and green beans are also among the vegetables most contaminated with pesticides.
Pesticides: vegetables are less contaminated than fruits!
Of the 12 fruits and vegetables containing the most pesticides, we note that 8 of them are fruits. Fruits therefore seem even more at risk than vegetables.
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Strawberries, peaches, pears… More of them contain high levels of residues dangerous to health.
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