A 2012 analysis estimates that today’s children age 0-5 in the US have lost more than 16 million IQ points from exposure to organophosphate pesticides. They’re exposed to these pesticides almost entirely from our food.

Organic foods are grown without the use of toxic synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, artificial hormones, or genetic engineering. They depend on cultivating healthy soil to grow healthy plants to produce healthy animals.

But not long ago, headlines blared that a new study had found that organic food isn’t any healthier. Let’s look behind the headlines, causing many parents to wonder whether organic was really worth it.

The study in question wasn’t new science, but a compilation and analysis of some of the existing studies comparing organic to conventional food. What did this paper find?

1) Pesticides

Conventional produce is more than five times more likely than organic to come with any pesticide residues. (38% of samples versus 7%).  The study didn’t go a step further and consider that when pesticides are found on conventional produce, the pesticides are often more toxic, present at higher levels, and come as mixtures of different chemicals.

The study also didn’t include the large body of literature about the toxic effects of some of these pesticides.

The authors concluded that this five-fold difference in pesticides couldn’t matter because the total amounts are so small. I strongly disagree. Pharmaceutical drugs are powerful, refined chemicals designed to improve health. They can have desired health effects on our brain function, sexual function, and fertility at concentrations in our bodies of only parts per billion. Synthetic pesticides are also powerful, refined chemicals, but designed to destroy or inhibit life. Why couldn’t they have undesirable health effects on our brain function, sexual function, and fertility when present in our bodies at similar concentrations?

If everyone in the country smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, it would be very difficult to tell that cigarettes caused lung cancer in a small, but significant, percentage of those who smoke. Today, almost all of us carry synthetic pesticides in our blood – pesticides that get there from our food. This is true even in babies at the moment of birth. I participated in a study with the Environmental Working Group where we analyzed umbilical cord blood and found pesticides in every baby tested. We found 21 different synthetic pesticides in babies’ blood.

One group of pesticides, the organophosphates, were originally produced as nerve agents during World War II. We still have much to learn about their health effects, but higher levels of exposure (in real world conditions) have been linked to lower IQ, memory problems, developmental problems, and ADHD.

The 16 million IQ points lost in young children from organophosphates carries a price tag of more than $169 billion in lost productivity when they grow up. And we take out a new debt of $28-30 billion every year – about the same amount as the total amount of money spent on organic food each year in the US.

Choosing organic food can drop a child’s organophosphate pesticide exposure almost overnight. In another study, suburban Seattle children had their urine tested multiple times for evidence of organophosphate pesticides and it was present in all samples, suggesting exposure above what the EPA set as a safe level. Then the children were switched to mostly organic food. The pesticides disappeared. They were virtually undetectable in morning and evening urine samples for five days. Then the children were switched back to their typical suburban diet and the levels found in their urine shot back up.

We can decrease pesticide exposure on the very next shopping trip.

The EPA says, “Protecting children from the potential effects of pesticides is one of EPA’s most important responsibilities. Pesticides have widespread uses and may affect children’s health in a variety of settings. We recognize that children are at greater risk from pesticide exposure.”

Choosing organic is a choice for decreasing toxic pesticides in our air, water, and farmers – as well as on our plates and in our children.

2) Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

When you buy conventional food you are three times more likely to bring multidrug resistant bacteria into your home than when buying organic. (48.4% of samples versus 15.9%).

The authors found this difference, but concluded it was unimportant because they thought bacterial resistance is fueled primarily by human antibiotic use.

Resistant bacteria are emerging as a major health threat.

According to the FDA, “Today, almost all important bacterial infections in the United States and throughout the world are becoming resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance has been called one of the world’s most pressing public health problems. The smart use of antibiotics is the key to controlling the spread of resistance.”

We know what causes resistance. When bacteria are exposed to antibiotics they develop ways to survive, making them more resistant to antibiotics.

We also know that the routine use of antibiotics in our conventional livestock to fatten them up dwarfs the amount of antibiotics used to treat all human diseases. The FDA recognizes the problem and has asked for drug companies to voluntarily remove agricultural production from their antibiotic product labels, but widespread antibiotic use continues in conventional agriculture. Four fifths of all antibiotics used in the US are used in our agricultural animals.

The most highly resistant bacteria discovered so far were found not in hospitals or clinics, but in the soil.

Organic food, which doesn’t allow the use of antibiotics, is part of the solution to resistant bacteria – in our environment and in our own homes.

Behind the Headlines

The headlines trumpeted that organic isn’t worth extra money. The study in question found a five-fold difference in pesticides and a three-fold difference in multidrug resistant bacteria (plus significantly higher healthy omega-3 fats in organic). It didn’t even look at differences related to the use of artificial hormones or genetic engineering – or of artificial colorings, preservatives, and sweeteners in processed foods.

Every bite of food is an investment in our bodies or a debt of some kind we are taking out that we will have to pay back. Good food, organic food, is a delicious investment.

The last chapter of this story starts with one 15-year-old girl named Sarah Kavanagh, a vegetarian who had gotten into the habit of reading foods labels to be sure there weren’t any hidden animal products.  In Gatorade, one of her favorite drinks, she came across an ingredient she didn’t recognize – brominated vegetable oil, or B.V.O.

She was curious enough to do a Google search and learn this is a registered flame retardant. It had already been banned in many nations where Gatorade is sold, including Japan and the European Union. Sarah reasoned that means, #1 B.V.O’s not necessary to make Gatorade, and #2 there is enough information out there that entire countries have banned this chemical product. She’s right. There are reasons to be concerned and viable alternatives available.

But brominated vegetable oil was still present in about 10 percent of drinks sold in the United States., even though advocates had been working on getting it banned in the US for years.

Sarah took action. She started a simple petition at change.org/gatorade. Word spread. Many people — over 200,000 — signed the petition. This caught the attention of the New York Times, which ran a story, and of Dr. Oz, who invited Sarah to appear on his show.

I met Sarah on the Dr. Oz set, just before her 16th birthday. We were filming a show about unwanted chemicals in our food.  Two of my heroes were also on the show – Heather White, executive director at the Environmental Working Group, and Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who had been working on this issue for decades.

Sarah said that when she tried to contact Gatorade, she had gotten no response other than a form letter. When Dr. Oz contacted them, though, their parent company PepsiCo sent an official statement. Sarah’s concern “has been heard.”

Heard indeed! In the week between when the show was taped and when it aired last Wednesday, PepsiCo announced that it would remove B.V.O from all Gatorade within the next few months.

What’s the budget recipe for changing a multi-billion dollar brand?

1. Start with one passionate person, curious enough to question the current state of affairs, and bold enough to call for specific change.
2. Be sure there’s no good reason to continue the current practice and a viable alternative is available. If enough people care, “being cheaper” or “a pleasing neon color” isn’t a good reason to continue the practice.
3. Build on the years of work by others.
4. Choose a story people will want to tell others about.
5. Give people for a simple way to get involved.
6. Capitalize on grassroots movement — large numbers of people catch the attention of highly influential advocates.
7. Combine above ingredients and it becomes “in companies’ best interest” to change.

PepsiCo is pulling B.V.O from Gatorade – but leaving it in Mountain Dew and Diet Mountain Dew, both of which are billion-dollar products.

Next step? Sarah told us it’s time to move beyond just going product by product and take the B.V.O issue to the F.D.A. Public opinion, public conversation, and buying choices can turn up the heat both on beverage companies and on the F.D.A.

Parents are often torn between the perceived health benefits of eating an “organic” diet and the increased cost of organically grown or raised foods.  It is important to discuss the potential health effects of pesticides and herbicides, also fungicides, on our children.  This may make it seem more worthwhile to avoid these chemicals.  I will also discuss sources of exposure and options for avoidance.

Basically, pesticides are chemicals designed to kill insects; herbicides are chemicals designed to kill parasitic plants the impair crop yields; and fungicides are chemicals designed to kill parasitic fungi.  Does anyone think that chemicals designed to kill living things could be harmful to humans in some way?

Chlorinated pesticides and organophosphate pesticides are two very common varieties of these chemicals.  They are sprayed on food crops to keep insects from eating the plants and decreasing yield.  Pesticide content of fruits and vegetables varies greatly by variety, and lists can be found online mentioning which types of produce have the highest levels, and which have the lowest.

Early-life exposure to pesticides has been linked to ADHD, pervasive developmental disorder (i.e. mild autism) and poorer mental development in general.  Parental exposures have been linked to problems in the child including neurodevelopmental effects, cancer, physical birth defects, and even fetal death.  This means it is extremely important to avoid these toxins.  A recent published review article on this topic is “Pesticide exposure in children” by Roberts, et al. in Pediatrics; Dec. 2012; vol 130, issue 6.

A very common herbicide in foods, one used on numerous major crops in large amounts, is atrazine; another common herbicide is metolachlor.  A recent study of childhood cancers in association with herbicides found that atrazine itself increased the risk by 10%, metolachlor increased risk by 54%; and a combination of three common herbicides together was found to increase cancer risk in children by more than 750% (Thorpe, 2005).  This demonstrates a tremendous synergistic effect.

Fungicides like vinclozolin and others block testosterone receptors and cause hormone deficiency symptoms in males.  Exposure during fetal development and infancy could conceivably alter male sexual development.  Many pesticides and herbicides have hormonal effects as well.  These chemicals can therefore have diverse and potentially devastating physiological effects on children and into adulthood.

So, the obvious means of avoiding these chemicals is to eat only organic or wild foods.  Hopefully that sounds like a good idea and worthwhile expense at this point.  Organic food may be more expensive, but the health of our children is a top priority; and, if everyone bought only organic food they would stop producing nonorganic food.

What most don’t realize is that animal foods are the most important foods to buy organic.  Meat, eggs, butter, milk, ice cream, cheese have much higher pesticide content than fruits and vegetables.  This is because animals eating nonorganic feed for their entire lives will bio-accumulate these toxins to much higher levels.  It is extremely important to eat only wild fish and seafood as well, because the farmed varieties have extremely toxic levels of PCB’s in addition to other chemicals.

Every parent wants their child to be healthy.  One of the biggest barriers to this today is the fact they are born on planet Earth.  We humans have polluted this planet to such an extent that every baby born today almost certainly has more than one thousand (more likely many thousands) man-made chemicals in its body.  We have no idea what most of these chemicals can do to the developing fetus, much less what sort of combined effects they may exert in combination.

These chemicals include pesticides, solvents, herbicides, formaldehyde, fragrances, styrofoam (styrene), phthalates, flame retardants, plasticizers, PCB’s, PBDE’s, PFC’s and the list goes on.  Most parents and expectant parents are unaware of the problem and its potential for adverse health effects in themselves, much less in their baby or developing fetus.

Some awareness of this problem is reaching the public in recent years, but only as a series of isolated problems that can be easily dismissed as uncommon or of little importance by themselves.  One example of progress is recent research showing increased risk of ADHD with higher levels of organophosphate pesticides in their blood or urine.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recently stated publicly that because of this and other noted adverse effects of pesticides, we should try to make sure our children are not exposed to pesticides.  Agreed; but how do we do that?

The problem is much larger than pesticides, or any other single type or category of chemicals.  It is the mass of exposures taken together as a whole.  It is what we refer to as the “total load” phenomenon in environmental medicine.  We use the concept of a rain barrel to depict the diverse toxins going into us from our environment.  This includes man-made chemicals, naturally occurring toxins, heavy metals, electromagnetic radiation, excess sugar, psychological stress and everything else that is bad for us.  Eventually that rain barrel can overflow and manifest as some sort of chronic illness condition, or multiple apparent conditions.

This is one general cause behind the massive increases we are seeing in neurological and neuropsychiatric problems in our young children today.  Conditions like autism and related disorders have skyrocketed in incidence over the last generation, and will likely continue to rise.  ADHD and other conditions requiring special education are rising dramatically in our schools as well, and it’s not just because we are looking for them.  It seems that more children are having seizures, mood disorders and cancers; and the environment is a major cause of this collective epidemic.

The purpose or theme of my guest blog series is to alert parents and expectant parents to the presence of some of the more common and avoidable environmental toxins, to point out their sources, discuss their health effects, offer strategies for avoidance, discuss means of toxin elimination, and encourage readers to help move public policy more toward the interests of human health in this regard.

I’d like to thank co-author Ashley Koff, RD for her initiative on this issue. More of her work can be seen at AskleyKoffApproved.com.

You’ve heard the news, and in sets panic. Have I been inadvertently poisoning my family with arsenic? We share your concerns and as such created the following to help you where it counts most – in the kitchen – with this plan for reducing your family’s arsenic intake and along with it reducing the associated health risks.

To begin, take a moment to answer these questions about your family’s intake habits:

1. Do you and your family consume rice / rice products several times daily? Remember this includes cooked rice as well as some cereals, non-dairy milks, non-dairy cheese, veggie burgers, crackers, bars, protein powders, cookies and other treats made either with rice or sweetened with rice syrup as well as using brown rice syrup as a sweetener.
2. How many different types of grains does your family consume in a week? Greater than 2?
3. Do you and your family consume animal meats like chicken and ham, sausages, and eggs?
4. Do you and your family drink fruit juice? How much daily? Is it organic?
5. What is the proper portion of cooked rice for a child – ¼ cup, ½ cup, 1 cup, 2 cups? And for an adult?

Your answers will be addressed within the recommendations below and you will also learn how to develop a healthier diet – one that improves overall health including minimizing exposure to inorganic arsenic.

Understand that some arsenic is found naturally in the soil, but that humans have contributed to the problem by using arsenic-containing pesticides in some areas and by fertilizing with manure from poultry treated with arsenic compounds. Where and how your food is grown matters. Any food can contain some arsenic, but organic farming is part of the solution, not part of the problem.

No one food is the arsenic culprit, but some foods do absorb more of whatever’s in the soil – for good or for ill. With that in mind, what should you do for your family?

1. Reduce means well, reduce: the first lesson here is a simple but highly effective one – when we consume less our risk of overexposure to anything goes down.
   1. Portion control – for cooked rice, use a guideline of roughly the child or adult’s fist – so your 5 year old likely should get a ¼ cup portion and Shaq can have 2 cups.
   2. Frequency – when it comes to rice and quality rice products, consume them in your food choices but not as the exclusive or primary food choice.
2. Variety! – nature created numerous grains, and even numerous variety of the same grain, as well as fruits and vegetables etc.
   1. When it comes to rice – it appears that basmati rice is lower in arsenic than brown rice so integrate it into the mix
   2. When it comes to grains – choose from all of nature’s gifts which include quinoa, buckwheat and millet for those choosing rice to avoid gluten or einkorn, spelt and kamut which are better quality ancient grain wheat varietals
   3. “An apple a day” could also be an apple on Monday, blueberries on Tuesday, white peaches on Wednesday and so on…this way your week will deliver all the nutrient power from nature’s rainbow to help protect and clean up toxins from the body most effectively
   4. At every meal get a minimum of 3 colors with 2 from vegetables – again they provide clean up and protective powers
   5. How you cook rice matters too – if you cook it for longer, and in more water (think of cooking pasta) this helps reduce the arsenic levels
3. Rethink baby food: Babies eat more, pound for pound than we do and are more at risk from toxins. Our WhiteOut campaign replaces the old idea of white rice cereal as baby’s first food, only food, or main food. Babies learn tastes like they learn a language, so variety can be even better for babies than for us.
4. Be a Qualitarian: know where your food comes from and what’s been done to it.
   1. Choose organic chicken and pork products to avoid pesticides, GMOs, and poor quality animal feed going into the animal and later on to your plate.
   2. Choose organic fruit and vegetable juice if they are listed on the EWG.org’s “Dirty Dozen” and especially if you consume them often (hint hint, apple tops the dirty dozen list)
   3. Choose organic whole grains and sweeteners whenever possibly too. While arsenic may be today’s fear, the studies keep coming out about how pesticide residues negatively impact health, and even as we write this the first long term animal study on GMOs shows scary results for even the lowest levels of intake of GMO corn.
   4. Place of origin – just like seafoodwatch.org helps us routinely identify not just which fish are safer to eat, but also notes where from and in what form, the same appears to be true for rice. For right now, rices from California and some parts of Asia appear to be lower in arsenic.
   5. If you are consuming puffed rice crackers, cakes, and cereals as a diet tool you could benefit from a quality upgrade – when rice is puffed not only does its glycemic load go up, the nutrient levels go down – yes its low in calories but its lower in terms of what’s good and in the case of rice products it could be higher in arsenic. Try cucumbers or zucchini slices as your “cracker” or “cake.” They can be topped, can be dippers, and deliver no calories, a crunch, and plant nutrients to help protect and clean up from the inside out.
   6. Get tested – your water that is. Find out what needs to be remove and possibly what is lacking. These are inexpensive tests and a neighborhood will have similar results so you can even share the costs (may depend on the age of homes / pipes but still can be a good baseline).
5. Consider a Plant-Based diet: Studies and cultures from around the world teach us that reducing our intake of animal meats and animal products can be healthier for us all.
   1. Don’t MONO eat – try to incorporate as many plants as possible into your diet – if you currently rely just on rice milk or rice cheese or a rice veggie burger try different versions from hemp and coconut or other nuts.
   2. Many plant-based eaters and their loved ones worry about their protein intakes and turn to protein powders to deliver supplemental protein – if you are consuming 1-2 servings of rice daily, change it up – look at blends and nutrients like hemp and organic soy (remember organic here because likely trading an arsenic concern for a GMO one may not net you healthier in the long run).
   3. Just a Spoonful of (organic) sugar – Mary Poppins got it right but we need to emphasize Just in Just a Spoonful of Sugar for optimal health.
   4. If a food product (bar, cereal etc) has rice syrup or any sugar for that matter, in its first two ingredients, consider a better option.
   5. A serving of fruit juice is four ounces. It should be organic (especially apple juice when talking about arsenic). One daily spoonful of sugar – in the form of organic added sweeteners, juice or a treat is a good amount to aim for – beyond that you are over-spooning it which has negative healthy implications. Especially for kids whose sweet tooth is overdeveloped from birth (or before), you want to control exposure until the other taste buds can give the sweetie some competition.
   6. If you are using brown rice syrup as a sweetener, we do recommend considering other sweeteners more often like organic coconut palm sugar, organic cane juice and maple syrup, and as age-appropriate, raw honeys.

If you follow these tips, you will not only reduce your family’s overall intake of inorganic arsenic but you will also improve your family’s health via a better quality diet.  We see this as a win, win. We hope you will too.

^{I’d like to thank co-author Ashley Koff, RD for her initiative on this issue. More of her work can be seen at AskleyKoffApproved.com.}

You may have seen headlines based on a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives about arsenic and organic brown rice syrup. Many of the headlines mention concern about the implications for some infant formula and food bars. Here’s my take:

I serve on the board of Healthy Child Healthy World where we recognize the important effects environmental chemicals have on children. I’m glad that studies are being conducted regarding the safety of food — especially food for babies.

This new study is not a reason to panic, but it does underline the need for the FDA to set safety levels for arsenic in food and beverages. The EPA has set 10 ppb as the level for inorganic arsenic in drinking water. Regularly drinking water with this level of arsenic over time might result in a lifetime cancer risk of 0.05% (about 0.005% per ppb).”

This study also underlines the importance of organic agriculture. Plants, and the animals that eat them, take in much of what’s in the soil. Rice in particular should be grown in healthy soil, as it is very efficient at this.

An important source of too much arsenic is the aftermath of arsenical pesticides leftover from decades of chemical farming. They were used on conventional cotton throughout much of the southern US, and the arsenic remains in the soil long afterwards — even after switching the fields to rice and switching to organic farming methods. Rice grown in California usually has much less arsenic. Some countries still use arsenical pesticides on their crops.

Small amounts of arsenic can be found naturally in food, water, soil, and even air. Rice is the main dietary source of arsenic for many Americans. Whatever arsenic is present can be concentrated in rice syrups.

Babies are more susceptible than adults to arsenic and other toxins.

For now, I recommend that rice not be the primary source of calories for babies (the key is variety), and that when practical whatever rice they do get comes primarily from California and/or is adequately tested for arsenic (with technology at least able to detect 10 ppb). Avoid conventional rice from countries still using arsenical pesticides.

And, of course, I will welcome safety limits for arsenic in food and beverages that take the health of babies and pregnant women into account.

Jackson BP, Taylor VF, Karagas MR, Punshon T, Cottingham KL, 2012 Arsenic, Organic Foods, and Brown Rice Syrup. Environ Health Perspect doi:10.1289/ehp.1104619

Of course reducing toxic exposures is an important way to reduce risks from unhealthy chemicals, but a growing body of research suggests paying attention to positive habits – such as good food, healthy sleep and active play can often reduce or even eliminate harm when exposed.

An update on this emerging field of research appeared in October 2011 in the NIH journal Environmental Health Perspectives, focusing on the physical effects of stress and relaxation.

Psychological stress can change how chemicals affect the body. Stress has been demonstrated to change the effects of lead exposure and of exposure to air pollution in children. But much remains to be learned about other chemicals and other types of exposures. And about how this all works.

We know that some stress is good for children; a little adrenaline or cortisol can fuel kids to reach new heights of achievement. And we know that when stress becomes too prolonged, too severe or too frequent the immune system can be altered in a way that increases the impact of chemical pollution.

Sadly, sometimes the most stressful environments are also the most polluted.

In January 2011, Science to Achieve Results (STAR) research grants totaling $7 million were awarded by the EPA to work on new approaches to understanding how stress changes what happens when kids are exposed – and what we can do about it.

I’m excited about this, and expect it to uncover valuable new knowledge. But in the meantime, common sense makes sense. Follow Healthy Child Healthy World’s Five Easy Steps: Minimize pesticide exposure; use nontoxic products; clean up indoor air; eat healthy; and be wise about plastics. And do what it takes to minimize un-useful stress. Have fun together!

Cooney CM. Stress-Pollution Interactions: An Emerging Issue in Children’s Health Research. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2011; 119:a430-a435.

Here is the fifth take-home lesson from The Environmental Health Perspective article, Environmental Chemicals in Pregnant Women.

Lesson 5: A green solution. Leafy green.

Yes, we want to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals during pregnancy, both through simple personal choices and through public policy.

But there’s also growing evidence that certain potent nutrients found in some plant-based foods can prevent, reduce, or repair damage from toxic exposures when they do occur.

Researchers at Duke University demonstrated expected problems such as obesity, altered reproductive function, and increased cancer risk in animals whose mothers were exposed to the plastic chemical BPA during pregnancy.

Here’s the exciting part: when the pregnant mothers also got extra folic acid, a nutrient most common in green leafy vegetables (think “foliage”), this completely erased the BPA damage in their offspring. It worked through a process called epigenetics, the turning on and off of key genes.

Spinach and kale chips aren’t the only protective foods, but they are a good start. There are a rainbow of foods known to prevent and repair damage from threats in the environment.

My all-star list for pregnant women, children, and – really – for all of us, to follow over the next several days. Bon appetit!

Read More in this Series:
Lesson 1: It’s a peak behind the curtain.
Lesson 2: All products are eco-products.
Lesson 3: Public policy changes your body.
Lesson 4: Your choices do matter
Lesson 5: A green solution. Leafy green.

Dolinoy DC, Huang D, and Jirtle RJ. Maternal nutrient supplementation counteracts bisphenol A-induced DNA hypomethylation in early development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 7 Aug 2007; 104(32):13056-13061

I remember being a child and hearing my parents talk about how fast time was moving. Now I’m the parent and I know what they were talking about. But not only is time moving more quickly for us as adults, today things around us are actually changing more quickly.

Here are five trends (and a bonus trend) that I see emerging now and my predictions for the trends that will continue in 2011:

1) Electronic Connections — Parent communities are bigger than ever, but less local. Families are busier than ever, but finding new ways to connect.

• Video chatting, such as Skype, is becoming the norm for extended families to stay in touch. Look for this to accelerate as it goes mobile on smartphones and tablets.
• Online photo and video sharing through social networking will continue to grow. Again, watch for more mobile, as smartphones replace more cameras and videocameras. Think Qik.
• For older kids playing online, turn based, games with parents will become as common as board games were for the last generation. Games like Words with Friends will take advantage of smart phone and tablet technologies to keep families connected.
• Look for JumpScan and other QR programs to facilitate connections (and even start replacing things like business cards, luggage tags, and identification for lost kids).
• Innovative companies like HealthTap and Quora will become popular ways to use electronic connections to get parents the answers they most want.

2) Real Food for Babies (and other humans) – The 1950s launched us into 60 years of processed foods. It may be slow at first, but 2011 will see some big changes.

• 2011 will be the year white rice baby cereal goes away.

New first foods will be real foods – such as bananas, avocado, and sweet potatoes.

• The family meal will make a resurgence. It won’t be the norm in 2011, but more meals will be eaten at home than in 2010.
• Healthy, quick food options will grow in availability. Look for convenience stores such as Fresh and Easy to do well in 2011.

3) Kicking Out Risky Chemicals (chemical awareness) — Parents are reading ingredient labels more than ever, not just on food. The President’s Cancer Panel presented in 2010 had a major impact, as well as the 2010 study linking ADHD to pesticides. The trend will grow in 2011.

• The green movement got it’s start in organic food, but an increasing number of parents will be looking for hidden toxics in cleaning supplies, gardening supplies, textiles, etc.
• Parents are choosing BPA-free, phthalate-free, PVC-free, plastics. BornFree has been a pioneer in safe plastics for kids even before most parents had heard of BPA. Now BornFree, Ecomom.com, Ikea, and others are becoming trusted leaders for parents who don’t have time to research for themselves, but want safe products.

4) Kitchen Kids — Thanks to Michelle Obama, Jamie Oliver, Chef Anne, Chef Jessie Cool and a host of others kids-food is getting renewed attention..

• In 2011 kids will get more and more involved in creating meals together before sitting down to eat.
• 2011 will see more families planting a garden. It may be as small as one tomato plant or one herb on a windowsill, but more kids will get the opportunity to see their food start from a seed.

5) The Natural Connections to the Outdoors — The last generation of parents became afraid to let their children play alone outdoors. This generation of parents is seeing the value of connecting their kids to nature.

• Look for more families in the park, more families playing outdoor sports, and a return to the family bike ride.
• Kids have too much homework. As a result, parents have downplayed the need to do family chores. Look for parents to join their kids for outdoor chores as a way to get sunshine (needed Vitamin D) and connect to the earth.
• Houseplants were big in the 70s and 80s. Don’t expect macramé to come back into style, but parents are becoming aware of the value of houseplants as inexpensive air filters. You’ll see more of them in 2011.
• Plastic toys are about as far from the outdoors as possible. Look for more quality, heirloom wooden toys to make it in the market place in 2011. Tegu is a great example of a young company creating an innovative toy in a sustainable way.

Bonus: Hot New Birthday Party for 2011 — Chef School

• Mom or Dad will accompany kids to the party and participate, making it more interactive than in the past.
• The Chef leading the class will be both teacher and entertainment (no clowns needed).
• Everyone participates in the preparation and at the end of the party they enjoy the food together — including homemade birthday cupcakes.
• If there’s not one in your area, call the local cooking school and ask them to create one for your child’s next birthday party!

All-in-all, I think 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty good year for famiies. What do you think?

Note: Dr. Greene is on the Board of Ecomom.com, the Medical Director of HealthTap, and works closely with BornFree to provide safe feeding products for children. He does not have a financial connection to any of the other brands mentioned.

A new study suggests that typical BPA exposure may be affecting the masculinity, semen quality, and sperm count of the average American guy. And young boys often have even more BPA exposure than adult men.

Researchers from Oakland, California and Shanghai, China compared the urine samples and semen samples of 218 men from four different regions of China. Some of the men had occupational exposure to BPA, some were exposed to BPA in the environment at levels below the median level found in American men, and some had no detectable BPA exposure.

On average, the higher the urine BPA level,  [a] the lower the sperm concentration, [b] the lower the total sperm count, [c] the poorer the  sperm vitality, and [d] the worse the sperm motility. Those with any BPA in the urine had more than three times the likelihood of lowered sperm concentration and lower sperm vitality, more than four times the likelihood of lower sperm count, and more than likelihood the risk of lower sperm motility, compared with men who did not have any BPA detectable in their urine.

Similar associations were found among men with environmental BPA exposure at levels just below the typical levels found in the average American man. More than 90 percent of American men tested have BPA in their urine.

An earlier study by the same group found decreased sexual function and sexual satisfaction with higher levels of BPA. Both studies demonstrate an association between BPA and reproductive problems, but neither can prove that BPA is the cause. The findings are consistent, though, with the results of randomized studies in other animals that do point to BPA as the cause. We can’t randomly give some men BPA to see the effects, so this is the best evidence we have.

We do know that BPA levels in humans can be markedly decreased by avoiding placing objects containing BPA in the mouth. While we wait to see what the American government will do about limiting BPA exposure, families can limit their own exposure by minimizing canned food, avoiding plastic food and beverage containers that contain BPA, and washing the hands after handling thermal cash register receipts.

Pregnancy and early childhood may be the most important time to minimize BPA exposure, but as an adult guy, I’m increasingly motivated to avoid exposure myself.

De-Kun Li, M.D., Ph.D, and Wei Yuan, M.D., Ph.D.c,e. “Urine Bisphenol-A (BPA) Level in Relation to Semen Quality.” Fertstert.org. Web. <http://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(10)02587-2/abstract>.

Li DK, Zhou Z, Miao M, He Y, Qing D, and Wu T. “Relationship between Urine Bisphenol-A (BPA) Level and Declining Male Sexual Function. J Androl.” Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20467048>.

Li D, Zhou Z, Qing D, He Y, He Y, Wu T, and Miao M. “Occupational Exposure to Bisphenol-A (BPA) and the Risk of Self-Reported Male Sexual Dysfunction — Hum Reprod.” Oxford Journals | Medicine | Human Reproduction. N.p., 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/2/519>.