Good for You, Good for Our Earth

First the Environmental Working Groups identified 12 most pesticide ridden fruits and vegetables, then the David Suzuki foundation listed the 12 cosmetic chemicals to avoid and just this week Consumer Reports followed suit by identifying 12 dietary supplements, which they refer to as their “dirty dozen”. It isn’t a surprise that Consumer Reports would choose to review herbal dietary supplements, as they are estimated to be worth more than 5 billion in sales, and continue to increase in popularity. With that much money to be made, one would think that there would be regulations in place to ensure safely to consumers. We have laws around the sales of over the counter pharmaceutical drugs and alcohol, as most of us know too much of a good thing, is never a good thing! Read the rest of this entry »

Last month, the American President’s Cancer Panel annual report, “Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What Can We Do Now”, was released. This year’s report focused on environmental carcinogens. A key message in the report is that out of the approximately 80,000 chemicals in our environment, including pesticides and food additives, very little of these chemicals have been tested to see how they affect our long-term health. Read the rest of this entry »

Many people are wondering how to be sure a product really is organic when it claims it is organic. As of June 30, 2009, the Organic Products Regulations require mandatory certification to the revised National Organic Standard for agricultural products represented as organic in international and inter-provincial trade, or that bear the federal organic agricultural product legend (or federal logo). This means if a products states it is Certified Organic- it has to contain at least 95% organic ingredients.  Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of people wonder whether they should be taking a daily multivitamin.  Any health professional that has been following the research on multivitamins over the years, will not be able to give you a straight answer to that, and for good reason. There has been conflicting research, some of it stating multivitamins help to prevent certain diseases, some of it concluding it makes things worse. Medscape Medical News outlined two conflicting studies, one showing a 33% decrease in breast cancer risk associated with multivitamin use and yet another observed a 19% increased risk of breast cancer associated with multivitamin use. While the debate rages on, I recommend not worrying about taking a pill as there is no one multivitamin that will give you all the 10,000-100, 00 phytochemicals that you receive from eating whole foods. 1000′s of studies have shown that a diet of unprocessed whole foods when eaten in moderation helps to prevent cancer and other chronic disease. That you can be sure of!

Treehugger, a leading online one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information in honor of Earth Month and the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day, introduce their second annual Best of Green Awards, which highlight the individuals and organizations that are pushing the green movement forward. Click out this year winners for the Best of Green 2010 Food and Health!