An Apple a Day Helps Keep the Doctor Away

It is a well-known fact that fruits and vegetables are good for our health. Eating more of them can help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. It’s surprising – and quite counterproductive – that some groups are suggesting people avoid eating certain fruits and vegetables due to concerns over pesticide residues.

To show the safety margins of pesticides, the Alliance for Food and Farming developed a calculator to demonstrate the number of servings of fruits and vegetables that could be eaten in a single day without any ill effects, even at the highest recorded level of pesticide residues. Here’s a sampling of what they found:

• Men can consume 571 servings of apples.

• Women can eat 10,877 servings of lettuce.

• Teens can eat 86,580 servings of carrots.

• Children can eat 1,508 servings of strawberries.

More information is available at www.safefruitsandveggies.com.

www.newscanada.com