Pregnancy, Children and Mercury Toxicity

Wow... amazing moment. You realize you are pregnant. Let's celebrate. Get the family together. Have a celebration, maybe some cake and ice cream.

YOU... have just introduced your little seedling to many new toxins, including High Fructose Corn Syrup.

What? HFCS is not a toxin, it's just not the greatest ingredient.

This is where we are dead wrong. For most of my life having been educated early on corn due to my allergies, I have know that high-fructose corn syrup is a big offender in our society. It's the major culprit in the nation’s obesity crisis, it's cheap so used frequently and we all had it in our favorite treats, as well as our regular foods throughout most of our lives. In 2009 there were two studies done and almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where corn syrup is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient. This study was requested by the FDA according to files on the iatp.org site, and yet I've not seen a recall on using HFCS in the United States.

How scary is that?

Now given that a single vaccine with mercury in it given to a six-pound newborn is the equivalent of giving a 180-pound adult 30 vaccinations on the same day, what do you think giving your body, and that little fetus mercury every day is doing to their development. And then to our children as they have not fully developed their immune system until about age six. Mercury can be the cause of cerebral palsy, limb defects and mental retardation.{Lanphear, Vorhees & Bellinger 2005}

So how toxic are we? 

A report on Yahoo that I recently read stated:

The United States, as just one example, emits about 100 metric tons of mercury into the air each year because we use coal as a fuel source to create the power we need. The National Wildlife Federation has released warnings which state that mercury contamination has reached almost every habitat and ecosystem, stream, river and wetland in our country. More than 40 species of animals, fish and birds have been found to have high levels of mercury in their systems. 

Recently there was some research done with just nine women from California, Oregon and Washington. It was a first of it's kind. These women had blood and urine samples taken during their second trimester of pregnancy. They measured levels of five chemical groups: phthalates, mercury, perfluorinated compounds or bisphenol A, tetrabromobisphenol A. The results showed that even in the womb, children aren't safe from known toxics. The researchers found 13 toxic chemicals in the bio-fluids of the pregnant women. Our bodies can detox on it's own, but with the overwhelming toxins I really believe we need to do more to support our system, and stay away from these items as we are caring for ourselves, our child and share this information with others.

So how can you do this? One way is to supplement with detoxifying healthy, safe food ingredients throughout your pregnancy, I've also had friends go through the reset during pregnancy. During this they of course checked with their OGBYN to see if it was something approved. They used the men's portions, continued to eat the brown rice and quinoa {again if you are not eating any grains - then you would need to talk to your doctor about an appropriate substitute to use for this program} throughout the 21 days and did not dip below 1400 calories at any time. Also the "detox" supplement wasn't used. I personally if working with a client would also recommend not using the Soothe during pregnancy because of the curcumin in it, although it's a small amount, I still wouldn't risk it. The wonderful thing is that you can give your body nutrition and give your baby (and family if you are cooking for more than yourself) such a rainbow of food that is nourishing and also keeps those cravings for the toxic filled foods at bay. Educate yourself and learn how healthy you can your baby and children can be.