Mediterranean diet can lead to a high intake of environmental contaminants - Innovation Origins
Mediterranean diet can lead to a high intake of environmental contaminants
But a new study carried out by scientists at the University of Oslo (press release) and universities in other countries made a rather surprising discovery: people participating in the study who lived on a Mediterranean diet containing foods cultivated in the normal manner had two to four times the intake of different environmental contaminants compared to those eating an ordinary, North European diet.
There is growing evidence that such toxins can weaken our immune defense system and perhaps also our fertility. If hormones become imbalanced, they can also have a negative effect on the growth and development of children.
Also interesting: Microalgae is the food – and drink – of the future
“But it is improbable that the two groups in our study differed with regard to the above two factors because of the way the study was designed”, Iversen believes.
The study, entitled “Diet and food type affect urinary pesticide residue excretion profiles in healthy individuals: results of a randomized controlled dietary intervention trial”, was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.