Consumer Reports, the consumer-advocacy organization, published the results of a recent investigation they carried out, in which they tested 45 fruit juices for their heavy metal levels.

Juice samples came from 24 national and private-label brands and included apple, grape and juice blends and the results showed that 21 products over 45 had “concerning” levels of cadmium, arsenic and lead. Some of these products (such as Welch and Trader Joe’s) contained levels of lead or arsenic that exceeded the standard for bottled water set by the FDA.

A 2012 study conducted by the University of Missouri found a possible non-toxic treatment for breast cancer which works even on deadly, fast growing tumors, inhibiting cell proliferation and reducing expression of a gene associated with cancer malignancy.

This treatment is based on Apigenin, a naturally occurring flavonoid found in celery, parsley and many other vegetables and herbs.

The study analysed samples from 19 U.S. drinking water treatment plants serving more than 28 million people and found this sweetener in 15 out of 19 water treatment plants, in 13 out of 17 plants and in 8 out of 12 water distribution systems. The average amount of sucralose in source water and finished water was respectively 440 ng/L and 350 ng/L.

The three main components of breast milk are fat, lactose and human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). While the first two provide calories and nourish the baby’s developing brain and body, the HMOs are not digestible by humans but perform the task of feeding the baby’s developing community of gut microbes. In fact, human milk is the result of thousands of years of human evolution and this timespan has allowed its optimization for both the health of the child and their developing microbial community.

In 2015 the US Department of Agriculture, responsible for updating dietary guidelines every 5 years, finally gave the green light for cholesterol-rich foods such as butter, eggs, full-fat dairy products, coconut oil and meat, which had been in the “naughty” list for nearly 40 years.

In fact, in 2015, the department stated that even though the previous Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended that cholesterol intake be limited to no more than 300mg/day, the 2015 DGAC will abandon this recommendation on the basis of available evidence showing no significant relationship between consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum (blood) cholesterol,

While scientific interest in beetroot has only gained momentum in the past few decades, reports of its use as a natural medicine date back to Roman times (1).

Beets are an ancient and prehistoric food that grew wild along the coastlines of North Africa, Asia, and Europe and was part of the human diet. Our prehistoric ancestors consumed the green part of the beets, in fact the sweet beet “root” we eat today and consider “beet” was only first cultivated in the era of ancient Rome. Then, in the 19th century beets began to be used for the production of sugar and still are today (these beets are unfortunately often genetically modified) (2).