Scientists say you should peel cucumbers to avoid cancer-causing pesticides. But is it really necessary?
In most British households it is common practice to wash fruit and vegetables before eating them.
However, new research suggests that this may not be enough to remove potentially harmful pesticides from your produce.
Experts from Anhui Agricultural University in China used a highly sensitive film to detect traces of chemicals that other tests could not detect.
Tests on apples and cucumbers, as well as other foods such as shrimp and rice, showed that washing food does not remove traces of pesticides linked to liver cancer.
According to the scientists, their findings provide evidence that washing fruits and vegetables is not enough. They suggest peeling foods such as apples and cucumbers instead.
Have you ever thought about peeling a cucumber? Then you might want to consider it, according to Chinese scientists who found that washing wasn’t enough to remove pesticides that could be harmful to human health
Writing in the diary Nano lettersthey concluded: ‘The risk of pesticide intake via fruit cannot be avoided by simply washing it, rather than peeling it.
‘We believe that peeling can effectively avoid pesticide hazards in the epidermis (skin) and the pulp just below the epidermis, thereby reducing the risk of pesticide ingestion.’
But is peeling fruits and vegetables really that important for protecting our long-term health?
For the new study, the researchers sprayed the tested fruit with the pesticides thiram and carbendazim.
Experts from Anhui Agricultural University in Hefei City originally conducted experiments on apples and dried fruit before conducting the experiment on cucumbers, shrimp, chili pepper powder and rice
The product was then washed, to mimic the daily habits of millions of families who purchase such items every day.
However, using their special film, they showed that washing was not enough to remove the presence of these pesticides. They could be detected even at ‘low concentrations’.
They then repeated the study with other foods, including cucumbers, shrimp, chili powder, and rice. The results were similar, showing that these foods were also contaminated with pesticides.
Some animal studies have shown that carbendazim increases the risk of liver cancer. Thiram has also been linked to developmental problems in unborn children and is a skin irritant, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
High exposure to carbendazim has been associated with headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and movement problems.
However, Thiram and carbendazim are not approved for use in the UK.
Although these chemicals can be grown in the UK and sold in supermarkets, the traces of the chemicals are too low to cause the harmful effects found in the studies.
Separate studies of pesticides in general have shown that exposure to pesticides is associated with an increased risk of cancer in humans.
A recent study even found that pesticides have a greater impact on cancers such as Hopkins lymphoma, leukemia and bladder cancer than smoking.
However, experts say the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables far outweigh the risks associated with eating foods with negligible amounts of pesticides.