A study by Environmental Working Group researchers found a link between the types of produce people eat with levels of pesticides found in their urine. File Photo by Billie Jean Shaw/UPI
Eating fruits and vegetables is key to good health, but a new study suggests that choosing produce with higher pesticide residues may boost the amount of these chemicals leaching into the body.
Researchers linked the types of produce people eat with levels of pesticides found in their urine.
The results show that eating foods on the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list such as spinach, strawberries and kale was tied to higher pesticide levels than eating items from the "Clean Fifteen," which includes pineapples, sweet corn and avocados.
"We found consuming different types of fruits and vegetables changes your pesticide levels accordingly, with greater consumption of the higher-residue foods increasing pesticide levels in urine more than consumption of the lower-residue foods," study author Alexis Temkin, vice president of science at EWG, told CNN.
