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Nov. 18, 1997
"Washed fruits and vegetables do not contain concentrated dioxin..."
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If you have a question or concern about healthy dietary
choices, send it to us in an e-mail message, and
we'll forward it to Dr. Attwood.
Dioxin
It was with great
interest that I read the article on your Web site about
dioxin. I have had tremedous, unfocused fear about this
pollutant for a long time, and what you had to say
allayed a lot of my worries. However, at one point you
wrote:
" . . . dioxin cannot be absorbed by inhalation from the air, and so can be avoided if people eat low on the food chain. "Those who follow a vegetarian diet," she says, "usually don't have to worry about dioxin." Vegetables, fruits, and grains do not contain concentrated amounts of this compound."
My question is, if it's so hard for a veggie human to absorb dangerous amounts of dioxin on her diet of plant sources, why do our herbivore cousins, the cows, absorb enough to become themselves a dioxin risk? I have been a vegetarian for many years, and the news that my chosen lifestyle benefits me by keeping dioxin out of my diet is thrilling to hear! Still, something in the above logic seems to be missing for me. If you can shed any light on this misunderstanding, I would appreciate it.
One more request--I limit my dairy intake to nonfat yogurt and nonfat cottage cheese. I have toyed with the idea for some time of eliminating dairy products entirely from my diet. I keep them in because they are such easy fatfree sources of calcium and protein. Would you recommend chucking them altogether?
Large animals such as
cattle get dioxin directly from downstream pollution of
burning plastics and paper mills. The state of Maine, for
instance, contains much of this. Therefore, the existence
of Maine's Coalition Group. Also, pollution from the
burning plastics, etc after being ingested in water and
grass by cattle is concentrated within the cattle liver.
It's excreted in concentrated form in their milk. Washed
fruits and vegetables do not contain concentrated dioxin
as dioxin contains no binders and and be washed off the
outside of these foods. Always wash your fruits and
vegetables before eating them.
Dairy products are not the best source of calcium. See my milk essay on the web site. It will explain why. You're doing just fine. Keep up the good work.
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