Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

stanmed.stanford.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 217 posts

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#41

Post by valarauko »

akavi wrote: post #27
valarauko wrote: post #19

I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric…

As an ABCD, likewise. My mom told me to specifically buy turmeric at western grocery stores (as opposed to other spices, which could be had for better prices at Indian grocery stores) because of concerns around lead.

tbf lead testing is pretty standard in Indian spice brands for a long time now, though for some reason the brands don't really advertise it. Reputable brands like MDH and Everest would be pretty safe.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#42

Post by perihelions »

natdempk wrote: post #6
no_butterscotch wrote: post #4

I wonder if this turmeric spread and was sold in the West. My mother recently started taking "golden turmeric" and insists that it's a cure for a lot of ills. Maybe that's true I don't know, she sent me some articles a couple years ago. It was clear that she was influenced by Facebook groups. Hopefully the turmeric she takes is safe :(

If you want to be extra safe, you can buy some for her from a safer supplier like: https://www.americanturmeric.com/lead-free-turmeric

They expect us to be swayed by a stock photo of a laboratory?

https://www.americanturmeric.com/how-we-test-our-turmeric ("Laboratory Results - Buy With Confidence")

https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-laboratory-image24729... ("Royalty-Free Stock Photo: Laboratory with many operated science instrument [sic] and computer")

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#43

Post by ed25519FUUU »

rikelmens wrote: post #34
Natsu wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sort of test would you do for this? Did you have to buy a test kit?

1. The Water Test: Take a glass of warm water and add a teaspoon of your turmeric powder to it. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. If the turmeric powder settles down, it is pure. If it doesn’t settle to the bottom and leaves a dark yellow colour, it is adulterated. 2. The Palm Test: Take a pinch of your turmeric powder and rub it into the palm of your hand for a few seconds, then turn your palm over. Pure turmeric will s…

Wouldn’t lead contamination cause the turmeric to sink?

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#44

Post by natdempk »

perihelions wrote: post #42
natdempk wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to be extra safe, you can buy some for her from a safer supplier like: https://www.americanturmeric.com/lead-free-turmeric

They expect us to be swayed by a stock photo of a laboratory? https://www.americanturmeric.com/how-we-test-our-turmeric ( "Laboratory Results - Buy With Confidence" ) https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-laboratory-image24729... ( "Royalty-Free Stock Photo: Laboratory with many operated science instrument [sic] and computer ")

It's a stock photo used on a website, did you expect them to go to the actual laboratory they worked with and take one?

I have no affiliation here, but they even listed the company they used for testing so presumably you could call/email them if you want further confirmation. None of this seems unreasonable to me, and I don't think a stock photo is a gotcha for product quality.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#45

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #43
rikelmens wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. The Water Test: Take a glass of warm water and add a teaspoon of your turmeric powder to it. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. If the turmeric powder settles down, it is pure. If it doesn’t settle to the bottom and leaves a dark yellow colour, it is adulterated. 2. The Palm Test: Take a pinch of your turmeric powder and rub it into the palm of your hand for a few seconds, then turn your palm over. Pure turmeric will s…

Wouldn’t lead contamination cause the turmeric to sink?

Lead Chromate, not Lead.

But apparently it's also not very soluble in water, so the question about sinking stands.

Possibly, a chemical powder is much finer than a ground-up plant matter, and takes longer to settle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_chromate#Safety_hazar...

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#46

Post by perihelions »

natdempk wrote: post #44
perihelions wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They expect us to be swayed by a stock photo of a laboratory? https://www.americanturmeric.com/how-we-test-our-turmeric ( "Laboratory Results - Buy With Confidence" ) https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-laboratory-image24729... ( "Royalty-Free Stock Photo: Laboratory with many operated science instrument [sic] and computer ")

It's a stock photo used on a website, did you expect them to go to the actual laboratory they worked with and take one? I have no affiliation here, but they even listed the company they used for testing so presumably you could call/email them if you want further confirmation. None of this seems unreasonable to me, and I don't think a stock photo is a gotcha for product quality.

There's a lack of forthrightness in publishing a stock photo without a disclaimer. "Lack of forthrightness" is an anti-signal. Stock photography on a commercial website is an anti-signal.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#47

Post by ziml77 »

heywhatupboys wrote: post #13

This article screams "white american saviour" WHO in 2023 writes like this?? > Food Safety authority representatives, flanked by soldiers in camouflage uniforms, magenta berets and guns slung over their shoulders, strode down the center of a busy street market in Dhaka, the capital city. The crowds parted. > Men riding three-wheeled rickshaws pulled over. Street vendors stopped stirring their aromatic curries. The sp…

Did you even read the context around that? Everyone involved in the scene described was Bangladeshi. And the point of writing it like a dramatic scene in a movie is made clear in the giant quote and paragraph that follow: it was law enforcement theater. They didn't have the capacity to enforce food safety at the scale necessary, so they used this tactic to instill fear in people who were still using the outlawed lead-based pigment.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#48

Post by hinkley »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #28
valarauko wrote: post #19

I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric…

This reminds me of how scurvy was apparently well known in the age of sail but sort of forgotten with the industrial revolution. It showed back up again in Arctic expeditions from what I understand.

I don't recall where the the Arctic expeditions slot into this saga, but for ages we understood the lemon link but we hadn't identified Vitamin C yet.

So there was a moment in time where the British Royal Navy was carrying around concentrated lime juice to fight scurvy (hence, Limey). Only the vendor that made the lime juice processed it in copper vessels, destroying most of the vitamin C.

It doesn't take much vitamin C to prevent scurvy. But it does take some.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#49

Post by literalAardvark »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #45
ed25519FUUU wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t lead contamination cause the turmeric to sink?

Lead Chromate, not Lead. But apparently it's also not very soluble in water, so the question about sinking stands. Possibly, a chemical powder is much finer than a ground-up plant matter, and takes longer to settle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_chromate#Safety_hazar...

I've actually had a successful test with the water method. The lead coloring shows immediately and remains dissolved or in suspension or whatever for days, possibly forever. Turmeric doesn't usually color water at all.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#50

Post by bigbillheck »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #8
natdempk wrote: post #3

See also "Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United States": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/ The problem with lead in tumeric seems to extend beyond Bangladesh.

Yikes. Are their any trustworthy, mainstream sources of spices in the U.S.? E.g., if I buy turmeric from Walmart or Whole Foods, can I safely assume that they're monitoring the product streams for lead? EDIT: I just saw a sibling comment about a company named "American Turmeric". I'm curious about more mainstream sellers, who might possibly monitor other spices as well. I'd prefer to not play whack-a-mole on a spice-…

It's hard to go wrong with Penzey's : https://www.penzeys.com/pages/consumer-reports
Post reply on HN