Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is an ABCD?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-Born_Confused_Desi
See also ABC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-born_Chinese
Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
81–90 of 217 posts
Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#82I'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…
How can I test for lead in my tumeric?
Edit: found this page which is amazing https://eatrightindia.gov.in/dart/
Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#83People and companies knowingly contaminating food products with poisons like lead, should be put in jail. Companies knowingly selling such products, should be at least heavily fined, possibly prosecuted as well. Bottom line, this is clearly poisoning (and killing people) to make a few extra bucks. There should be no leniency whatsoever for this clear evil.
>There should be no leniency whatsoever for this clear evil.
Normally I'd call this sort of language hyperbolic, but in this case I'm not sure it is.
You know people are consuming this product. Literally poisoning people to save a few dollars? It's inexplicable.
Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
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-…
I buy from thespicehouse.com - they seem to be careful, but I haven't inquired about turmeric. I should send them an email. (I prefer them over Penzey's, which is the same family, because they have dried fenugreek leaves.)
I buy from there too.
Here's their answer and it's disappointing. tl;dr: they import the whole spice and have it ground in the US.
https://www.thespicehouse.com/pages/ingredients-and-allergy-...
forget trusted suppliers; they should be running lab tests on random samples
Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#85I 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 :(
I suggest asking your Indian friends where they buy their spices from, and check out your local Indian grocery store - the spices are from major Indian brands and undergo a lot of testing, with additional certification for export to the US.
>check out your local Indian grocery store - the spices are from major Indian brands and undergo a lot of testing, with additional certification for export to the US.
Well, uh, I'm no expert, having just read about this here, today. But what you are saying flies in the face of half of the comments here, doesn't it? What makes you sure that the "local Indian grocery store" is getting high-quality, tested spices?
Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#86Earlier 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 ")
>They expect us to be swayed by a stock photo of a laboratory?
I don't think any picture of a lab would have any meaning to me, whatsoever. Is the product legit tested? That's all that matters. I don't care what the lab looks like.
Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
There are youtube videos showing how to do the turmeric test with water. Definitely, everyone that uses it, should know this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXWPf0HQd5U (Testing Turmeric Powder adulteration with Artificial Color)
I just tried this test with some turmeric powder I had at home and it failed according to what is shown in the video. I happened to have a lead testing kit, and it doesn't have lead though. The powder does have some ginger and other herbs in it, so apparently harmless adulterants other than lead can cause it to fail this visual test.
Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#88Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
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-…
I buy from thespicehouse.com - they seem to be careful, but I haven't inquired about turmeric. I should send them an email. (I prefer them over Penzey's, which is the same family, because they have dried fenugreek leaves.)
If you don't have or provide any insight into their testing processes, I don't think a recommendation is relevant here.
Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
inadvertent contamination with Argemone plants growing in mustard fields You sometimes still see mustard advertised as "argemone-free". To think that some people in the US voluntarily drink yellowroot tea because apparently it helps with diabetes is scary - the chemical similiarity between sanguinarine in argemone and berberine in yellowroot is just too great for it to be a good idea.
I don't know anything about the tea you refer to, but "the chemical is similar" is not a great signal, IMO. You can even have the exact same chemical with different chirality having dramatically different effects on the body (eg: l- and d- methamphetamine, and plenty of others). Not saying it has 0 relevance, but I wouldn't take it to mean much on its own. It's like people being scared of mercury dental fillings beca…
Knee-jerk reactions like that aren't helpful with biological compounds. In this case they're both benzophenanchridine/isoquinoline alkaloids with the same functional groups: a methylenedioxy bridge and at least one methoxy group.
L- and D-methamphetamine are a rather unique case because their enantiomeric forms have different effects on the central and peripheral nervous systems. They're much more different from each other structurally than berberine is from sanguinarine.