How Safe Are Your Green Leafy Vegetables?

Hyderabad: A joint study conducted by team of researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) and the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRDA) have revealed a startling fact that how hazardous are the green leafy vegetables that are grown along the river Musi.

The team found high levels of heavy metals in the leafy vegetables, which cause a serious damage on health as these metals tend to accumulate in the body, which keep on adding over the years. The samples had high concentration of manganese, lead, copper, zinc, iron and cadmium than the permissible levels on a daily basis.

The Musi river is notorious of being highly pollutant with industrial effluents and municipal sewage making the vegetables within the vicinity of river to get contaminated

“The research team comprised of G Anil and ES Priya, who said that total concentration of these heavy metals was as high as 550.97 mg per kg of spinach and 493.34 mg per kg of Amaranthus (Bhaji),” Times of India reported.

The Musi river is notorious of being highly pollutant with industrial effluents and municipal sewage making the vegetables within the vicinity of river to get contaminated.

“One should consume at least 300 grams of vegetables including the leafy variety every day for good health. If the vegetables contain high levels of contaminants, one will end up consuming four to five times more than the daily permissible limits, which vary from just 35 micro grams in case of cadmium to 10 mg in case of manganese,“ Dr M Khaja, clinical toxicologist reported to Times of India.

A considerable amount of green leafy vegetables that comes into the city is sourced from the farms along the river Musi.