One facet of parenting is having an innately strong desire to feed your kids foods that are as safe, nutritious, and digestible as possible. Doing this isn’t always as easy as scanning a list of ingredients or washing the produce you buy. 

Heavy metals and nitrates associated with developmental problems in young children are regularly found in all food, including baby food. There may be no way to avoid them—nor a verifiably safe amount to consume them¹—but there’s no reason to panic. 

"Although the environment can pose some risks, the important thing is not to worry,” advises Dr. Manisha Panchal, a pediatrician. “Instead, try to control what is in our hands.” 

The 411 on heavy metals and nitrates

Heavy metals are in the earth’s crust. They become part of the soils in which we grow fruits and vegetables. And as fruits and vegetables grow, they absorb the metals. Heavy metals are also often present in the water that plants absorb. Animals eat those plants, and we eat the animals’ meat. 

Technically, heavy metals are present in all food, not just baby food. And because they’re inside—not on the surface of—the plants and animal products we eat, we can’t simply wash them off². 

In 2019, a nonprofit organization called Healthy Babies Bright Futures tested 168 types of prepared baby food from top brands for four metals found to cause developmental problems in babies: lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic. 

The study contended that even low exposure levels of heavy metals in a young child’s diet can lead to lower academic achievement, attention deficits, or behavioral issues. The researchers found that 95 percent of the foods they tested contained low amounts of at least one of these heavy metals; they were most frequently found in baby foods containing rice, fruit juice, carrots, and sweet potatoes³.

In 2021, the U.S. Congress launched Closer to Zero, a plan that identifies the action the Food and Drug Administration will take to “reduce exposure to arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury from foods eaten by babies and young children to as low as possible⁴." To that end, it’s somewhat comforting to know that FDA scientists routinely monitor levels of toxic elements in baby foods, along with other foods consumed in the country’s diet, through the Total Diet Study.

Like heavy metals, nitrates come from soil. They are found in nitrogen-rich fertilizers that farmers use to help plants grow. They often contaminate the outside of the plant, especially those that grow in or close to the ground, including carrots, beets, squash, spinach, and green beans, Dr. Panchal says. 

Too much exposure to nitrates can negatively impact a baby’s hemoglobin levels and how a baby carries oxygen.

Foods (and beverages) most likely to contain heavy metals:

Foods most likely to contain nitrates:

This may all sound really scary, but there’s no need to panic. Whether or not we think about (or like) it, we have all been exposed to various levels of heavy metals and nitrates our whole lives—and we’re OK, right? 

“Low levels of heavy metals found in baby foods are not likely to cause brain damage or lower IQ, or [otherwise] cause significant harm,” Dr. Panchal says. 

Still, it’s hard to determine our consumption levels, let alone which consumption levels are safe. It’s reasonable to be concerned, and to wonder what we can—and should—do, as parents, about heavy metals and nitrates in food.

Research has shown that homemade and store-bought baby foods are generally equally safe, with respect to these hidden ingredients. Minuscule amounts of heavy metals and nitrates are present in our food, even organic; they are hard to avoid. There are, however, some simple steps we can take to reduce our babies’ exposure to them.

Serve a wide variety of foods

The single most important thing you can do when your baby starts eating solid foods is to mix it up, serving something different every day. Doing so will automatically reduce your baby’s risk to high-contaminant foods. And if you can also rotate the suppliers of foods you buy that are most likely to contain heavy metals and nitrates (such as carrots, sweet potatoes, or rice), you can vary up the levels of metals and nitrates you serve your baby by default⁵.

Feed both homemade and store-bought baby food

Commercial baby food producers check for nitrate levels (and many, but not all, check for heavy metals), but with homegrown or even farmers’ market veggies, you can’t necessarily do the same. This doesn’t mean that you should stop making baby food, or stop tending your garden—keep at it!—but rather that because fertilizers contain nitrates, you should vary your growing methods and food sources. 

Lean on fresh or frozen fruit

Fresh and frozen fruits are less likely to contain heavy metals than canned fruits⁶; researchers have detected up to 30 times more lead, for example, in canned fruit vs. fresh and frozen. 

Take care with rice

Commercial baby cereals, including those made with rice, are generally fortified with iron, which babies need. You can rotate which kinds of baby cereals you feed your child, including oat or mixed-grain cereals (with less or potentially no rice).

A study in Consumer Reports found that rice from California, India, and Pakistan tends to contain the lowest levels of heavy metals⁷. FDA testing also found that you can reduce arsenic levels in rice by soaking it overnight or cooking it in extra water; it recommends using 6 to 10 cups of water with every 1 cup of rice. 

Broaden your baby’s snack choices

Avoid serving the same snacks over and over again, especially if they are rice-based. Instead, swap rice-based puffs for multigrain or other rice-free options. Try other snacks, such as fruit, yogurt, or a cheese stick. Instead of reaching for teething biscuits, opt for a frozen banana or whole chilled cucumber. 

It’s OK to serve carrots and sweet potatoes

You may be thinking that you ought to shield your baby from carrots and sweet potatoes because of their likelihood to contain heavy metals or nitrates. No need. These beautifully orange foods pack a huge nutritional punch. They are especially rich in vitamin A, which supports your baby’s vision. 

Do, however, read the list of ingredients in blended commercial baby foods to determine whether these foods also contain carrots or sweet potatoes. (Sometimes one of them is listed as the primary ingredient in purees marketed as blends of various fruits.) Also try mixing other vitamin A-rich produce into your baby’s diet, such as butternut squash.

Avoid juice

The American Academy of Pediatrics says babies should not be given juice before their first birthday for many reasons, mostly related to obesity⁸, but heavy metals present in various juices is another reason. Instead, serve whole fruit or pureed fruit, and stick with water as the beverage to serve with meals and snacks. Watch out for baby food that lists juice as an ingredient.

Ask questions, and do your research

Some companies share how they treat heavy metals from “farm to fork” so you can find details on their supply chain and processing methods, along with whether they test the ingredients and the final product. If you garden a lot at home, you might want to know about your soil composition anyway, including the presence of heavy metals. There are commercial kits available to test for lead and nitrates/nitrogen.