Info available to make right food choices

Info available to make right food choices
By Paul Hanley,
The StarPhoenixMarch 30, 2010 2:0
EWG has a good section, for example, on baby bottles, formulas and health impacts. Here are their pointers for parents:

- Breastfeeding is usually the best. If you bottle feed, use glass bottles. Plastic bottles can leach a toxic chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) into formula and breast milk. Avoid clear, hard plastic bottles marked with a "7" or "PC."

- Use a clear silicone nipple. Latex rubber nipples can cause allergic reactions and can contain impurities linked to cancer.

- Don't use plastic bottle liners, which may leach chemicals into formula and breast milk, especially when heated.

- Use filtered tap water. If your water is fluoridated, use a reverse osmosis filter to remove fluoride, which the American Dental Association recommends avoiding when reconstituting formula. If your water is not fluoridated, use a carbon filter. If you choose bottled water, make sure it's fluoride-free.

- Choose powdered formula. Bisphenol A (BPA) can leach into liquid formula sold in metal cans. Canadian tests show no BPA leaching into powdered formula.

- Heating: Warm bottles in a pan of hot water. Microwaving can heat unevenly and cause chemicals to leach from plastic bottles into formula.