Did you see the recent article and are now worried about your hummus, chickpea protein powder or Banza pasta? Yes? Us too so we wanted to help you with some information that can help you make deliciously doable “better” nutrition choices more often.
What is glyphosate and why should you care?
A (too) commonly used herbicide, glyphosate can negatively impact health based on global research. It is what led to a desire for non-GMO ingredients and labeling. But, in those and even organic foods there can still be glyphosate residues.
Do chickpeas, hummus and Banza pasta contain more glyphosate residues?
The testing done revealed many instances where there were elevated levels. This is likely due to an agricultural use of spraying on chickpeas at the end of their growth to make harvesting easier. This is the same practice with wheat. So while these are not “GMO” ingredients they may have higher amounts of residues.
Should you stop eating chickpeas, hummus and Banza pasta?
It depends on your health goals, budget, and how often you have these ingredients. Here are some suggestions to help you when it comes to pastas, salads, protein powders, chickpea snacks, soups, spreads and beans (garbanzo/chickpea):
- Choose organic chickpea as an ingredient wherever possible; it may still have glyphosate residues but at much lower amounts.Rotate your bean sources – this gives you a good range of amino acids too
- Make your own hummus – try this recipe for chocolate chip hummus
- Choose pastas from other nuts, beans and grains or trial out swapping in veggies like cauliflower and beets
- Start looking for Glyphosate Residue Free certification on products that you consume more often like these from The Detox Project
But make sure you note these as well:
- Just because something is lower in glyphosate does not make it an overall better nutrition win, we still want to use our 4 pillars to evaluate choices (if you are a BNP member you have the BNP Nutrition Plan, menus and guides to more easily identify better swaps)
- You can test your glyphosate levels – we have access to a quick test if you are interested
- Products that have organic chickpeas aren’t necessarily low in glyphosate residue as it could come from other ingredients
