Here at Go Frolic, readers of Food is Love know I think fat - healthful fat, that is - is a pretty good thing.  I will neither confirm nor deny the rumors that I snack on organic butter, but let’s just say I’ve paid off the only person who knows for sure with some dairy products and he’s not talking. 

Good quality fats, including saturated fats, are essential for neurological function, energy, and other aspects of our health.  Plus, they taste great and, research now suggests, don’t actually increase your risk of heart disease or make you overweight.  So no problem, right?

Well, something’s troubling me: dioxin content.  I’ve known about dioxin for a long time, but now that I’ve been eating more animal fats and animal products, what I learned about dioxin years ago in environmental studies classes is starting to creep back into the front of my brain, much like dioxins leeching out of a landfill.  Eek.  Okay, scratch that metaphor, and bear with me as I learn about and sort out this information.

Dioxin Background

Dioxin is a general term that, when describing certain specific environmental pollutants, refers to a set of compounds made up of two oxygens (there’s that “dioxin” name) sandwiched between a pair of benzene rings.  In practice, dioxins are extraordinarily toxic waste products of industrial processes like pesticide use, paper bleaching, coal burning, and smelting (metal extraction).  Because there are several forms of dioxin that are environmental pollutants, and because the term is broader than these specific compounds, the terms “dioxin” and “dioxins” are used fairly interchangeably.  

You don’t want these building up in your body.  They are associated with higher rates of cancer, disrupt the endocrine system, mess with hormone levels and reproductive systems, and cause birth defects, skin diseases, and other problems.  Unfortunately, they’re hard to avoid because there is a staggering quantity of dioxin and other contaminants in our soil, sky, fellow creatures, and waters - even in the most remote and pristine-seeming places in this country.  Like most creatures, we absorb most of our dioxin through our food, where it builds up over time through the food chain and through contaminated soil and plants.

Let’s look at the food chain.  Dioxin, like mercury and some other industrial contaminants, does this sneaky thing called bioaccumulation.  Bioaccumulation is the process of a contaminant increasing in concentration the higher it creeps up the food chain.  Dioxin is stored in fat cells, where it accumulates over time.  As animals eat each other, it increases exponentially as it gets closer to the largest, longest-living carnivorous animals at the top (like us).

Picture the smallest fish taking in environmental dioxin as it swims about until getting eaten by the second-smallest fish.  The second-smallest fish has, in one meal, now inherited all the dioxins stored in the smallest fish’s body, and stored them in its own fat cells.  This happens every time the second smallest fish eats a fish.  Picture this all the way up the fish food chain to the largest fish; its fat cells are like an archive storing all that dioxin.  This is the primary reason we’re told to avoid lake fish, and fish harvested from anywhere with significant industrial contaminants.  There’s no escaping the problem, though; even ocean fish contain these chemicals, although some are worse than others.

It’s not just fish; land animals, including herbivorous ones, accumulate and store dioxin in their fat cells too.  Dioxins are found in soil, in the air, in commercial feed, in water, and in plants, so it’s hard for animals to avoid them.  Dioxins enter their bodies in several ways:

1. •Since dioxins are a residue of some pesticides and herbicides, animals who eat grain or plants treated with these chemicals absorb additional dioxin. 
   

2. •Animal feed is also a potential contaminant if it comes from sources or soils tainted with dioxin, including contaminated fertilizer
   

3. •Animals raised on contaminated pasture absorb dioxin through plants or the soil, insects, and worms they ingest, which is especially a concern for chickens.  Contaminated water is also an issue.
   

4. •Animals who are older at the time of slaughter are likely to have more dioxin stored than animals raised in the same environment for a shorter period of time. 
   

5. •No surprise here, but animals who eat other animals store dioxin of those animals in their own fat cells.  Yet another reason why feeding cow parts to cows is horrific.
   

6. •Even ideal, organic, pasture-raised animals are going to absorb some dioxin from their environment, and store it in their delicious fat cells.
   

Because dioxin is stored in fat cells, we ingest it in any form of animal fat we consume.  This includes eggs, butter, cream, milk, and meat.  In fact, butter is such a reliable measure of dioxin and pollutant contamination, that it has been used in studies to determine dioxin levels in different regions (though I bet the researchers just sat around eating the butter). 

Complicated Ambiguity

So, we just eat organic, pasture-raised meats, eggs, and dairy and everything will be okay, right?  Well, yes, I do think that’s what you should do, but you should also be aware of the dioxin issue and how it gets complicated.

A study from the Netherlands actually found worse levels of dioxin in eggs from organic (free-range and pastured) chickens than from conventional ones.  Between conventional, organic, and organic/pastured, the highest levels of dioxin were actually from the pastured chickens.  However, when you read the whole study, there are a few factors that contribute to this, primarily soil quality.  Another study indicates, through a look at dioxin in butter, that soil in the Netherlands has very high levels of dioxins and other contaminants.  Pastured chickens are ingesting a lot of soil, worms and insects, all of which are more potent sources of dioxin than plants.  It wasn’t the feed - the organic feed had less dioxin than the conventional.  In this case, bad soil sullied an otherwise great farming practice.

I’m having trouble finding information about dioxin levels in US soil, and I imagine it varies greatly by region and proximity to present or historical industrial pollutants.  I would guess that most farms in this country practicing pasturing, rotating, and grass-feeding are in areas with lower industrial contaminants, but it’s hard to say.  Most U.S. information I find on dioxin seems to be from the late 90s, like a Washington State scandal that involved manufacturers turning toxic, dioxin-heavy wastes into fertilizer.  Scary.

So, what to do?

From a health perspective, well-raised, organic animal fats are some of the most nutritious, healthful foods you can eat.  I’m not advocating giving up or even reducing a healthy intake of pastured eggs, meat, or dairy, considering their benefit, but I can understand why some people would.  Instead, here’s what I suggest:

1. Know your source

Where does your meat and dairy come from?  What are the animals eating?  Did there used to be a smelter a mile away?  Knowing the farm, the farmers’ values, and their practices isn’t going to tell you everything, but it’s going to bring you closer to getting accurate information about quality food.

2. Soil quality matters

Meats, eggs and dairy from pasture-raised animals are still going to be heavily contaminated with dioxins if the soil on which the animals are raised is contaminated.  Find out what you can about your region, if you can find anything, and talk to the farmers.  I’m curious about soil testing regulations (for things other than pesticide/herbicide residue) and will see what I can learn.

3. Grass-fed/finished, pastured, and organic is better

Aside from those concerns about soil quality, look for meat from grass-fed and  grass-finished animals, that is, animals not sent to a feed lot for the last few months of life, where the nutritional benefits of grass feeding are counteracted and where feedlot grain is likely to have higher levels of contaminants.  Organic meat, dairy and eggs will not be laden with residue of pesticides/herbicides.  Yes, pastured chicken and eggs are more likely to contain dioxin from the soil and critters ingested.  However, the nutritional benefits outweigh the risks, and on less contaminated land it’s even less of an issue.

Please note that if you’re eating large amounts of animal fat for your health (Paleo diet, low-carb, or just appreciating accurate nutritional information), the quality of your meats, fats, eggs and dairy is especially important, because you’re taking in such a large quantity of animal fat.

4. Wild fish is better than farmed or lake-caught

While this article doesn’t focus much on fish (other than our example of bioaccumulation), I will say that wild is still generally better than farmed or lake-caught.  However, be aware that some species of ocean fish have higher levels of contaminants than others.

5.  Be aware

There is some value just in knowing about dioxin contamination, or any other health issue.  I appreciate having the knowledge to make choices about my food, or to know what potential problems I’m facing.  It sucks to know that butter may contain dioxin, but it’s better to know than not to know.  We have to be aware of the consequences of our own actions as a society; we’ve been soiling our own nest.  In this case, not everything can be undone just by increasing the number of organic farms or doing things better from now on.  We’ve spoiled the soil and there’s no fully going back.  Cheery, eh?

6.  Ask questions and speak up

Learn more about this issue, ask questions, and speak up.  Do we need stricter regulations on industries that create these pollutants?  Measures for reducing dioxin in animal feed?  Reductions in dioxin-generating sources like coal power plants?  Are there changes that can come from your legislature, from community awareness, or from conversations? 

And finally, keep eating that butter.  Eat the best quality butter you can find and afford, and speak up about increasing the quality of all food in your country.  You’ll probably ingest some dioxin, and that’s sobering.  Although we can’t avoid it, we can reduce it.  In that regard, we’re luckier than the fish.  And they’re not the ones who caused the problem in the first place.

I’m curious to hear others’ opinions on this topic: dioxin-dodgers, butter-eaters, and anyone in between.  What do you think is the best way to deal with the contaminant quandary?  Also, if you have additional information about this topic, please add a comment as well.  I’m still learning about this.