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com.j. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt.

This is Scientific American 60-second science. I'm Cynthia Graber. Got a minute?

Faraging for food in urban areas is on the rise, not dumpster diving, collecting fruits and herbs.

Throughout cities, forgotten fruit trees still produce, well, produce. For example, there was a peach tree in my former backyard in Somerville near Boston.

And today, there are even

maps to some of those trees so foragers can take advantage of free produce that otherwise goes

largely uneaten by people anyway. But after one member of what's called the League of Urban Canters

in the Boston area was discovered to have relatively high levels of blood lead, researchers at Wellesley

College decided to test urban fruit and herbs.

They wanted to see if the fruit posed a threat due to lead or other contaminants in urban soils.

The League of Urban Canters provided 166 samples of faraged fruit, including apples, peaches, and cherries, and herbs.

The scientists dehydrated samples in a manner similar to that of the urban canners, and

they compared those specimens to commercially available fruit.

Apples did indeed contain lead, but the amount in an average apple was significantly lower than what the EPA considered safe in a day's supply of tap water.

Next, the team investigated the nutrients in far-aged urban fruit, and the picked fruit in general had higher levels of most micronutrients than did store-bought fruit.

Calcium and iron were higher in all urban samples, and other nutrients, including manganese, zinc, magnesium, and potassium were higher in some urban fruits.

The study was presented at a recent meeting of the Geological Society of America.

The scientists thus conclude that it's safe and healthy to eat fruit from most urban trees in common spaces.

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