“My mom doesn’t allow food with added chemicals in our house.”
“I only eat organic food because there aren’t any chemicals added.”
“I need to go on a cleanse to get rid of the toxic chemicals in my body.”
Do any of these sound familiar? Many health professionals, myself included, have become alarmed by the rise of these types of statements and consider them a symptom of the growing trend of “chemophobia,” or the fear of chemicals. Navigating the world of food can be tricky, but when an unfounded fear is thrown in, it can become problematic. Chemophobia can breed avoidance of perfectly healthy foods, make a person susceptible to an overly restrictive diet and be downright expensive. I particularly cringe when I hear children express chemophobia. Children need to learn how to love and enjoy healthy food, but having a fear of chemicals teaches them to fear food instead.
As our food supply system gets more advanced and thus more complicated, we need to have a grasp of basic chemistry in order to sift through the valid information versus the pure baloney. Enter the age of chemical literacy.
Why chemical literacy? A person who is not chemically literate is easily led to believe there are scary chemicals hiding in our food supply, and that our bodies are somehow in need of a “cleanse” to get rid of those toxic chemicals. A chemically literate person knows everything is made of chemicals and does not fear scary sounding chemical names, but instead knows to be selective about which chemical to avoid or limit, and which chemical is actually needed for a healthy body. The chemically illiterate person is alarmed by ascorbic acid, but the chemically literate person is able to determine that this is just another term for vitamin C.
The case of the yoga mat chemical. A popular self-proclaimed health guru has been quoted as saying there is never a safe level of chemical to consume. Indeed, this particular person has made a lucrative career out of choosing scary sounding food ingredients and leading the charge to rid the food supply of that ingredient. One of these ingredients was azodicarbonomide, which is a chemical used to help bread dough rise; it’s also used to help other items rise, such as getting air bubbles into your yoga mat. Thus, it was termed the “yoga mat chemical” and vilified until a popular sandwich chain removed it.
The problem is that there was nothing to fear from this chemical. It has been shown to be safe except in one situation — when it’s inhaled during the manufacturing process. Guess what else is not safe to inhale? Dihydrogen monoxide. Also known as water.
The fear of chemicals makes us easy prey for people peddling misinformation, whether they themselves are also misguided or they’re trying to scare us into buying their “safe” product or diet plan.
Basic truths of chemistry. It’s important to remember that everything is made of chemicals. It’s impossible to not consume chemicals, and to imply that we should try is ludicrous. Of course, some chemicals are quite dangerous, while others are only dangerous at certain doses or in certain applications (such as breathing in water — quite dangerous).
Another basic truth of chemistry is the adage sola dosis facit venenum, or the dose makes the poison. Even healthy chemicals can become toxic at certain doses. For example, retinol can be toxic in high doses, but it’s essential for health in lower doses — retinol is a chemical form of vitamin A.
Moving toward chemical literacy. Two basic steps toward chemical literacy are to become acquainted with the language of chemistry, and to discard the advice that scary sounding chemicals are automatically bad for us. Learning the language of chemistry helps us become more savvy when hearing chemical terms, and less likely to be duped into fear-based decisions. A great place to start is the free tutorials on chemistry available through the Khan Academy.
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Should You Fear Chemicals in Your Food? originally appeared on usnews.com
