Yes, the canned beans and the shampoo you bought last week might share a hard-to-pronounce ingredient. But that doesn’t mean the beans are bad for you. Before you let a social media influencer scare you off of certain “scary” foods, read this.
Some ingredients used in food are also used in cleaning products, cosmetics, and medication, but that doesn't necessarily make them dangerous. The amount you consume matters. That’s what my mom would say when I asked to eat an entire watermelon for dinner.
"But fruit is healthy," I would beg. At that moment, my mom was passing on age-old wisdom — that it doesn’t just matter if something is"good for you" or"bad for you," the amount you consume matters, too. A candy bar with lunch can be OK. Eating all my Halloween candy in one night: a haunting tummyache. A glass of wine with dinner? Fun! A whole bottle? Head-splitting. The same principle often applies to the kinds of food additives that appear on product labels with tongue-twisting names that sound like they were pulled from chemistry textbooks or sci-fi movies. They can be perfectly safe to consume — in certain quantities.Initially, I was skeptical, too — could something that works as a heavy-duty cleaner really be OK in food, even in small amounts? But it turns out my mom was right: How much you consume makes a big difference. "Many food-grade additives share names with industrial products, but concentration makes all the difference," said Jessica Steier, a public health expert, podcaster and CEO of the science communication organization Unbiased Science."The food-grade versions are highly purified, used in tiny amounts, and serve specific functions like pH regulation or preservation."and other chemicals used in food, experts consistently said,"the dose makes the poison." In other words, the toxicity of a substance in large amounts doesn’t necessarily translate to it being dangerous in small amounts. Here’s another example: sodium bicarbonate. It can be used to clean ovens, unclog drains and extinguish fires. When consumed in This applies to so many ingredients in our pantries. Table salt, or sodium chloride, is essential for the human body, but too much sodium can lead to health problems like cardiovascular issues and hypertension. Even too much water can be bad for you. "The same chemical at different concentrations can be either beneficial or harmful " Steier wrote in an email to PolitiFact. The way you are exposed also makes a difference – something might be safe to put on your skin, but not good to eat. Or, something may be safe to eat, but not safe to inhale."The route of exposure is very important when considering toxicity," said Norbert Kaminski, toxicologist and director of the Center for Research on Ingredient Safety at Michigan State University. But with so many ingredients to parse through, online influencers often point to scary warning labels that apply to chemicals in high doses. And they don’t mention that those warnings don’t apply to the way they usually appear in food: in very small quantities., or calcium disodium EDTA, is used in food to preserve the flavor, color and texture of foods like canned soda, canned beans and vegetables, dressings and sauces. The. But online, warnings about side effects of medical calcium disodium EDTA, which is administered in higher doses, were used to raise concerns about the use of the additive inThe FDA regulates safe levels of food additives. What is considered a"safe level" for a given ingredient is often"several magnitudes lower than what is typically found in animal studies," to be safe, said Kaminski. "Total elimination isn't possible; these elements are part of the earth's crust, and attempting zero tolerance could eliminate nutritious foods from our diet without meaningful health benefit," Steier said. That’s where the FDA’s regulations come in. So, Thin Mints are safe to eat despite small traces of these metals .in food because it is used so widely in agriculture. The Environmental Protection Agency and the FDA monitor these levels and considerSo, wash your produce. Eat the things you love as part of a balanced eating plan. And don’t believe every scary ingredient video you see in your social media feed. First ask: How much is there?Email interview with Jessica Steier,public health expert and CEO of the science communication organization Unbiased Science, Aug. 13 2025 Interview with Norbert Kaminski, toxicologist and director of the Center for Research on Ingredient Safety at Michigan State University, Aug. 13, 2025 The Jeffrey Epstein files “were made up by Comey. They were made up by Obama. They were made up by Biden.”Photos and videos show Washington, D.C., protests against White House adviser Elon Musk are “staged & paid — bussed in, scripted, clocked out.” With voting machines,"They say we're going to have the results in two weeks. With paper ballots, you have the results that night." La presidenta de México, Claudia Sheinbaum, dijo que la muerte del político colombiano Miguel Uribe Turbay, “Es bueno para Colombia, un político menos de que preocuparse”. “Democrats have 24 more seats than they would have if illegal aliens were not counted in the census.”
Trisodium Phosphate Glyphosate Propylene Glycol Heavy Metals EDTA
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