Synthetic chemicals are present in foods at much lower levels than are many naturally occurring carcinogens and toxins. Also, in many cases the synthetic chemicals are less potent carcinogens than the ones that are a natural part of our food
We are routinely warned by earnest websites, advertisements, and well-meaning popular articles about 'nasty' chemicals lurking in our homes and kitchens. Many tout the benefits of switching to a 'chemical-free lifestyle.' 1 However, there is no way to get away from chemicals since everything we eat is made of chemicals. There simply is no such thing as a 'chemical-free lifestyle.'
Yet, surprisingly, the greatest number of carcinogens facing human cells do not come from outside the body, but are the normal by-products of human metabolism. 2
For example, what do radiation, hypochlorite, nitrogen oxide, cyanide, ozone formaldehyde, hydrochloric acid, 1,4-dioxane, trichloroethylene, and chloroform have in common? One answer is that they all bring to mind scary, perhaps carcinogenic agents, created in most part by industry. Another answer is that these are all created by ourselves, within our own bodies, without any help from outside forces such as industry or the environment. For example, the average human body contains enough sulfur to kill all fleas on an average dog, carbon to make 900 pencils, potassium to fire a toy cannon, fat to make seven bars of soap, phosphorus to make 2,200 match heads, and enough iron to make a three inch nail. 3)
The EPA concerns itself at ambient air concentrations less than one-ten-thousandth the level found in normal intestinal gases. The typical human body exhausts 20 grams of organic product per day in intestinal gas, sweat, urine and feces.
The medical community has long recognized that humans exhale volatile organic compounds. The major VOCs in the breath of healthy individuals are isoprene (12-580 parts per billion, ppb), acetone, (1.2-1,880 ppb), ethanol (13-1,000 ppb), and methanol (160-2,000 ppb). 4
Cyanide and thiocyanate are naturally present in urine and blood, but this does not necessarily indicate poisoning.
At the concentration secreted by the stomach lining, hydrochloric acid (pH 2.0) is deadly to living cells and powerful enough to dissolve zinc (more corrosive than coke).5
Our blood contains potassium 40 from which we get an internal dose of around 30 millirems of radiation in one year. 6
Every time our while blood cells combat a bacterial infection, they pour out mutagenic oxygen radicals and hypochlorite, which is the same chemical found in Chlorox. 7
Ozone is a familiar component of air in industrial and urban settings where the gas is a hazardous component of smog. Guess what? We humans produce ozone without any help from industry or the environment.
Our own bodies create formaldehyde as a normal by-product during amino acid synthesis and overall metabolism, including breaking down antibiotics and other medications., It's also in drinking water and the air we breathe. Ninety percent of the formaldehyde around us is natural occurring, with 60 percent of that coming from plants and trees, yet it's still perfectly fine to walk though the woods. 8
Many foods contain naturally occurring formaldehyde:
Foods contain natural chemicals that are essential for growth and health., including carbohydrates, sugars, proteins and vitamins. But some foods contain potentially harmful natural toxins.
A monograph by I. E. Liener contains some three thousand literature references on thousands of chemicals isolated from common vegetables that have been shown to have the potential to cause negative effects on human and animal health. There is probably no food that doesn't contain some potentially harmful natural chemical. 10
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The reason for the presence of natural toxins is not always known. In some foods, a toxin is present as a naturally occurring pesticide to ward off insect attack. Or a toxin may be formed to protect the plants from spoilage when damaged by weather, handling, UV light or microbes.
Here are some examples of toxins in foods:
Bruce Ames and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, have reported that many of our foods contain pesticides created naturally by plants for self-protection. We ingest at least 10,000 times more, by weight, of natural pesticides than of synthetic pesticide residues. These natural chemicals vary enormously in chemical structure, appear to be present in all plants, and serve to protect plants against fungi, insects, and animal predators. 11
Caffeine, weight by weight, is more toxic than most pesticides.
A cup of coffee is estimated to contain more than 2,000 natural chemical compounds and just one cup has fifty times the mutagenic activity of the smoke absorbed from smoking a single cigarette. There are more rodent carcinogens by weight in a single cup of coffee than potentially carcinogenic synthetic pesticide residues in the average US diet in a year, and this doesn't count the 1,000 or so chemicals yet to be tested. 12
Many types of beans contain toxins called lectins. The highest concentrations are found in kidney beans, especially red kidney beans. 13
Summary
The chemicals and toxins discussed above are all natural, not synthetic. Should you worry? Absolutely not. In these cases the levels that can cause damage are much higher than those typically found in foods. The risks of serious health problems in not consuming a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables in your diet are much greater than the risks of health problems associated with chemicals and natural plant toxins.
Synthetic chemicals are present in foods at much lower levels than are many naturally occurring carcinogens and toxins. Also, in many cases the synthetic chemicals are less potent carcinogens than the ones that are a natural part of our food.
References
Chris Thompson, “Everything you eat is made of chemicals,” asch.org, April 12, 2016
James Trefil, Human Nature, (New York, Times Books, 2004), 99
Jack W. Dini, “The carcinogenic body,” Plating & Surface Finishing, May 2005
J. D. Fenske and S. E. Paulson, Journal of Air & Waste Management Association, 49, 594, 1999
Peter Farb and George Armelagos, Consuming Passions, (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980), 23
Richard Wilson and Edmund A. C. Crouch, Risk-Benefit Analysis, Second Edition, (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2001), 23
Michael Fumento, Bio Evolution, (San Francisco, Encounter Books, 2003), 138
Tara Haelle, “No more formaldehyde in baby shampoo,” slate.com, March 3, 2014
“Foods known to contain naturally occurring formaldehyde,” World Health Organization, April 3, 2015
"Toxic Constituents of Plant Foodstuffs,” Second Edition, I. E. Liener, Editor, (New York, Academic Press, 1980)
Bruce N. Ames and Lois Swirsky Gold, “Environmental pollution and cancer: some misconceptions,” in Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns, Jay H. Lehr, Editor, (New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992), 153
L. S. Gold, Science 258, 261, October 1992
“Natural toxins in foods,” New Zealand Food Saftey Authority, nzfa.govt.nz, April 12, 2010
Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology. He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.
We are routinely warned by earnest websites, advertisements, and well-meaning popular articles about 'nasty' chemicals lurking in our homes and kitchens. Many tout the benefits of switching to a 'chemical-free lifestyle.' 1 However, there is no way to get away from chemicals since everything we eat is made of chemicals. There simply is no such thing as a 'chemical-free lifestyle.'
Yet, surprisingly, the greatest number of carcinogens facing human cells do not come from outside the body, but are the normal by-products of human metabolism. 2
