Chemicals Aren't Bad. It's All Just Chemistry

We’ve all seen the posts on social media. The ones about the chemicals. The chemicals in food. Suddenly, what we learned in school about how to balance “healthy foods” (veggies, whole grain bread, chicken) and “unhealthy” foods (donuts, pizza, Halloween candy) has been replaced with hysteria over these so-called chemicals, and it’s hard to know what to believe.

The Rise of Chemophobia 

Chemophobia, is a fear of chemicals largely contrived and driven by marketers and entrepreneurs hawking shakes and supplements. If you can convince well-meaning non-scientific people that certain foods or ingredients are “bad,” that opens up the door to sell them the “good” stuff. Chemophobia was even lampooned in this Nature Chemistry article from 2014 that catalogued all of the “chemical-free” consumer products to comic effect. 

It’s easy to make people fear things they don’t understand. After all, words like “quercetin glycoside,” “procyanidin,” and “chlorogenic acid” sound scary, don't they? At least, they do until you learn that these chemicals are all part of the composition of a common apple. 

But the nutrition industry is full of people and companies who make a lot of money from convincing you that unpronounceable chemical names are scary and “chemical foods” are “out to get you.” So, they attack these concepts and molecules, and offer up their products using terms like “clean” and “natural” to make you feel all warm and fuzzy and — most importantly — safe. 

But they can’t make you feel safe without first making you feel unsafe. That’s why you see videos going viral claiming protein shakes are "not food" and just "synthetic vitamins and minerals in a chemical concoction." 

What is a Chemical?

“Chemicals” are simply elements or compounds (two or more elements in fixed proportions). Many are super simple. Water, for example, is a chemical. It consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Table salt is a chemical made up of a sodium and a chlorine ion (ions carry either a positive or negative charge  .

But what about natural vs. unnatural chemicals? Yes, some chemicals occur naturally and are stable, either because they are stable on their own (like helium) or because two or more atoms or ions are unstable by themselves and bond together for stability.

Take sugar (sucrose), which has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, and 11 oxygen atoms. Technically, yet another chemical food stuff. Of course, while sucrose is natural, not every chemical is. Some types of chemicals, like many pharmaceuticals, don’t occur in nature, but that doesn’t automatically classify them as unhealthy.

Just take a look at another artificially made chemical: ascorbic acid, better known as Vitamin C. The natural form of Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits and other plants, but it can also be synthesized in a lab, and is typically cheaper to do so. Chemically, it’s exactly the same: C₆H₈O₆, consisting of six carbon atoms, eight hydrogen atoms, and six oxygen atoms.

Whether it’s derived from oranges or made synthetically, it provides the same health benefits, such as supporting the immune system and acting as an antioxidant. In fact, synthetic Vitamin C is used in supplements and fortified foods all the time because it’s easier to produce in large quantities than extracting it directly from fruit. So, synthetic doesn’t necessarily mean unhealthy—it’s simply another way to create something that nature already provides.

The ABCs of Chemicals in Food: Apples, Bananas, and Cheetos

Chemicals, natural or not, are in everything we consume. Being a chemical doesn't inherently make it bad, nor does it make it toxic. Apples are just a collection of chemicals in an apple shape. Bananas are a whole different combination of chemicals in a banana shape. Cheetos are yet another pile of chemicals in Cheeto shape, complete with their signature orange dust. Even humans can be thought of as a skin bag of chemicals. 

But wait. Apples and pears grow on trees. They are “natural.” Cheetos aren’t. Is that due to “unnatural” chemicals? Sure, some artificial chemicals are formulated into Cheetos to enhance taste and keep the dust from clumping up in the bag. Will those chemicals “poison” you? Let’s look at that for a minute.

The thing is, chemical toxicity is a sliding scale. The dose makes the poison. Pears contain formaldehyde. Two items to note there: One, formaldehyde is a naturally occurring chemical, and two, it can poison you in a high enough dose. Which pears (chemical foods) don’t contain—even if you eat a lot of pears.

Cheetos may not grow on trees and they have some ingredients with scary (read: unknown) names. But they aren’t poison when consumed in moderation.

A Quest for Balance: A Healthy Diet Is Relative 

Are whole-food sources generally better than protein shakes and bars? Unequivocally yes. But at the end of the day, this strict diet is simply unfeasible and not enjoyable. That may mean that someone working a double shift grabs a protein shake instead of hitting the McDonald's drive-thru, and that's a massive win. And even if they hit up fast food as a convenience, that’s OK, too, when balanced with “natural” fruits and vegetables.

The key is balance and choosing the healthiest choice available. You can eat healthy without jumping on the bandwagon of “chemicals bad.” It’s all chemistry. Supplementation, fortified foods, and smart choices are based on science, not scare tactics. 

For example, IsoCaps VIT can make it easier to ensure you get the vitamins you need in case your food options don’t always get you there. Just 1 ml of IsoCaps VIT100 contains 100% of the RDA for vitamins A, D, E, and K. IsoCaps are stable, virtually tasteless, and stir easily into any beverage with minimal effort. Of course, you have to be cool with drinking beta-carotene.

Just kidding — beta-carotene is simply provitamin A.