One day, my mom sent my sister and me a text with a link to this study conducted on cereals. I thought this was some bogus article she had as an attempt to get us to “eat healthier”, but it turns out there’s a scientific basis behind it. However, some other things people (not just my mom) say are just food myths.
“Carbs are bad for you.”
“Stop eating so much ramen, it has MSG in it.”
“Drink eight glasses of water per day.”
“Honey is better than sugar.”
Sound familiar?
Yeah, because my parents say stuff like this constantly. My dad told me the last one yesterday in a phone call.
Sometimes, those sayings don’t hold true to what science says. Shout out to all of the scientists who investigated and debunked these food myths!
Some things aren’t as healthy as they seem and some things aren’t as unhealthy as they seem.
Beware of your oats!
Apparently, studies showed that there’s an alarming amount of glyphosate in popular oat-based cereal, oatmeal, granola and snack bars, and other oat-based products.
Glyphosate is one of the main ingredients in Roundup, a popular pesticide, which has been linked to cancer. California’s OEHHA declared that glyphosate causes cancer in 2017. Having large amounts of it in your cereal might not be ideal.
Organic products also contain residue of glyphospate, so not even that is entirely safe.
The EPA claims that this is safe for consumption, but EWG asserts that this is dangerous for children to be eating.
The study shows the specific products they sampled too, if you want to make sure your favorite oat products aren’t poison for you
What about MSG?
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is pretty controversial for supposedly being linked to headaches and considered “bad” for you.
However, research shows that there’s no conclusive evidence of a relationship between MSG and these symptoms. It’s possible the original Chinese restaurant syndrome is a result of discrimination of some sort.
MSG isn’t a man-made food additive. It occurs naturally in all sorts of food and enhances the umami flavor.
Japanese biochemist Kikunae Ikeda first extracted this from dried kelp in 1907 and discovered umami.
Is honey really better?
Not quite, just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s necessarily better.
Studies have found that honey actually has similar biological effects as the likes of high-fructose corn syrup. and also cane sugar. The results showed that they all had similar effects on the body.
The 5-second rule isn’t true.
You are never safe from bacteria. Perhaps you already knew this from Mythbusters?
Food, upon being dropped on the floor, is almost instantaneously contaminated by bacteria within milliseconds. Safety only depends on how clean the surface you dropped it on is.
Someone probably made it up to make an excuse for not wasting food…
Chocolate doesn’t cause acne!
My fellow chocolate-lovers may be happy to hear that chocolate doesn’t exactly cause breakouts.
A study concludes that the excessive consumption of chocolate isn’t a cause for acne. In fact, it doesn’t contribute at all! Acne can come from other causes, not necessarily just what you eat.
To learn about other food myths that were (definitely not covered here), then take a look here.
Whether you choose to heed these food myths’ advice or not, just know that we’re all here for a good time, not a long time.