Chemophobia: Should You Be Afraid of What's on the Menu?

Eating can be a pleasurable and social experience, especially when overindulging doesn't result in gluttony. 

In any case, many suffer from a health condition known as chemophobia in which these individuals carry an irrational fear of natural and synthetic chemicals harming the foods that they're consuming.

These days, who's to say or not whether there could be harmful ingredients lurking around in certain foods. Isn't the FDA haven't constant recalls due to potential salmonella poisoning? And we're not just talking about pet food, either.

But regardless, Chemistry professor Gordon Gribble said that most chemicals or bacteria found in foods are at such a low dose, that they are relatively harmless.

In fact, he notes, via a press release, that despite what some scientists have said about halogen compounds found in food which are man-made poisons found in dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticide DDT, many of the halogen compounds can be found in the natural environment by protists, plants and animals even humans created.

Gribble also believes that food regulators should focus on pesticides, antibiotics and dioxins but not on pathogens, bacteria and fungi that cause millions of food-borne infectiosn every year in the United States alone.

Gribble recommends eating a diverse diet similar to what's recommended via the food pyramid.

"Our food is peppered with natural compounds such as organohalogens, dioxins, aflatoxins and many others," he said, via the release. "Food is chemistry beyond our immediate control, including those synthetic chemicals that are deemed to be artificial and should not be found in 'safe' food."

Gribble said chemophobia started in 1962 with publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and was reinforced by major chemical accidents, such as those in Times Beach, Missouri; Love Canal, New York; and Bhopal, India. "The word 'chemical' became a dirty word despite the fact that everything we see, smell and touch is chemical," he added, via the release. "While chemical scares invariably appear on the front page, the follow-up stories that often refute the initial scares never do."

We're not so certain about that but maybe it's not as bad as we thought. 

More information regarding the study can be found in the journal Food Security.