Check a typical ingredient list on the back of a food package. It's riddled with hard-to-pronounce ingredients. And the internet is rife with articles that have menacing headlines like, “Top toxic food ingredients you should avoid” or “Did you know these foods are full of antifreeze?”
Antifreeze? You mean the stuff that you put in your vehicle to keep it from freezing up?
Here's where even just a little bit of chemistry knowledge goes a long ways.
Typical antifreeze is also known as ethylene glycol.
Propylene glycol, the ingredient sometimes found in food, is NOT the same as ethylene glycol. Granted, you can use propylene glycol as an antifreeze (which is good when you are around food processing systems), but it is non-toxic. The same cannot be said for ethylene glycol.
Propylene glycol is a synthetic liquid recognized by the Food and Drug Administration as safe as a food additive. According to the Center for Disease Control, the substance is used to absorb extra water and is also a solvent for food colors and flavors as well as in cosmetics.
But ethylene glycol? It is NOT used in food. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
A look at the back of just one package of a prepared box of Thai peanut noodles includes "scary" sounding ingredients like Xanthan gum, malic acid, glucono delta-lactone. They are all safe and useful in prepared food products. In fact, a Healthline article written by a registered dietician says xanthan gum – which is used as a thickening agent and to help prevent ingredients from separating – could actually provide health benefits.
In addition, Best Food Facts, a website devoted to providing accurate food information, quoted Dr. Robert Gravani, a food scientist professor at Cornell University in a 2013 article as saying many food additives actually improve our health.
For instance, he points out that pellagra has been eliminated by adding niacin to bread products and flours. Goiter was eliminated by adding iodine to salt.
The bottom line is to be informed about the ingredients in your food. Not scared.