If you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t eat it.
The catchphrase seems like an easy way to figure out if something is healthy or not. After all, if an ingredient were all-natural, it wouldn’t have a weird chemical name attached to it, right? The logic sounds straightforward: simple-sounding ingredients have probably been altered less than ingredients with long, scientific names, and simple ingredients are usually assumed to be healthier. But is the pronunciation of a word the best way to decide if a food is good for you?
One problem with the argument that ingredients should be easily pronounced is that many of the basic chemicals that constitute food have complex-sounding names and may seem threatening initially. An example of this is a chemical known as Dihydrogen Monoxide, or DHMO. According to DHMO.org, this chemical has been known to cause drastic environmental changes, and it affects the health of people worldwide; after Hurricane Katrina, excess buildup of DHMO contributed to large-scale flooding and the spread of contamination. However, the practical danger of this chemical is less than it first appears: Dihydrogen Monoxide is a chemical name for water.
The problem of assuming that chemicals are dangerous is highlighted by James Kennedy, an Australian chemistry teacher who created a list of all the chemical components of a banana, including phylloquinone, methionine, and aspartic acid. When a food is analyzed down to its basic chemicals, the “ingredients” may not only be difficult to pronounce, but they often sound dangerous simply because of their unfamiliarity.
Because the difficulty of a chemical’s pronunciation is inconsistent with its health aspects and practical application, it is important to understand that appearances can be deceiving when it comes to food labels and ingredient lists: a long, confusing name may be poisonous, or it may be as innocuous as water!
