Sifting Through Food Headlines
Eat to Thrive #6: When to give articles weight, and when to digest with a grain of salt.
This summer, two alarmist headlines have circulated about agrochemicals in food. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about at the grocery store (prices, for starters), now Cheerios and gluten-free snacks are under fire for harboring harmful intruders.
Sigh-worthy headlines like these can leave you feeling defeated if the food in question is a personal favorite. But let’s dig deeper before despairing over morning o’s and chickpea pasta. Hint: One might be just fine, and the other could be worth cutting out.
Brains at the ready.
Friendly Reminder On Health News
Online publishers fight for every slice of advertising revenue. News outlets (or any site) that run digital ads get paid based on the number of times users see each ad, called “impressions.” And there is no better way to get millions of parents to scroll past ads than by suggesting they feed their kids toxins daily. Even if an outlet didn’t “break” the story, news directors want fresh clickbait published an hour ago (example below).
This urgency doesn’t allow health beat reporters time to fully vet studies (and many one-sided articles make clear they don’t know how). Parsing a press release full of jargon or sensationalism is a thorny business even with ample time; forget it with deadline pressure and lack of resources.
Now for the headlines in question.
Cheeriwoes
The most recent headlines involve oat-based foods and cereals like Cheerios. The chemical accused of invading your bowl is chlormequat. Chlorme-what? It is a plant growth regulator that didn’t get much attention in the U.S. until last year. The warning comes from scientific research published in a Nature journal, the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.
The study was peer-reviewed—meaning double-checked by an outside scientist(s)—and the authors listed no conflicts of interest. Three are associated with Environmental Working Group, the nonprofit known for its “Dirty Dozen” list of contaminated produce. Depending on where you look, EWG is heralded as a valuable public service or criticized for its messaging and tactics.
In this case, the EWG authors collaborated with a scientist at the Medical University of South Carolina, were checked by qualified third-party researchers, and published their findings in a respected journal. Regardless of other EWG initiatives or claims, I see no reason to wholly discount these findings.
The Short(ish) on Chlormequat
Uses: Spraying it on grain crops keeps the plants from growing too high and bending over, which causes the plant to produce less. Chlormequat stunts the stalk's growth so it yields more oat groats or wheat berries.
Current rules: As of this writing, growers in the US are not allowed to use chlormequat on food crops. But imported oats and grains (and much of what we consume is imported) are allowed to have chlormequat residues up to a certain concentration.
Potential Problems: Scientists have given the chemical to rats and pigs in various ways and documented reproductive and growth issues (more peer-reviewed studies to take or leave, depending, here, here, here, and here).
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was considering allowing American food farmers to spray chlormequat. The leadership of the Center for Food Safety, an advocacy group, voiced such strong concerns the EPA felt the need to defend its position in a paper.
Banza Mama Drama
The digital outcry against the Banza brand and other gluten-free products stems from an article published on the Moms Across America (MAA) blog. The group shared an independent study that claimed tests showed large amounts of glyphosate in many gluten-free eats, including Banza chickpea pasta (the amount in the dried pasta was high but below FDA-allowed limits). Banza quickly responded in defense.
Since then, MAA has admitted to finding much lower levels of glyphosate in cooked Banza pasta (lawsuit avoidance, perhaps?). The group hired the Health Research Institute (HRI) laboratory to conduct the initial food testing and links to HRI “for their methodologies.”
However, the lab’s website does not mention specific research practices. It lists accreditation for processing human specimens but does not appear to have one for testing food. Does this matter? Maybe, maybe not.
I reached out to the lab for more information and haven’t heard back.
The Saga O’ Glyphosate
As for glyphosate, it needs no introduction. We’ve been eating it and killing unwanted dandelions with it since the early 1970s (another rabbit hole for another day). High-profile legal battles over it have been hard fought and won. Executives at Monsanto and the parent company, Bayer, insist the herbicide is safe. All the while, their lawyers fight off endless lawsuits that allege the spray Roundup causes cancer and health issues.
Last Nugget of Insight
We will probably never know exactly what each agrochemical does to us and to what extent. No one signed up for that study. You know, the one where you drink Roundup daily and then wait it out while doctors draw blood every few months.
It is hotly debated whether current testing is sufficient and whether legal limits for residues on and in food and water are truly safe. For any news article to suggest otherwise violates the rules of Journalism 101.
Due to the rigorous nature of getting research published in a prominent scientific journal, such papers are generally worth a read. But small-batch testing by a blog does not convince me to question my buying habits. I am a mom in America. But I need proof in the literal pudding, like a randomized, controlled trial, before worrying more about glyphosate in my crackers than on my carrots.
Smart Shopping (You Knew This Was Coming!)
For oats and cereals, General Mills doesn’t sell organic Cheerios, but plenty of other brands sell organic copycats that hopefully are lower in residues. Look for organic rolled or old-fashioned oats in bulk, when on sale, or both; even better if grown on American soil. The EPA hasn’t ruled on chlormequat yet, so it only enters our food supply (and oats) through imports.
On gluten-free snacks and pasta: If you dig chickpea pasta and, in the end, it serves up a side of glyphosate, it is just another source of many. You can always buy organic out of caution, which also sends a message to the marketplace.
Truthfully, most of the packaged gluten-free food that MAA tested is junk food sans wheat. In addition to being implicated in metabolic disease, these ultra-processed foods are empty calories with added sugar and should not be eaten regularly.
Edible Epilogue
The published research on glyphosate, chlormequat, and their associates is painful to read, to say the least. Even if scientific consensus is absent due to industry influence, study modeling, and lack of convincing human trials. Countless doctors, nonprofit groups, and chefs recommend buying organic when possible because the benefits outweigh the risks (if you can afford the higher price).
I don’t think you need to be a Mensa candidate to logically deduce something that kills or alters animal and plant life probably isn’t great for humans, either.
Personally, I don’t need irrefutable proof.
Eat + be well,
Christina
Additional Reading & Perspectives
EPA Consumer Fact Sheet on Glyphosate
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 2022 Ruling on Glyphosate (for those who enjoy legalese)