“This is a list of ingredients from foods — carrageenan, riboflavin, monosodium glutamate and 20 others that I can’t pronounce.”

 – United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Let’s break this down.

Carrageenan: A naturally occurring sugar found in seaweed extract used to stabilize yogurt, ice cream and other dairy products. There is no substantial evidence that it is harmful for human consumption.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG): A flavor enhancer that is found naturally in tomatoes, anchovies and Parmesan cheese. It is nontoxic and is declared safe by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. 

Riboflavin. Or, as you may know it, vitamin B2. Easily pronounceable by second-year biology college students. 

In the past few months, there has been a massive amount of fearmongering around food. If you keep up with politics, or have even touched the gym bro side of Instagram, you likely have seen a wide variety of health claims telling you what you should and should not eat. “Don’t eat stuff you can’t pronounce.” “Eat more protein.” “You don’t need more protein.” “Eat more fiber.” “Fiber made me bloated.” “Take a vitamin B supplement.” “The supplement industry is a scam.” “Fruits are pure sugar.” “Oh my god guys just eat a damn vegetable.”

With heart disease remaining the leading cause of death in the United States for the past century and millions of new cancer patients arising each year, it’s hard not to get swept up in the panic. These are hard questions that require long answers and lots of research. However, there are also a lot of myths spread by members of the U.S. government and social media influencers that are sending us in the completely wrong direction. These misconceptions are not only wrong, but can also be outright dangerous. Here is why. 

You need carbohydrates.

#lowcarb, with 1.1 million videos on TikTok

Carbohydrates are one of the four main biomolecules along with proteins, fats (lipids) and nucleotides (DNA and RNA). Staple crops like rice, wheat and potatoes have kept people alive for over 10,000 years, acting as a great source of energy and essential nutrients including calcium, fiber, iron and a variety of B vitamins. Our bodies are built to process glucose, with a massive amount of biological infrastructure that regulates the digestion, storage and movement of glucose. 

So why are so many people choosing to “cut carbs” in favor of popular diets like keto? The keto diet aims to switch from glucose as the primary source of energy to ketones, which are produced from fats. This puts your body in a state known as ketosis, a state that is meant to help humans survive famine.

The keto diet was originally created to temporarily treat epilepsy in children, but has recently gained popularity for its potential use in weight loss and blood sugar management.  However, an increasing body of evidence shows that extended periods of ketosis can actually increase your risk of heart disease due to higher saturated fat intake, and cause nutrient deficiencies, low blood pressure, brain fog and more.  

Some popular health influencers argue that our body doesn’t need carbohydrates because our body has a way of making carbohydrates on its own. In other words, we can live without additional carbohydrates. This is technically true through a process called gluconeogenesis, where we synthesize glucose from amino acids or fat molecules. 

However, the logic here is backward. The purpose of gluconeogenesis is not to produce glucose indefinitely, but to regulate blood glucose in times of starvation. Crucially, the brain uses glucose as its primary energy source, and needs to continue to provide a steady source of glucose to the brain for survival. If anything, the body’s ability to produce glucose in this context underscores how important it actually is. 

Think about it like this: When the power goes out, many places have backup generators that kick in to keep things like your refrigerator and lights running. That doesn’t mean you don’t need a steady supply of power, it just means you have a backup in case things go wrong. You need carbohydrates — even if you have a backup generator. 

In other words, keto and other low carb diets are exploiting a metabolic system that was meant for surviving famine, not for living healthily and comfortably. Although it may lead to weight loss and lowered blood sugar, these are the short-term effects of what is otherwise an unsustainable and potentially dangerous diet that places your body into starvation mode. It works the symptoms, not the underlying issue. Eat your favorite pasta dish with pride!

Seed oils are not bad for you

“Americans should have every right to eat out at a restaurant without being unknowingly poisoned by heavily subsidized seed oils.”

 — RFK Jr.

The “Hateful Eight” is unfortunately not a new band of supervillains, but the (un)affectionate nickname for eight different seed oils: canola, corn, cottonseed, soy, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed and rice bran.

As the name may suggest, these seed oils have been recently under heavy scrutiny due to the belief that seed oils are linked to chronic inflammation, hormone disruption and increased risk of heart disease. Many people have gone so far to label these oils as “toxic” or “poisonous.” 

These oils are, however, not full of hate, and there is a massive amount of peer-reviewed, rigorous evidence pointing to the contrary. Seed oils are linked to a reduction in inflammatory markers and decreased risk of heart disease. 

The largest arguments against seed oils cite the presence of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). This is going to be a technical section, but bear with me. Almost 90% of dietary omega-6 PUFAs are a compound called linoleic acid. This is a molecule known as a precursor, meaning our bodies have natural pathways to convert this molecule into other molecules that our body can use, including hormones. When eaten, linoleic acid is converted to arachidonic acid, which is then converted into a slew of different compounds with just as many downstream effects. 

You may hear people say seed oils contain precursors to molecules that cause inflammation. This is true: Our body sometimes converts arachidonic acid to make molecules that promote inflammation (also called “proinflammatory”), such as prostaglandin E2 or leukotriene B4. Crucially, though, it is also used to make molecules that reduce inflammation, such as lipoxin A4. Just because PUFAs can make proinflammatory molecules doesn’t mean that they will. Just because I buy some paper doesn’t mean I’m going to make paper airplanes to throw at people during lecture. 

In fact, there is good reason to believe that having more unsaturated fatty acids in your diet is linked to a reduction in chronic inflammation. A study surveying over 1,000 people of ages 20 to 90 showed that the people who had more unsaturated fatty acids in their blood had lower levels of proinflammatory markers and higher levels of anti-inflammatory markers. In other words, unsaturated fatty acids are linked to lower inflammation. Another study showed that increasing the amount of arachidonic acid consumption (remember, that’s the compound made from linoleic acid) had no effect on blood cholesterol levels. Yet another study showed that high omega-6 unsaturated fatty acid intake is linked to either no inflammatory effect or lower inflammation. I can go on. To continue with the paper analogy, it seems like most people who buy paper use it for writing or printing, not weaponized paper airplanes.

Some people claim that substituting seed oils for butter, tallow or other foods high in saturated fat will help prevent heart disease. Once again, the opposite appears to be true. Multiple studies have shown that a diet high in omega-6 and omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids is linked to lower levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol aka (“bad” cholesterol), as well as decreasing your risk of heart attack, while saturated fats do not.

In fact, in the articles that show select cases where omega-6 fatty acids are correlated to inflammation, they indicate that it is not simply the overconsumption of omega-6 fatty acids, but the lack of omega-3 fatty acid consumption. This suggests an issue of imbalance, not omega-6 fatty acids themselves. The solution to this is not to reduce omega-6 fatty acid intake, but to increase omega-3 fatty acid intake. Eat your fish oil.

Fine, but what about the way seed oils are processed? After the seeds are crushed, the oil is extracted with hexanes, which are made from crude oil and can cause nausea and dizziness when inhaled … as any college student here who forgot to lower the fume hood during the organic chemistry lab can tell you.

This may sound scary, but keep in mind that just because something comes from something bad, it doesn’t mean it is inherently bad. Hexanes are an extremely common solvent in organic chemistry, and purified to very high standards.

Further, hexanes have an extremely low boiling point, which means the vast majority of hexanes are removed simply by heating up the oil. Any trace amounts left in the oil is negligible compared to the amount you are exposed to when hanging around a gas station.

In other words, this is fearmongering. I guess “Hateful Eight” has a much better ring to it and fits into the X word count more easily than the “Loving Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids.”

How do I know what to eat?

 I am not going to pretend like the U.S. food system is perfect. Or even that you should be satisfied with the quality of food. There are numerous examples of other developed countries banning an additive for links to cancer that the U.S. still uses, such as titanium dioxide, potassium bromate and the infamous red 40. Some per- and polyfluoroakyl substances (PFA), chemicals commonly associated with Teflon, have been shown to cause cancer, but many states still do not have strict regulations of the maximum amount of PFAs allowed in drinking water. However, the amount of fearmongering around entire food groups that are beneficial to human health is terrifying. 

There are key signs to look out for when you have doubts on whether or not something is true. Remember, social media algorithms promote extremist takes. Saying outlandish things that go against what you’ve been told from childhood gets more clicks than those that say things you think you know. A headline saying “seed oils cause cancer” gains way more traction than one that truly analyzes the science. If something sounds like clickbait, it probably is.

Further, if someone claims that the major research institutions are “lying to you,” this must be backed up with legitimate evidence. The scientific community is built on peer review and constant scrutiny, including ethics boards and a mandated disclosure of any conflicts of interest. If you just say “you’re lying” to any evidence you don’t like, you’re in danger of devaluing the necessary rigor that is involved with any kind of science. 

And remember, just because something sounds natural doesn’t mean it’s good — the toxin ricin is a naturally occurring compound found in castor beans. And just because something sounds unnatural doesn’t mean it’s bad — 99% of people who ingested dihydrogen monoxide died. 

If you have doubts about things that relate to your health, it is a great instinct to question the information you are being told from any source. This includes your favorite health TikToker or for some reason, our own Secretary of Health, but also scientific papers. When people wave you away by telling you to “just do your own research” when it comes to health, they often ignore the fact that scientific research is incredibly opaque. Conducting a thorough investigation of just one paper can take a long time, even for professionals in the field because of the amount of constant debate that is inherent to the scientific method. To ask the average American to comb through the scientific literature is not only unreasonable, but may even do more harm than good if people try to skim articles and misunderstand the fundamental findings. 

Stop listening to influencers on TikTok who have no medical training, and have no sources other than personal anecdotes. Listen to the American Heart Association, to Harvard Medical School, to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. These articles are written by experts in the field from some of the most credible sources in the country who have done their homework and deliver the information in a manner that the public can understand. Read Wikipedia. Talk to professors. If you have doubts about one source, see if there’s an article that is also critiquing that source. If you still have doubts, find another source. Rinse and repeat until you are convinced. 

The beauty of science is that it cannot and will never be found in an aesthetically pleasing TikTok video or a single flashy article headline. It is found in massive, intricate webs of back and forth citations. It is found in slow, methodical work. It comes after a long string of “why” and “prove it” until finally, you’ve convinced not just those around you, but most importantly yourself. It comes when you prove yourself wrong.

In the age of constant information, you must be the harshest critic of your own ideas, whether it’s the newest trend from Instagram or the ones you’ve had since childhood. If you are not, who knows what people can convince you of? 

Elizabeth Lee survived a year of upper-division chemistry courses for this.