Scientists are going to town busting the biggest food myth there is

Scientists of Reddit banded together to debunk one of the biggest myths about food and let you know that not all bacteria are harmful.

In fact, a large number of bacteria including the millions that live in your stomach are beneficial to your health, and essential bacteria also protects us from disease.

We also consume different types of bacteria on a regular basis – cheese, yogurt, pickles, soy sauce and vinegar.

Picture: Yakult Probiotic advert/YouTube/screengrab

They also got to work debunking a few more of the more ludicrous food myths:

1. Diets to ‘flush out’ toxins

Motherf---er you got a liver

-damnthatsf---kinggood

2. Only dangerous substances are ‘toxic’

Literally everything is toxic, including oxygen and water.

Toxicology 101: everything is toxic, what matters is the dose.

-Lestes

3. Don’t eat food with ‘chemical names’

My sister was worried about chemicals in baby food. She showed me the one she bought: organic, local, two ingredients. She was bummed that it wasn't just apples. Instead it had citric acid, which is clearly bad because it's a chemical name. I said, "you're afraid of lemons?"

-Nmbr27

4. Organic food is always good for you

I'd like to add the misconception that if food is organic, it's good for you and not dangerous.

-Ephemeris7

5. GMO-based foods are bad for you

The Irish Potato Famine was solved with a modified potato. GMOs can be great. Genetic modification is a TOOL that can be used for GOOD or EVIL but it is not inherently EITHER.

-ShadowDragonCHW

6. We need vitamin supplements in our diet

A LOT of supplements commonly available are not even remotely bioavailable in the forms that they are sold. Zinc, Magnesium, Calcium are some big offenders. Related is because your body contains something, does not at all mean supplementing it will change your physiological levels of it, a lot of the time. I could go on about supplements for a while.

-MechanicalOrange5

Picture: YouTube/screengrab

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