FSM 342: Chemicals in Food – Friend or Foe

Transcript [Music] This is Susie Craig for Food Safety in a Minute. The chemicals in the food we eat are more than the carbohydrates, lipids, protein, vitamins, minerals, and additives listed on a food label. Much more. Researchers at Harvard, Northeastern, and Central European University recently reviewed data from the Nutrition Dark Matter library revealing more than 139,000 chemicals in 3,000 common foods. This is complex, emerging science identifying how the composition of food we eat may influence our health and disease. Currently, about 2,000 chemicals found in food are used as drugs. For instance, the origins of aspirin are traced back to salicylic acid found in willow bark and some fruits and vegetables, including strawberries. Lovastatin is linked to chemicals found in red yeast rice. From Washington State University Extension, this is Food Safety in a Minute. [Music] Resources American Chemistry Council. Chemical SafetyFacts.org. The Sweet Chemistry of Five Summer Fruits (8/18/22). https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/health-and-safety/the-sweet-chemistry-of-five-summer-fruits/. Accessed online 5/29/25. Menichetti, Giulia, A Barnabas and J. Loscalzo. Chemical Complexity of Food and Implications for Therapeutics. New England Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2413243