Tired of “words I can’t pronounce”

[genxjeff]

@holywarrior77 I use Blue Lizard for both lotion and stick

 

[lenna23]

@genxjeff Agreed. I feel like it was Michael Pollan or one of those types that really popularized this philosophy around food. At least that’s who I got it from when I used to live and die by that phrase. It’s such unnecessary fear mongering. Ugh. Many food labels use the chemical names of vitamins. Your ability to pronounce a chemical name your unfamiliar with has nothingggggg to do with its safety. @foodsciencebabe and @labmuffinbeautyscience do such fascinating explainers on this stuff!

 

[gormanilius]

@lenna23 Michael Pollan?? That really doesn't sound like him.

 

[charamel]

@genxjeff It is a pretty trash argument. Personally, that trick was never going to work for me because I am not person that loves to learn new words and geek out. The dictionary was my favorite book before I even started school. I can say most of the words on most packaging. That wouldn’t make an ingredient safer for me and my children than it would for someone who can’t pronounce them

 

[katrina2017]

@genxjeff Major eye roll every time. I feel you. Those same people will put essential oils on their newborns skin and make their own medicines in the non-sterile kitchen sink. I hate it

 

[genxjeff]

@katrina2017 Lol yes, she was actually preaching her homemade sunscreen, made with essential oils!

 

[mulanger]

@genxjeff Is it just me that would assume a sunscreen made of oil would just fry you to a bacony crisp? Saying that I remember a neighbour who would sunbathe whilst coating herself in olive oil who always had a lovely tan so maybe there is something in it!

 

[genxjeff]

@mulanger Pretty sure she’d be frying her baby

 

[katrina2017]

@mulanger Yes it would just burn you. And even if you just end up with a tan, UVA rays and UVB rays do different things to your skin. The rays that burn you are different to the ones that give you cancer - i.e. you can avoid a burn and still be damaging ur skin

 

[tsue]

@genxjeff I think this is a straw man because I feel some people have a preference for simple ingredient lists not because the people themselves are of unscientific mindset but as a heuristic for too many chemicals. In my experience, people who use such heuristics aren't so stupid as to think unpronounceable = bad.... Nor so stupid as to think all chemicals are bad. Those who do take such heuristics at face value perhaps do deserve to be educated

Anyway I just want to say that we should understand that often people use "smaller and simpler ingredient lists" as a heuristic for less harmful

(although, all that said, if someone goes and actually checks out all the chemicals in some product and validates that they're all okay, that's the ideal thing to do and beats using such simplistic heuristics yes.)

 

[yennon]

@tsue I am not quite sure I understand your meaning here. I think the ideas of "large ingredient list = bad" and "can't pronounce ingredients = bad" are both not great mindsets, and OP is only discussing the latter. I don't think it matters if the former is the heuristic present instead, because both are equally non-evidence based reactions to products.

I will say though, it is exhausting how much research the consumer needs to do into every single product they buy, and I don't blame people for resorting to these unconsciously or consciously because they can't face yet another hour wasted trying to pick the most ethical/sustainable/healthy product out of a line up in a world with too many products and too little regulation.

 

[monty1]

@genxjeff Personally, I find it works a lot better with food. I've made my own breadcrumbs before and All that was in it was bread (flour, water, salt and yeast). If I see the ingredient list of some breadcrumb brands it raises an eyebrow.

But I'm also not going to stop putting gas in my car, because I don't know what octane is...

 

[cul8rw841t]

@genxjeff In the context of food, "ingredients I can't pronounce" is a proxy for food products that are not part of what humans evolved eating, i.e., food that at some point grew out of the ground, walked, or swam, eaten in concentrations that our ancestors might recognize.

Sure, its possible to eat too much of one thing, but some artificial ingredients put the effects of "too much" into a relatively small volume.

Doesn't make sense with sunscreen, though.

 

[peterblom30]

@cul8rw841t I prefer to eat foods that I understand how they came from a plant or animal. Not saying that all food additives are unsafe, but I try to limit them in our family and serve more whole foods instead.

 

[heatherbliss]

@genxjeff What a garbage argument

 

[photini1967]

@genxjeff Just wait until they hear about the "unpronounceable" chemicals found in bananas:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chemicals-in-bananas/

 

[y2pjwk]

@genxjeff It’s the woke liberals taking away our freedoms … *insert eye roll”

**EDIT * *

I forgot that I must put /s for sarcasm?

I am very much a liberal and very much on OPs side as well? Why the hell would a non liberal be in a science based parenting group on Reddit

 

[amcminn84]

@y2pjwk I’m a liberal and I’m very much on OP’s side

 

[y2pjwk]

@amcminn84 I am very much a liberal and very much on OPs side as well?Why the hell would a non liberal be in a science based parenting group on Reddit

Let’s not be as sensitive as the actual people taking away our freedoms * ahem * the republicans

 

[amcminn84]

@y2pjwk Didn’t know you were being sarcastic. And you don’t have to be in support of a group you follow. Usually people are, but not always.