“The phthalate concentrations in powder from mac and cheese mixes were more than four times higher than in block cheese and other natural cheeses like shredded cheese, string cheese and cottage cheese,”
As a chemist, I have to ask, how much phthalate was actually found? Telling me it's 4x higher than block cheese tells me nothing since block cheese may have barely detectable phthalates.
The dose makes the poison.
Our ability to detect chemicals has vastly improved over the years. It's not hard to detect chemicals in the parts per trillion (ppt) at this point in time.
You can't say "the chemical is there, let's be scared". The levels need to be quantified.
That's why drinking water has acceptable levels for things like cyanide, lead and mercury. No matter what water you test, you'll find those things. But if the amount is well below toxic levels, then it's not a big deal.
Natural cheese: 53ppb average
Cheese powder: 106ppb average
The highest individual pthalate was Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DHEP). The wikipedia page for that says that average consumption of DHEP is 0.25mg/day; if you ate 1kg of cheese powder that would be 0.1mg, and 1kg is a lot of cheese powder.
The study claims that the levels are 4x higher in the fat, but only around 2x higher overall (presumably since mac and cheese has less fat than cheese itself). I agree with you that there's a lot of information missing here.
Although the concentration of phthalates in food may be quite low, measured in parts per billion, they are still present at higher levels than the natural hormones in the body, said Heather B. Patisaul, a professor of biological sciences at the Center for Human Health and the Environment at North Carolina State University in Raleigh
Isn't that true of nearly everything in food? It would be really weird if what you were eating were the chemical equivalent of homogenized humans. Like, what exactly are you eating??
That's not exactly correct, in your last sentence, for the case of things which bioaccumulate: a million doses in the parts per billion range would be a single dose in the parts per thousand range, no?
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“The phthalate concentrations in powder from mac and cheese mixes were more than four times higher than in block cheese and other natural cheeses like shredded cheese, string cheese and cottage cheese,”
As a chemist, I have to ask, how much phthalate was actually found? Telling me it's 4x higher than block cheese tells me nothing since block cheese may have barely detectable phthalates.
The dose makes the poison.
Our ability to detect chemicals has vastly improved over the years. It's not hard to detect chemicals in the parts per trillion (ppt) at this point in time.
You can't say "the chemical is there, let's be scared". The levels need to be quantified.
That's why drinking water has acceptable levels for things like cyanide, lead and mercury. No matter what water you test, you'll find those things. But if the amount is well below toxic levels, then it's not a big deal.
They link to http://kleanupkraft.org/data-summary.pdf which says
Natural cheese: 53ppb average Cheese powder: 106ppb average
The highest individual pthalate was Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DHEP). The wikipedia page for that says that average consumption of DHEP is 0.25mg/day; if you ate 1kg of cheese powder that would be 0.1mg, and 1kg is a lot of cheese powder.
So basically you're getting the same amount of pthalates as you would if you ate twice as much natural cheese?
The study claims that the levels are 4x higher in the fat, but only around 2x higher overall (presumably since mac and cheese has less fat than cheese itself). I agree with you that there's a lot of information missing here.
From the article:
This still doesn't mean anything. How does the body process said chemicals? Is there evidence that it's actually unsafe at the levels published?
There's probably a reason this study wasn't published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Ok, but what is the potency of these phthalate? Natural hormones are very potent. Everything I've seen says phthalate aren't that potent.
Isn't that true of nearly everything in food? It would be really weird if what you were eating were the chemical equivalent of homogenized humans. Like, what exactly are you eating??
No matter what water you test, you'll find those things.
...and even the most highly purified water has nonzero detectable contaminants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrapure_water
That's not exactly correct, in your last sentence, for the case of things which bioaccumulate: a million doses in the parts per billion range would be a single dose in the parts per thousand range, no?