We know, we know, we know. Preservatives are bad for us. Our snack food is saturated with chemicals. If we keep eating pesticides our organs will turn into cancerous lumps of toxic goo ... or something like that. We'll be honest, we've never really listened to the health food lecture because that double sleeve of Oreos just kept calling our name. Besides, how much damage could a few cookies and some artificial food coloring actually do? Turns out, kind of a lot of damage. Like, big, cancer-causing, brain-toxifying, you're-really-gonna-need-that-health-insurance damage. And American kids are ingesting more and more of it every day.
The organization Healthy Child broke down exactly how much of our food contains additives and chemicals, how many of our plate-bound farm animals are fed manure and plastic, and explains why the oranges in our orange juice were probably bathed in acid. Let's just say it's not exactly uplifting.
By the time you get to the bottom of the infographic and see how many of your favorite childhood foods are linked to cancer or neurodevelopmental deficits, you'll probably just want to lock yourself in a room with some organic kale and cry until it's all over. But just remember that pretty much everything (including boba) has been linked to cancer. It can't hurt to keep track of the more chemically laden foods in our diets, but a few cookies or acid-bathed oranges probably won't kill you any more than breathing the air in most major cities will.
Peep the infographic below (click for larger view):
Originally written by Foodbeast.com's Erika Grant
H/T HealthyChild