Chemophobia: is natural better than synthetic?

We will all agree that any fruit, whether a banana or an orange, is a completely natural food. Up to this point there is no discussion. However, the answer to the following question may not be so unanimous: does the fact that it is natural mean that it is free of chemical compounds? If someone answers yes, they are wrong.

Below is a list of the main (but not all) components that a banana has: water, sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose), starch, fiber, E460, amino acids (glutamic acid, aspartic acid, leucine, alanine , tryptophan, methionine), fatty acids (palmitic, linolenic, linoleic acid, etc.), E300, E306 (tocopherol) and aromas including ethyl hexanoate, isoamyl acetate, pentyl acetate and ethyl butanoate .

It is true that none of these chemical compounds have been added to the fruit: they are part of the composition of the 100% natural banana. What happens, simply, is that the banana is a sum of chemical substances. In fact, any natural food is made up of countless chemical compounds. Something that we can generalize by stating that everything we eat is chemistry.

More examples of food being chemistry? No kitchen is missing sodium chloride, used as a flavor enhancer and a preservative or sweetener whose formula is C₁₂H₂₁O₁₁. Which translated into everyday language are nothing more than common salt and table sugar, respectively.

Not everything “natural” is always “healthy”
These simple examples dismantle the idea that chemistry is only associated with terms that are harmful to health (poisonous, harmful, drugs, pesticides...). And it shows that “chemical” is by no means an antonym of “natural.” Chemophobia runs out of arguments.

Another common mistake is confusing “natural” with “beneficial by default.” Without going any further, ingesting something as seemingly innocuous as drinking water in excess can kill us by poisoning. The most powerful poison known is not synthesized in the laboratory but is produced naturally by a bacteria called Clotridium botulinum.

As for arsenic, a chemical element known since ancient times, highly toxic and used as a poison, it is easily found in nature in the Earth's atmosphere, in soil and in water.

No preservatives does not mean healthy
In the food industry, there is a widespread tendency to consider foods labeled with the phrase “preservative-free” as much healthier. On the contrary, when we find labels with a list of preservatives coded with a series of letters and numbers, we immediately classify that food as harmful to our health.

To dismantle this belief, it is enough to turn again to a very simple example: ascorbic acid, commonly known as vitamin C. It is scientifically proven that this compound has a powerful antioxidant capacity. For this reason, it is widely used as a preservative in numerous foods (soft drinks, pastries, juices, jams, cereals, pickles, canned vegetables). The presence of this powerful antioxidant, however, appears camouflaged under the code, a priori identified as “harmful”, E300.

Ascorbic acid can be obtained naturally from fruits and vegetables, but also synthetically in a laboratory by bacterial fermentation of glucose followed by chemical oxidation. Both production strategies result in the same chemical molecule, with identical physical-chemical properties. However, synthesis is generally preferred, because it involves a lower cost and is potentially safer, since its production is controlled very rigorously. And, of course, that doesn't mean it's a healthier option.

This is just an example, but it can be extended to most chemical compounds, used in both the food and pharmaceutical fields, due to their preservative or flavoring properties.

Codeine and aspirin: natural or laboratory?
There are also many examples of natural medicines in the pharmaceutical field. This is the case of codeine and dextromethorphan (syrup antitussives), which are derivatives of morphine, which in turn are extracted from opium. Theophylline, a medication used to treat various respiratory diseases, is extracted from tea. Aspirin, which is a derivative of salicylic acid, comes from the willow tree. And artemisinin, a medicine used today against malaria, comes from Artemisia annua as a raw material.

These compounds and many others can be obtained naturally, but also synthetically through chemical processes. In the last 50 years, the drug synthesis sector has undergone significant development and today there is a tendency to synthesize drugs in the laboratory, even if they can be extracted from nature.

Because? Firstly, because it is faster and cheaper. And secondly, because only in this way can the quantity necessary to supply the market be produced.

Given what we have seen, we hope to have demystified the harmful role of chemistry in our lives. Definitely, “chemical” is not synonymous with “harmful”. And “natural” is not synonymous with “beneficial,” nor necessarily better than “artificial.”

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Source: The Conversation. Authorship:

Laura Culleré Varea
Teaching and research staff of the Faculty of Health Sciences. Saint George University

Featured Image: Source Shutterstock / CI Photos