Chewing gum may actually lead to cancer–or will it?
If you are struggling with your weight loss, you may find that chewing gum can be a good trick to help you suppress your appetite. Orbit gum is one of the cheapest in the country, making it one of the most popular. You’ll find that Orbit offers sugarless, low calorie gum that even claims to be healthy, but it may contain chemicals that can cause cancer!
BHA and BHT
BHT(butylated hydroxytoluene) and BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) are two chemicals found in Orbit chewing gum, but they’re also found in a number of other products as well. You can find them in:
- Vegetable oil
- Potato and tortilla chips
- Sausages
- Breakfast cereal
- Cookies
- and many more products…
The truth is that both BHT and BHA are in a lot of products, but did you know that they can be harmful for your health?
READ MORE: Chewing Gum is a Remedy for Heartburn
Few people have ever heard of these two complex-sounding chemicals, but they are commonly used as preservatives in a lot of the food that you eat. They are used to prevent the oil found in food from rotting or becoming rancid, which it will usually do fairly quickly. The rotting oil will affect the flavor of the foods, and can even cause the products to break down. Most oils won’t last for days or weeks sitting on shelves, so these two chemicals are added to stabilize the oils and prevent rancidity.
Interestingly enough, BHA and BHT aren’t ALL bad. In fact, both of these chemicals are known to fight microbes (hence preventing the oil from rotting), and some antioxidant supplements even contain BHT thanks to its oxidation-fighting properties. However, just because they do some good, it doesn’t mean that they won’t be harmful for your health. While the FDA considers these two chemicals to be “Generally Regarded as Safe”, recent facts have cast doubts on the safety of the chemicals.
An independent committee reviewed the chemicals and the effects they have on the human body, and their research found that there are some uncertainties as to whether or not these chemicals are “safe”. Their research has led them to require additional studies into the safety of the chemicals, as BHA has been called a carcinogen and BHT can increase cancer just as likely as decrease it.
BHA has been called a chemical to “avoid”, while the independent researchers actually warned caution when using BHT in food. Oddly enough, there’s still a lot about these two chemicals that scientists don’t understand.
For example, when BHA is added in low levels to your food, studies suggest that it can be harmful for your health. However, other studies have found that low doses are actually good for your health, and only high doses are harmful. BHT, when added in both low and high doses, can be both harmful and helpful for the human body. The truth is that no one really understands how these two chemicals act in your body, so researchers are warning caution when adding them to food products.
What does this mean for you, average consumer? Well, it means that you need to understand that these two chemicals aren’t quite yet understood, so you should limit the quantities that you consume. Try to cut back on any foods that contain the chemicals, and stay away from high doses of the chemicals. In time, research will discover the truth behind BHA and BHT, and you’ll be the first one to know!
