While “Food Babe” Vani Hari’s pseudoscience has been widely debunked by qualified doctors and scientists, a more sobering fact seems to have escaped everyone’s attention: one of America’s most notorious bloggers is earning sales commissions from products that contain the very same ingredients she says are dangerous. Ironically, for a web activist who seems to do most of her research via Google, the evidence is only a few mouse clicks away.
For example, one of Food Babe’s most vocal and infamous campaigns has been against Starbucks for their use of caramel coloring containing 4-Methylimidazole (“4-Mel”) in spiced pumpkin lattes (Hari 2014). “4-Mel” is classified as a group 2B carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Do you know what else is listed as a group 2B carcinogen? Titanium dioxide: her “gotta have” sunscreen ingredient. Food Babe identifies the IARC as the source for her 4-Mel cancer claim, so how did she miss the titanium dioxide? It’s on the same list. Does the fact that she’s helping sell products that contain TiO2 have any bearing on her research?
This is just one example of many products recommended by Food Babe that contain exactly the same ingredients she claims are dangerous. The takeaway message is that Hari’s science is as questionable as her investigative techniques. When given a taste of her own medicine—using a simple web browser to look up the ingredients of items she recommends—Food Babe’s role as a safety advocate is cast in a new light. The fact that she openly earns sales commissions on products pushed via her website should give us all pause for thought.
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The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: The ‘Food Babe’: A Taste of Her Own Medicine
