Viewpoint: 10 stupid agriculture and food truisms that need to die

Food myths can make grocery shopping unpleasant. Credit: Dreamstime.com
Food myths can make grocery shopping unpleasant. Credit: Dreamstime.com

In the spirit of moving forward into the new year and helping to stop the spread of misinformation, here are 10 food and nutrition misconceptions to leave behind this new year:

1. ‘Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients’

What? Why? Who came up with this, and why do I still hear it being given as nutrition advice?… There’s no scientific basis to this rule and certainly no need to continue perpetuating it.

Follow the latest news and policy debates on sustainable agriculture, biomedicine, and other ‘disruptive’ innovations. Subscribe to our newsletter.

3. ‘It’s Banned in Europe!’

In some cases, yes, it’s true that certain ingredients are approved in the U.S. and banned in the EU, but the opposite is true as well. There are actually more approved food colors in the EU than in the U.S., but whether an ingredient is banned in a specific country tells you nothing about it’s safety.

4. Detox Diets

Get ready for the diet and detox frenzy come the new year, but please pay no mind to it. Chances are you don’t have a toxic amount of any substance in your body as you’d be in the hospital if that were the case. So, claims that “toxins” are building up in the body so that they are at a toxic dose are pretty ridiculous.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here.

{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.singularReviewCountLabel }}
{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.pluralReviewCountLabel }}
{{ options.labels.noReviewsLabel }}
{{ options.labels.newReviewButton }}
{{ userData.canReview.message }}

Related Articles

Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer

Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer

Does glyphosate—the world's most heavily-used herbicide—pose serious harm to humans? Is it carcinogenic? Those issues are of both legal and ...

Most Popular

ChatGPT-Image-Mar-10-2026-01_39_01-PM
Viewpoint—“Miracle molecule” debunked: Why acemannan supplements don’t work
Screenshot-2026-07-09-at-1.09.25-PM
Anti-vaccine myths rattle health care
Picture1
Hiroshima at 81: America’s new nuclear bomb, a buried Iranian target, and a question no one wants to ask
ChatGPT-Image-Jun-25-2026-12_23_17-PM
No, Bill Gates did not secretly engineer ticks to promote veganism
ChatGPT-Image-Jul-10-2026-12_21_03-PM
Viewpoint: Is there new evidence that the animal deworming drug ivermectin decreases the risk of Covid and cancer? Don’t waste your money.
leeteam
How Kennedy and his family could pocket millions from Merck’s $50 million vaccine injury settlement that he oversaw
ChatGPT Image Jul 29, 2026, 05_50_04 PM
Fear, science, and the law: If talc powder is unlikely to cause cancer and J&J was winning in court, why did it pay more than $5.5 billion to settle?

Sorry. No data so far.

glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.