Food Babe's disinformation, chemophobia, and scare tactics are the real toxic ingredients
Vani Hari's claims are not only false, they undermine public trust in science, scientific experts, governmental regulations, and safe, accessible food.
The Food Babe Recipe: 100% Fear, 0% Facts
If you haven’t heard of Vani Hari, consider yourself fortunate. For many of us in the science, nutrition, and public health space, she has been a thorn in our sides for longer than we’d like.
It seemed she had faded into the “ghosts of charlatans past” until she got a megaphone at the recent “Congressional Roundtable on Health and Nutrition” (read here), and is now a part of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement (MAHA), spearheaded by RFK Jr. as his add-on to the far-right MAGA movement (Read about RFK Jr. and his long history of anti-science exploitation here).
This means that Vani’s - and RFK Jr.’s - misinformation, fallacies, and lies have reared their ugly heads again. Danielle Shine (a dietitian based in Australia who is also currently working on a PhD focused on nutrition misinformation on social media) and I posted an extensive piece on social media earlier this week, but this newsletter is intended to elaborate on themes that cause so much harm to our society. See the social post here:
(Note: references not hyperlinked within this piece can be found in entirety here: https://www.immunologic.org/references/food-babe)
Vani has been undermining credible experts in relevant fields for years as a self-appointed health activist.
Vani Hari has no educational background, work experience, or credible qualifications that would allow her to speak in a fact-based manner about these topics. She has a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina. She worked as a management consultant for financial institutions before spearheading her “career” as Food Babe in 2011, starting with a blog.
While she claims she is advocating for health and healthy food, she actually does the opposite. Vani Hari’s ongoing ‘activism’ poses a serious threat to science literacy, public health, & trust in evidence-based science.
For years, Vani has spread falsehoods about an array of food & nutrition topics including genetically modified foods, food-grade ingredients, & health interventions like the flu vaccine. All the while, she makes a lot of money: on cookbooks that utilize expensive organic ingredients and costly kitchen gadgets, “workshops” on being a food activist, dietary supplements, and her own line of processed foods: protein/meal bars, protein powders, etc.
She lacks chemistry, toxicology, & regulatory knowledge, yet routinely speaks about these topics, spreading misinformation & promoting chemophobia. She has created a large fear-based presence and cemented allies with high-profile celebrities. As a result, credible experts in relevant fields spend inordinate amounts of time trying to stem the flow of her pseudoscience.
Why? Because her claims undermine the actual processes and infrastructure that is in place - and credible experts in science and health professions - that ensure consumer products are safe.
Fearmongering isn’t a substitute for science. It only serves to erode the ability of scientists and health professionals to do their jobs.
Vani’s wild and unfounded claims span far and wide, running the gamut from lacking basic knowledge of chemistry to mischaracterizing the state of chronic disease.
Some examples include:
The flu vaccine “has been used as a genocide tool” & contains “…toxic chemicals & additives that lead to several types of cancers & Alzheimer disease.”
Cereals are “nutritionally void” “dead food” that don’t “give life to your body”.
“...Processed foods filled with addicting ingredients”
“Brands poison kids with artificial food dyes in the US”
“...I believe any amount of Roundup [Glyphosate] in our food is TOO MUCH.”
“Manufactured citric acid contributes to allergies & inflammation in the body” causing “allergies, asthma, & other health conditions.”
“There is just no acceptable level of any chemical to ingest, ever."
Let’s get into some of these, starting with the fact that:
Vani doesn’t understand fundamental science concepts, which she makes apparent with all of her content.
Vani’s common tactic is to take a chemical that she doesn’t understand, and demonize it by wildly mischaracterizing it, its use, and processes it is involved in.
For example, she claims that citric acid is harmful because it “comes from black mold.” She has said citric acid contributes to allergies, inflammation, asthma, & other health conditions. There is no evidence to support this claim, but it is an interesting convergence of themes among “wellness influencers” including chemophobia and pseudoscience health claims about black mold (which I discussed, here).
But first, some science. Citric acid is made using largescale fermentation. A species of fungus, Aspergillus niger, ferments sugars in molasses using the same metabolic pathway discussed here. Aspergillus breaks sucrose into fructose and glucose using an enzyme, invertase. Glucose molecules are broken down into pyruvate, which is converted into Acetyl-CoA that enters the citric acid cycle.
Normally, acetyl-CoA forms citric acid (citrate) when it combines with oxaloacetate, and then citric acid continues through TCA. In the case of citric acid production, this pathway is halted by changing the growth conditions of Aspergillus to lead to accumulation and secretion of citric acid into nutrient broth. This is accomplished by:
Growing in an acidic environment. A pH of 2-3 interferes with citrate metabolism.
Iron deprivation blocks aconitase, the enzyme that normally converts citrate to isocitrate.
Excess sugar in the nutrient media leads to overflow and secretion of excess citrate by fungal cells.
Pretty cool, right? This biotechnology allows us to produce large quantities of citric acid under controlled conditions. The citric acid harvested from the media is filtered and purified. There’s no “black mold” in it.
This process has been used for 100 years, and it is a simple yet effective tool. It’s the same citric acid that is naturally found in many foods, including citrus. In fact, it’s the same exact citric acid that your cells produce when they undergo cell respiration. Remember: the source of a chemical doesn’t change its identity.
Unfortunately, because Vani doesn’t understand these fundamental biochemistry concepts, she creates fear and undermines tools that we have been using to improve the quality and quantity of human life for decades.
Vani uses the word “toxic” as a weapon, even while she doesn’t understand basic toxicological concepts.
I’ve written about this here, but Vani is the poster child of misusing the phrase toxic. She frequently accuses parents of feeding their kids toxic foods, of exposing them to toxic chemicals, and buying things covered in toxic pesticides. Yet she never once, not ever, provides context about what chemical, at which dosage, might cause toxicity?
Because even water can be toxic at a certain exposure. This lack of context is universal in her content.
She’s said she would never put formaldehyde in her body including in personal care products too, yet fails to realize that her body produces orders of magnitude more formaldehyde, every day, through basic metabolic processes.
Yes, that’s right. Vani’s own body produces and “releases” 1.5 ounces of formaldehyde every single day. I wonder why that never comes up in discussion?
Vani simultaneously undermines credible science while promoting pseudoscience and unproven wellness products.
So, back to the “black mold” and citric acid. Well, wouldn’t you know: Vani sells a “Juice Cleanse” so you can detoxify yourself from all the toxic mold. You should consider yourself lucky you found her before it was too late!
Vani uses the universal tactic of wellness influencers: if she can convince you that food ingredients are a problem, then SHE can sell you a solution!
Unfortunately, there isn’t evidence to support her claims, but by creating health anxiety and fear, she increases her audience’s susceptibility to misinformation.
Vani’s lack of fundamental science knowledge also undermines important health measures like vaccines.
Vani claims vaccines contain harmful ingredients, toxic chemicals, and has even called the flu vaccine a genocide tool. In addition, she calls vaccinated people lemmings, and undermines one of the most impactful scientific interventions of modern medicine.
Vaccines prevent the spread of communicable diseases & reduce the risk of serious health complications, including premature death. Vaccines save millions of lives every year. They protect you & others, including vulnerable individuals like the elderly, infants, & those with weakened immune systems.
Anti-vaccine messaging is considered a top ten global health threat.
Undermining the importance and benefit of vaccinations reduces vaccine rates, increases outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, & causes premature & preventable deaths among adults & children.
This is exactly why there are resurgence of diseases like measles, whooping cough, and more. We are seeing the direct consequences of this growing rhetoric. Last year, a record high of pediatric deaths due to the flu were recorded in the United States. Roughly 80% of the 200 children that died from flu and flu-related complications were not fully vaccinated. (I have discussed the benefits of flu vaccine here).
Vani claims vaccines contain harmful ingredients, like thimerosal and formaldehyde. Aside from the fact these statements are objectively false, the goal of these claims are to undermine the extensive scientific study, testing, and regulatory processes that exist to keep us safe and healthy. If she can cast doubt on safety agencies and feed medical conspiracism, she can create a cohort of people that are unwilling to trust to evidence-based information.
Vani’s misinformation campaigns turn harmless ingredients into public enemies.
In keeping with the themes of chemophobia and the appeal to nature fallacy, Vani has made a lucrative career out of loud and public outrage targeting perfectly safe foods and food ingredients. Our food has never been safer. Yet Vani - and her “Food Babe Army” aim to dismantle all of the scientific and regulatory oversight that the US - and other countries - have built over the years. (Note: I have covered most of these topics in depth, so each is hyperlinked below)
She makes unfounded claims about substances being “toxic” without context, ignoring key foundations of toxicology, chemistry, and biology.
She has falsely claims glyphosate and GMOs are harmful, when in reality, glyphosate replaced other herbicides with higher toxicity and GMOs have led to an overall reduction in pesticide use.
She undermines safe, nutritious, and more affordable conventional produce, while promoting expensive and less environmental friendly organic options - that use many pesticides, many of which are less safe than conventional options.
She aligns with the Environmental Working Group and the Non-GMO project, both organizations which have long histories of anti-science activism for profit.
She claims that synthetic chemicals are inherently worse than natural ones, exploiting the appeal to nature fallacy to sell her own processed food and supplement products.
She claims that “processed foods” cause a myriad of health issues, from ADHD, cancer, & immune disorders. She ignores social determinants of health, the fact that food ingredients are regulated and have acceptable daily intake levels (ADI) assigned, and that her “evidence” are based on animal studies where animals were given dosages of substances thousands of times higher than anything we would ever encounter.
She doesn’t understand food safety and regulatory oversight, routinely claiming substances are banned in other countries while they are permitted in the US. Not only is this false, it causes fear among people and shames parents.
Are food dyes used in the US banned in other countries? No, not really.
A common trope that often circulates when the likes of Vani Hari get a megaphone are false claims that suggest the US food supply is filled with “poison” food colorings that other countries don’t allow. Because of that, they like to spread fear and undermine the safety of our food supply.
What’s the harm of this?
Vani is creating the perception that she cares about health. But she doesn’t.
Some people ask, often with legitimate curiosity, what’s so wrong about someone like Vani trying to get food ingredients removed or changed? What’s wrong with trying to get healthier options?
It’s a good question. And there is nothing wrong with trying to get healthier options.
But that isn’t what Vani is doing. Vani fabricates performative outrage that is based on objectively false statements to undermine robust science and overlook the regulations that ensure safety.
Vani claims that she knows better than people who have spent their lives studying food science, chemistry, toxicology, food microbiology, cancer biology, epidemiology, agriculture and crop science, dietetics, nutrition science, veterinary science, and ecology.
She actually says this outright, as she sells unregulated and unproven dietary supplements:
And by doing so, she creates a false dichotomy between what she promotes and what is supported by evidence. She does that to undermine scientific experts, health professional, and the very institutions that exist to keep us safe.
This is the theme of her “work” that has been ongoing for over a decade, and the work of the “MAHA” movement: create distrust of those who have worked in subject matter expert fields for their entire careers so that you can erode confidence and convince people that there is some evil conspiracy to harm us. Once they do that, then they can get your buy-in for all of their pseudoscience they want to sell you.
Vani Hari and her compatriots like RFK Jr. have long and decorated histories of profiting off of anti-science disinformation.
She claims “Big Supplement”, “Big Wellness” & “Big ORGANIC Food” are altruistic, but “Big Pharma” & “Big Food” are evil. They undermine interventions like vaccines that enable people to live long enough to develop diseases of aging. They spread fear about biotechnology - scientific tools that allow us to increase the quality and quantity of our lives and our food supplies. Why? Because if they can get you on board with medical conspiracies, they’ve got their wellness industry hooks in you.
She is not concerned about improving health, not in a true and meaningful way. She creates public performances targeting specific companies and food ingredients, to distract from things that do have tangible impacts to health:
Affordable healthcare
Equitable food access
Modern agriculture technology
Vani and her MAHA friends ALL have financial motives to erode trust in credible science & health. If they convince you regulated food production practices are “poisoning you” they can get you to buy their UNREGULATED supplements, detoxes, home health tests - which aren’t beneficial, can be harmful, & all waste money.
Her fearmongering ignores decades of research and food safety standards. And she uses her reach and influence among celebrities to propagate lies, bully scientific experts, and influence politicians. All of which causes harm and distracts from the real issues that matter for individual and public health.
Vani Hari is not a health advocate, and never has been.
In Vani’s world, facts are optional. In fact, they’re discouraged. Because if people looked at her claims with a bit of critical thinking, they would realize that they are built on a hill of conspiracy theories, paranoia, and ignorance.
Her claims about “toxic foods,” banned ingredients, clean eating, and healthy living leave out the most important part: evidence.
Thank you for supporting evidence-based science communication. With outbreaks of preventable diseases, refusal of evidence-based medical interventions, propagation of pseudoscience by prominent public “personalities”, it’s needed now more than ever.
Stay skeptical,
Andrea
Danielle Shine is a registered dietitian and PhD candidate focused on nutrition misinformation on social media. Follow her on Instagram.
“ImmunoLogic” is written by Dr. Andrea Love, PhD - immunologist and microbiologist. She works full-time in life sciences biotech and has had a lifelong passion for closing the science literacy gap and combating pseudoscience and health misinformation as far back as her childhood. This newsletter and her science communication on her social media pages are born from that passion. Follow on Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and Facebook, or support the newsletter by subscribing below:
I can't tell you how often parents would say the reason they refused to vaccinate their children was because of formaldehyde.
I would take a deep, slow, calming breath and say...
"Erm - my body, your body makes over 1 ounce of formaldehyde each day as part of its normal process."
Invariably, they would look stunned, shake their heads, and say: "But this is different." This is INJECTED.
Thank you. She is a public health menace.