Ingredients

Processed food legal proceedings notwithstanding, there must be answers to these questions out there somewhere. Processed foods either do or don't increase your risk of cancer. They either do or don't increase your risk of a heart attack. They either are or are not bad for you. If you're thinking: I already know they're bad for me, because when I eat them, I feel like crap, I hear ya. I'm all for listening to your body, and that's a valuable data point for your everyday life. But you could just be experiencing a nocebo effect, which is like the placebo effect for bad stuff: if you expect something to feel like crap, it will. Even if it's not all in your head, feeling like crap doesn't give you the kind of information you need to make long-term decisions. There are lots of things that make you feel like crap that don't affect your long-term risk of death or disease, like the common cold or calling your cable company. And there are things that feel great that dramatically affect your long-term risk of death or disease, like smoking cigarettes.

For long-term decisions, you'd like to know:

1. How much processed food exactly is bad for you?

2. Does doubling your Cheeto consumption double your risk? Or do you have to eat a threshold number of Cheetos before anything bad happens?

3. How much life does every additional Cheeto suck from your body?

4. How bad is bad? How many years of life can you expect to give up in return for your processed-food habit?

I thought the answers to these questions just existed out there in the ether, and all I had to do was Google them. Turns out, they do-sort of. And I found them-sort of. But I also found a lot more. What I learned changed the way I look at food . . . but not how I expected. It wasn't like changing your mind from one extreme to the other. I didn't stop seeing Satan in the soggy crumbs of milk-soaked Oreos and instead start hearing choirs of castrated Chester Cheetahs in angelic harmony. It wasn't like that at all. It was as if another dimension had been added to my existence.

We're going to start exactly where I did: with processed food. In Part One, we're going to worry ourselves sick about it, and we'll talk about why it even exists in the first place. In Part Two, we'll look beyond processed food, at some of the chemicals we expose ourselves to on a daily basis-from Cheetos to sunscreen to cigarettes. In Part Three, we'll come back

teaches you how to think better like a smart, informed, and wickedly funny scientist."
Sam Kean, author of The Disappearing Spoon and The Bastard Brigade

"If you ever thought that chemistry might be really interesting (it is), but your eyes glazed over in high school chem class, this is the book for you. George Zaidan will keep you laughing out loud as he shares the wonders of our most useful, practical science, with brilliant analogies that even an eleven-year-old can understand."
Daniel J. Levitin, author of Successful Aging and This Is Your Brain on Music

"Omfg this book is FABULOUS! It's hilarious, insightful, sassy, and reassuring. A delightful roller-coaster of science communication."
Kallie Moore, co-host of PBS's Eons
 
"George Zaidan s mix of razor-sharp wit and pinpoint accuracy are rarer in science than a T. rex performing nuclear fusion. Ingredients has the answers to age-old questions how many Oreos are too many Oreos? and many more you never thought to ask. Like an optometrist performing stand-up, Zaidan is eye-opening and hilarious."
Daniel Stone, author of The Food Explorer

"Everything in our lives is made of chemicals. But unfortunately very few of us are chemists. Ingredients is a road map for navigating the confusing polysyllabic world we find in product labels and in viral news stories. Zaidan s blend of humor and science will not only make you a better-informed consumer of all things chemical. Ingredients will also make you appreciate the chemistry that makes our world possible."
Joe Hanson, creator/writer/host of It's Okay to Be Smart
 
"Through incredibly weird and wonderful analogies (and delightfully nerdy wit), George helps you understand how scientists work toward the truth. I wish he'd rewrite all of my high school science textbooks!"
Emily Calandrelli, author of the Ada Lace Adventures
 
"Ingredients is a friendly introduction to the chemistry behind our health, but it's also a compelling portrait of how science is conducted and knowledge is built. Turns out, Cheetos and the scientific method have something in common: there's a lot going on, and not everyone knows what. George does a masterful job of showing where chemistry can answer questions about our health and environment, and where it as well science in general is lead by politics, culture and even *gasp* opinion."
Mike Rugnetta, host of Idea Channel

"When I taught a writing intensive course for Nutrition and Food Science seniors, the main objectives were how to read scientific papers critically and how to argue effectively in print. I thought several times while reading this book that, rather than using peer-reviewed papers, I wish I could have had this book for my students. Pick any argument George makes and tell me, with references, why you agree or disagree. They probably would have learned more that way and certainly would have enjoyed their reading more."
David Klurfeld, former professor and chair of Nutrition and Food Science at Wayne State University

"Ingredients has all the ingredients I m looking for in a science book: it s chock-full of interesting information, it reveals the science behind an everyday subject, it s written in a breezy, easy-to-understand voice and it s funny! I can t recommend it enough."

Brian Malow, science comedian
"Restrained, thoughtful, and eye-opening analysis . . . There is good information to be found in this book."
Kirkus
 
"An entertaining romp through the world of scientific studies focusing on topics that will concern most readers. Recommended for all curious about the everyday products they consume or use."
Library Journal

"Ingredients employs a lighthearted tone and approachable language to enlighten even the least science-inclined reader on the strengths and pitfalls of the science that tells us what s best for our bodies."
Booklist

"If worry is your default mode these days, get Ingredients and chill. You'll eat it up."
Marco Eagle

"From the start, George Zaidan s Ingredients distinguishes itself from the typical 'eat this, not that' manifesto. . . . Ingredients is about the complex process of figuring out how to answer this question. In other words, instead of offering up faddish nutritional spin, or dishing out sanctimonious vagaries like, 'Eat real food,' Zaidan does something different and much, much more worthwhile. . . . Zaidan has a gift for punching up hard science with goofball details without sacrificing substance."
BookPage

"In Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us, George Zaidan delivers an enthusiastic introduction to nutritional epidemiology . . . Using simple illustrations and his trademark humor to demystify scientific analysis that doesn't always prove cause and effect, Zaidan empowers readers to make their own dietary decisions."
Shelf Awareness