The truth about how many chemicals are in everything we eat
The idea that there is a difference between "natural" chemicals, like those found in fruits and vegetables, and the synthetic version of those chemicals is just a bad way of looking at the world.
There are many chemicals in our food's natural flavors and colors. Some of them have long, scary-sounding names, too.
All foods — and everything else around us — are made up of chemicals, whether they occur in nature or are made in a lab. That means everything we smell or taste is a response to chemicals.
The characteristic smell of cloves, for example, comes from one chemical called eugenol.
![](http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/589c77b9dd089526558b4add/the-characteristic-smell-of-cloves-for-example-comes-from-one-chemical-called-eugenol.jpg)
And cinnamon, which is just the dried inner-bark of specific trees, gets its aroma and flavor from the compound cinnamaldehyde.
![](http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/589c77b9dd089526558b4ade/and-cinnamon-which-is-just-the-dried-inner-bark-of-specific-trees-gets-its-aroma-and-flavor-from-the-compound-cinnamaldehyde.jpg)
So, both artificial and natural flavors contain chemicals. The distinction between natural and artificial flavorings is the source of chemicals.
![](http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/589c77b9dd089526558b4adf/so-both-artificial-and-natural-flavors-contain-chemicals-the-distinction-between-natural-and-artificial-flavorings-is-the-source-of-chemicals.jpg)
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