Transcriber: Tina Deng Reviewer: Reiko Bovee
Do you read the labels on foods when you go shopping?
I do.
And what do we usually look for?
This! "100% NATURAL."
Why? Because it makes us feel safer.
Now we know it's all natural. It must be good for me.
It's probably also healthy.
Because we have a stereotype in our head
that "healthy" is "natural."
Also, we have stereotypes about
the things are good for us, just in general.
These are things that are good for us. We know that.
We also have stereotypes about what other things are bad for us.
Some people also feel that if this is good for me,
then obviously, this is even more healthy.
And this, must be really really healthy.
So, let's take a look at those stereotypes.
First of all: Is there really an artificial and a natural world?
Second of all: If something is natural,
does it necessarily make it more healthy?
Third of all: If I eat twice as much as of it,
am I going to get more healthy?
What we see here is vitamin C,
the structure of vitamin C,
when it is purified from a natural source.
And the next slide, we see vitamin C,
that is synthesized artificially.
Do you see the difference?
You don't? Well, let's take another look at it.
Do you see the difference?
You don't see it because there is none.
Vitamin C is just vitamin C.
Just like this piece of Lego is a piece of Lego,
whether it came from a Ferrari, Darth Vader or Mickey Mouse.
There is a reason for a stereotype.
There is a historical reason for it.
Up until the 19th century, scientists were convinced
that the world was made up with organic and inorganic things.
It was called "Vitalism,"
until Friedrich Wöhler challenged this by synthesizing a number of
different organic compounds out of the inorganic.
But it wasn't until the early 20th century
when scientists finally concluded
that there is only one, the natural world.
Let me give you an interesting example.
Tramadol is a widely used painkiller.
It was first synthesized by a German scientist in 1970s.
Here is the chemical pathway.
And if you don't mind, I wouldn't go into the details of it right now.
What makes it interesting is that last year
it was found in large quantities
in the root of the pincushion tree, in Africa.
So my question is:
Is Tramadol an artificial compound or a natural compound?
The bark of the willow tree has been used for thousands of years
by people all over the world to treat pain and fever,
until the end of 1800s, when a few chemists purified it,
put it in a pill and called it aspirin.
Now it's an interesting debate to consider that, during the process,
when you take out of a compound from a plant,
and you put it into a pill, which is exactly the point
when it loses its "naturalness" and becomes artificial.
Most people -- when given the option to choose
between a pill and a herbal medicine --
will immediately choose the herbal medicine because it's natural.
On the other hand,
if we look at almost 90% of drugs that people consume on the planet,
they are derived in some forms from plants.
Even 50% of western medicine,
prescription western medicine has some plant origin.
But there is a reason why we put it in a pill.
When you put it in a pill,
you have a very well-defined quantity of a purified ingredient.
Well, you know what it does.
When you use herbs, you have a big problem with dosage.
You don't know what soil it grew on, how much sunshine or water it got.
You don't know how it was stored, their stability issues.
But most of all,
all herbs contain a thousand of other chemicals
that all have some kind of effect on our body, not always beneficial
But unlike drugs, herbs do not come with a package insert.
So most people presume that they're safe, and they don't have any side effects.
The truth is: herbs have side effects just as drugs do.
Here is just a list of a couple of commonly used herbs
and the side effects they have.
Thousands of people around the world die
because they're not aware of that.
Let's talk about things that are really bad for us.
Let's talk about poisons.
Well, let me tell you when it comes to poisons,
human chemists are no match for nature.
All of the deadliest poisons we know, they are all natural products.
The best that we know,
the strongest poison is called botulinum toxin.
Its subtype H is so toxic
that less than 10 grams could kill every human being on the planet.
To put that in perspective,
that's approximately the weight of a single one pound coin.
The best man-made poison
is about a million times less potent than that.
To look at it from a different angle,
what you see here is definitely 100% natural.
It's the variola virus or smallpox.
It has killed over a billion people,
until we made this, obviously synthetic thing.
That was the vaccine that eradicated it.
Now let's talk a little bit about quantities.
Once a friend of mine tried to convince me
to buy a food supplement.
And the argument she used was:
"When you eat one tablespoon of this,
is just like eating 80kg of raspberries."
"80kg of raspberries?'" I asked her,
"Have you ever tried to eat 80kg of raspberries?"
What do you think you'd feel after that?
I mean even if you survive, you probably have at least an ulcer.
Even things like oxygen or water are toxic.
Every year, believe it or not, people die from water toxicity.
Like this lady, who took part in a "Who Can Drink More Water" contest,
and died from drinking 6 litres of water.
6 litres doesn't even sound so much, right?
Other cases include parents who figured the best way
to punish their misbehaving kids
is to make them to drink a lot of water --
I wonder how they came out with that one --
or people who just try fantastic diets
that they've downloaded from internet,
or just runners who drink too much water during their marathon.
As Paracelsus put it very wisely 500 years ago,
"Everything is poison. It's just a matter of quantity."
You may say, "OK, this is just plain common sense."
True, but did you know that over 50,000 people are hospitalized
in the US alone every year from vitamin poisoning?
Thinking that vitamins are good and more vitamins are better?
Most of them are kids.
And every year several people die
in the US from vitamin overdosing.
And from all compounds ever tested,
let them be synthetic or natural,
more than half of them cause cancer in rodents
if given in large quantities.
On the other hand, if you use small quantities,
some of the strongest poisons, such as a snake venom,
makes some of our best medicines.
And all these healthy foods and vegetables we eat,
let me tell you.
they all have carcinogens in them, every single one.
Quantities are so small, you don't need to worry about it.
Or if you're worried about pesticides,
99% of the pesticides you ever consume come from plants.
They are made by plants to protect themselves
against insects, diseases, or predators.
Even botulinum toxin, the strongest toxin we know,
is used as a drug in small quantities
for a number of different indications including migraine.
It's also used in the cosmetics industry as Botox
to make women look young and beautiful.
Well, not always.
I told you, here's the evidence. Quantity does matter.
So as a conclusion:
Don't be afraid to question your stereotypes.
And remember the properties of any chemical
depends on its structure, not on its origin.
And natural doesn't always mean something is healthy.
And if you want to answer a question,
good or bad, or what's healthy or unhealthy,
that question doesn't make sense
until you answer at least two questions:
"Who's it for?" "In what quantity?" and "When?"
So consume everything in moderation
and use your plain common sense.
Thank you.
(Applause)