It’s the most chocolate-coated holiday of the year and in honor of the “season of love” we are going to touch on one of the most common additives you might want to avoid in your rose-tinted plans. TBHQ, or Tertiary Butylhydroquinone, is a synthetic antioxidant used to preserve food. It’s pretty common in shelf stable snacks like microwave popcorn and crackers as well as fast food like French fries or fried chicken. The FDA and USDA have labeled this additive as generally safe but recent studies have pegged this chemical as a carcinogen. Still, the FDA hasn’t adjusted its stance and right now the suggested range for TBHQ is .7mg/kg a day. Even though individual foods are limited by the health department to 0.02 % of the total fat content, we’ve seen serving sizes adjusted before as a means of getting around this type of limitation. Your serving size contains more than the allowed amount? No problem. Just adjust the total fat content and maybe tweak that serving size and voilà! Consumers aren’t going to eat any less of your product but who cares? You’ve met the health department’s requirements.

This is pretty scary as this chemical can cause a wide range of serious health side effects and there is a strong argument for it not being allowed in our food at all! Testing showed an increased risk of convulsions, liver enlargement, tumors and neurological impacts similar to that of a neurotoxin. Not only that but TBHQ is said to negatively impact the proper functioning of your immune system and there is some evidence to suggest that TBHQ reduces the effectiveness of the flu vaccine. Additionally, there is an added risk to women as it has been recorded to mimic estrogen, causing an estrogen dominant state which can impact one’s risk of female reproductive system specific cancers, such as breast cancer. Even at a glance, we can see that it’s worth our time to limit if not eliminate TBHQ from our diet, particularly if you are a woman.

We mentioned chocolate because it is a very common category of food for this additive to hide in. Reece, Ghirardelli and Dove commonly contain this chemical but plant-based meats, frozen pizza, and nearly every flavor of cheez-its do too. Take your time and steer clean of the fast food this weekend as processed snacks seem to harbor this additive more than almost anything else. This Valentine’s Day, do a little research and make sure you aren’t giving your loved one a candy flavored health problem.