Vani Hari Declines to Reveal Heavy Metal Content of Flagship Truvani Product

Speak of no heavy metals, see no heavy metals, hear of no heavy metals… and there will be no heavy metals: right? Well, maybe. It would be helpful if Truvani would release the lab report they claim to have.

For a company that prides itself on complete ingredient transparency,¹ Vani Hari’s Truvani line is off to a poor start.  In spite of her January 3, 2018 Facebook post boasting of a “clean” glyphosate and heavy metals test,² Hari has spent the past two months ignoring repeated requests to release lab results backing her claims.

I’m one of several interested parties who have made multiple requests through the official contact numbers and addresses listed by Truvani.³  Truvani’s physical address is actually a mail drop located in a strip mall in Las Vegas, sandwiched between a beauty salon and a dry cleaner.  Her phone line is an unmanned voice mailbox.

Unsurprisingly, all of our inquiries have been ignored.  This alone does not mean Hari has something to hide.  However, the discovery of even trace amounts of heavy metals in this company’s products would be damning to the “Food Babe”, who has gone on record saying there is no safe amount of any chemical to ingest, and has made a career out of disparaging trace amounts of chemicals in competitors’ products (while selling those same ingredients in her own online store).

If you’d like to add your voice and call for the same transparency that Hari demands in the products of others, the company phone number is:

(980) 292-0438

This is a voice mailbox in Charlotte, NC.  There’s no human manning the phones, but you can leave a message.  Ask that the full lab report for Truvani’s turmeric heavy metal analysis be released publicly. Please be polite.  

Sending physical mail to Truvani’s legal business address is an exercise in futility.  Listed as “848 N. Rainbow Blvd, Unit #8187, Las Vegas, NV 89107,”³ the address is nothing more than a mail drop in a small strip mall in Las Vegas (photo, below). You can send a letter, but don’t expect a reply.

Truvani’s official business address is a “Mail Link” franchise,  wedged between a dry cleaner and beauty salon in a Las Vegas strip mall. Don’t expect a reply if you send mail. (click/enlarge).  Photo © 2018 Google Maps.

Finally, you might try (as we did) emailing Truvani and asking for the release of the full lab report.  We received no response, but perhaps if the outcry is great enough… The listed email address is:

support@truvanilife.com

If you’re lucky enough to get a response, I’d love to hear from you here at the blog or via the Bad Science Debunked Facebook page.  There may be nothing to see, but it rings hollow that Hari, one of the loudest voices shouting for transparency in the food industry, refuses to disclose lab reports that she claims to have in hand.

Suggested Twitter hashtags if you tweet this article:

#FoodBabeArmy  #FoodBabeWay  @FoodBabe

Bonus Coverage: Chemicals in Truvani Turmeric
Vani Hari dances around the issue of chemicals in her flagship turmeric product by saying there are no “added” chemicals.  Well, added by who?  As we know, everything is a chemical, and it matters not where the chemical came from.  While we wait on Vani’s lab reports, I thought I’d show you some of the chemicals you’re buying with every bottle of Truvani turmeric.

“Major phytoconstituents of turmeric are diarylheptanoids, which occur in a mixture termed curcuminoids that generally make up approximately 1–6% of turmeric by dry weight. Most crude extracts prepared from turmeric, and even some refined “curcumin” materials, contain three major compounds”^{4  —} The Essential Medicinal Chemistry of Curcumin
(Journal of Medicinal Chemistry)

 

Curcumin, found in TruVani’s product  (Click to enlarge).   Courtesy Pubchem. See references.

 

Bisdemethoxycurcumin, also found in TruVani’s product.  (Click to enlarge).   Courtesy Pubchem. See references.

 

Demethoxycurcumin, a Truvani offering.  (Click to enlarge).  Courtesy Pubchem. See references.

 

 

Curcumin, a major component of TruVani Turmeric, is loaded with chemicals (click/enlarge)

References
(1) Truvani Mission Statement on Ingredient Transparency
Warning: Not a scholarly or educational link
https://www.truvanilife.com/
Retrieved 17 Mar 2018

(2) Vani Hari Heavy Metals Claim on Facebook
Warning: Not a scholarly or educational link
https://www.facebook.com/thefoodbabe/photos/a.208386335862752.56063.132535093447877/1789015851133118/?type=3&theater
Retrieved 17 Mar 2018

(3) Truvani Contact Information
https://www.truvanilife.com/contact
Retrieved 17 Mar 2018

(4) The Essential Medicinal Chemistry of Curcumin
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
2017 Mar 9;60(5):1620-1637
Kathryn M. Nelson, Jayme L. Dahlin, Jonathan Bisson, James Graham, Guido F. Pauli, and Michael A. Walters
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5346970/
Retrieved 21 Nov 2017

(5) Curcumin (Compound Summary for CID 969516)
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/969516
Retrieved 21 Nov 2017

(6) Demethoxycurcumin (Compound Summary for CID 5469424)
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/5469424
Retrieved 21 Nov 2017

(7) Bisdemethoxycurcumin (Compound Summary for CID 5315472)
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/5315472
Retrieved 21 Nov 2017

Image Credits
Curcumin image Copyright © 2017 American Chemical Society, from an open access article published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial No Derivative Works (CC-BY-NC-ND) Attribution License, which permits copying and redistribution of the article, and creation of adaptations, all for non-commercial purposes.

Curcumin Image (Compound  CID 969516) from PubChem, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/969516

Demethoxycurcumin Image (Compound CID 5469424) from PubChem,
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/5469424

Bisdemethoxycurcumin Image (Compound CID 5315472) from PubChem,
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/5315472

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Food Babe Wants This Made Illegal For Children, So She Sells It To Them

One of Vani (the “Food Babe”) Hari’s most hypocritical posts ever just hit Facebook.¹  I literally spewed a soft drink across my computer screen when I saw this post:

Food Babe maligns the sale of artificial colors to children while she does the very same thing.(click/enlarge)

For many years now, Hari has sold artificial colors made from petroleum derivatives  to children, in the form of Piggy Paint nail polish, as detailed here.²

Piggy Paint, pushed by Food Babe via her affiliate marketing program,³ contains an abundance of artificial “coal tar dye” colors (her language, not mine), including Orange 5, Yellow 10, Red 22, Red 34, and Violet 2.⁴

Piggy Paint nail polish for children, complete with artificial colors,  as sold by Food Babe (click/enlarge)

For those in the #FoodBabeArmy who might cry foul, saying Vani’s only campaigning against so-called toxic chemicals in food products, let me again remind you, she rants against the very same ingredients in beauty products.⁵

Vani, it’s time to start reading your own product labels.

 

References
(1) Food Babe Artificial Color Post (Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/thefoodbabe/photos/a.208386335862752.56063.132535093447877/1781149331919770/?type=3&theater&ifg=1
Retrieved 27 Dec 2017

(2) Food Babe Selling Pesticide, Coal Tar Dyes to Children
Bad Science Debunked, 15 Nov 2015
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/tag/piggy-paints/
Retrieved 27 Dec 2017

(3) Food Babe: New Products That Make Me Scream In Excitement
(Food Babe Marketing Post)
https://foodbabe.com/2013/04/13/new-products-that-make-me-scream-in-excitement/
Retrieved 27 Dec 2017

(4) Piggy Paint Ingredients
http://www.piggypaint.com/product-info/#.VikWjJegaoc
Retrieved 27 Dec 2017

(5) So Fresh And So Clean–Skin Care Tips
Warning: Not a scholarly link
https://foodbabe.com/2011/08/09/so-fresh-and-so-clean-skin-care-tips/
Retrieved 27 Dec 2017

Image Credits
Piggy Paint and Food Babe screen snapshots and product image captures are used in strict compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of United States copyright law (commonly known as “fair use law”). This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Food Babe Decks The Malls With Bowls of Folly

Food Babe is back with a list of holiday stocking stuffers for the kids things she wants to sell you and, of course, the list is loaded with the same ingredients she says will kill you, or violates rule after rule she dictates to her followers.  It all started with a post dissing Lindt Truffles, my favorite.¹  How could I resist taking this on?

Let’s step through Food Babe’s list of alternative candies and see how she’s hypocritically misleading her followers.  We’ll close with a brief reexamination of her ethically questionable use of hidden affiliate links.

Alter Eco Organic Chocolate Truffles [Extra Sugar, Fake Caramel Flavoring]

Alter Eco Truffles  break one of Vani Hari’s cardinal rules… (click/enlarge)

Food Babe can’t hide her disdain for artificial flavorings.  Why then is there no caramel in the truffles she’s selling?2  See article text. (click/enlarge)

Vani loses her sh… uhm, cool, when manufacturers don’t use “real” ingredients in their products.  Now, you can’t go pick a caramel fruit off a tree, but there is a known way to make caramel, involving sugar, butter, milk, etc. You’ll find none of these in Vani’s replacement for Lindt truffles.  Instead, Alter Eco artificially manufactures a caramel taste using plant extracts, spices, fruits, vegetables, and tree bark.²  This according to an email from Alter Eco’s customer service department.

This reminds me of the time Vani sold Honeysuckle shampoo that contained no honeysuckle.³

The Alter Eco Truffles also contain more sugar than the Lindt Truffles sold by Hari (see nutritional  breakdown, image, below).  Remember, Vani Hari said this about sugar:

“Sugar is the Devil”–Vani Hari ¹²

Lindt Truffles vs. Food Babe’s Alter Eco Truffles: Nutritional Breakdown

One serving (3 truffles, 36 grams) contains 14 grams of sugar.13  Compare to Hari’s brand in the image, right, which contains 15 grams of sugar for an equivalent serving.  Hari says sugar is the devil.(click/enlarge)

One of Vani’s truffles is 12 grams (one serving), while a Lindt serving is 36 grams (3 truffles). An equivalent serving of Food Babe’s candy provides 15 grams of sugar, more than Lindt truffles.  Food Babe says sugar is the devil.  (click/enlarge)

Theo Chocolate Nutcracker Brittle [Heavy Metals]

Food Babe’s Theo chocolate contains pink himalayan salt, which is often found to contain trace elements she claims are dangerous. (click/enlarge)

Theo Chocolate Nutcracker Brittle dark chocolate contains Pink Himalayan Salt.⁴  While Theo doesn’t provide a chemical analysis of the salt in their chocolate, I’ve written about this miracle salt many times, including here⁵ and here.⁶  It’s typically found to contain trace elements of lead, arsenic, aluminum, mercury, and a host of other elements that hide under Vani Hari’s bed and give her nightmares on a regular basis.  Vani and her compatriots claim these metals accumulate in your body, slowly poisoning you–but she’s happy to sell you detox products to save the day!

Alter Eco Dark Chocolate [Arsenic]

Alter Eco Dark Chocolate contains rice. Vani Hari warns that rice is a prominent source of arsenic.

Alter Eco Dark Chocolate contains rice, but Vani wants us to avoid rice because… well, enlighten us, Vani:

“Rice is a very common in gluten-free diets, but it’s notoriously contaminated with arsenic, which is a “potent human carcinogen” according to scientists at Consumer Reports and classified as a group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.”⁷

Yes, rice and arsenic, it’s what’s for dinner at Vani’s Restaurant.

YumEarth Organics Lollipops [Arsenic]

YumEarth Candy Cane Pops are made with rice syrup. As mentioned previously, Food Babe warns that rice is a source of arsenic. (click/enlarge)

Lollipops… and there’s a sucker born every minute!   YumEarth Organics Candy Cane Pops to be exact.⁸  They’re made with organic rice syrup.  I see someone in the back row raising their hand excitedly at the mention of rice.  That’s right, we just talked about this.  Food Babe said rice is:

“… notoriously contaminated with arsenic.”⁷

Merry Christmas 😦

 

Kur Chocolates [Added Sugar, Misleading Labeling]

Food Babe’s Kur chocolates do indeed contain sugar; it comes from the dates added to the mix. (click/enlarge)

Food Babe touts these rather expensive chocolates as having “no added sugar.”¹

Oh really?

There are dates in this candy. The United States Department of Agriculture lists varying sugar amounts of sugar for dates, from 93.1 grams for one cup of deglet noor dates to 15.95 grams for a single (pitted) medjool date.⁹  Kur doesn’t tell us the type or amount of dates added to their chocolate bars, but nonetheless, sugar is sugar, and it is there, added when the dates were put in the mix.  One grows weary of this Appeal to Nature fallacy¹⁰, where something derived from nature is supposedly “good” for you.  Food Babe’s sugar is the same sugar she disparages.  Sorry, Vani.

I also have a scientific bone to pick with labeling their products as “non-GMO”.¹¹   Looking at the  Kur Brownie Pack, for example, the ingredients are: Dates, Cashew Butter, Cacao Powder, Almonds, Cinnamon, and Essential Oil of Orange.  Of these, not a single ingredient is commercially available as a genetically modified crop.  The non-GMO label has become a slick marketing trick to take advantage of consumers, and is being applied in some outlandish ways.  It’s meaningless in this context.

Before you know it, they’ll be advertising non-GMO condoms.

Oh dear, I spoke too soon.

Seriously? What’s reason for labeling something non-GMO if there isn’t a GMO equivalent? (click/enlarge)

 

About Those Hidden Affiliate Links
All of the recommended products in Food Babe’s stocking stuffer list are tagged with hidden affiliate links. Encoded in each hyperlink is a code that gives Food Babe not only a percentage of your purchase price of her recommended product, but also any other qualifying purchase you make on Amazon in the future. Buy a TV, a computer, etc. for Christmas or Hanukkah gifts, and you are lining Vari Hani’s pockets with a percentage of your purchase price of those products as well.

I’ve decoded the process for you below. You can see Food Babe’s affiliate code, “foodbab-20”, after it’s been decoded from the “2lW5YIG” parameter passed to Amazon when you click on her organic mini chocolate peppermints link. If you read Amazon’s agreement for affiliates¹² and then search for Food Babe’s disclosure of what’s happening on her page, I believe you’ll come to the conclusion I have: something’s not quite right here.

Vani Hari’s undisclosed affiliate links seem to be a clear violation of Amazon’s rules for affiliates. (click/enlarge)

 

Note:
This article has been updated to reflect nutritional content of Hari’s brands vs. those she maligns.

 

References
(1) Food Babe’s Healthy Stocking Stuffers for 2017
Warning: Not a scholarly link
https://foodbabe.com/2017/12/07/healthy-holiday-stocking-stuffers-list-2017/
Retrieved 19 Dec 2017

(2) Alter Eco Organic Truffle Ingredients
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PA9H9HS/
Retrieved 22 Dec 2017

(3) Food Babe’s Honeysuckle Shampoo contains no Honeysuckle
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/29/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-honeysuckle-shampoo/
Retrieved 22 Dec 2017

(4) Theo Chocolate Nutcracker Brittle Ingredients
https://www.theochocolate.com/product/nutcracker-brittle/
Retrieved 20 Dec 2017

(5) Your Worst Day Ever: David Avocado Wolfe’s Himalayan Salt Debunked
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/your-worst-day-ever-david-avocados-himalayan-salt-debunked/
Retrieved 20 Dec 2017

(6) Dr. Mercola’s Himalayan Salt Debunked
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/dr-mercolas-himalayan-salt-debunked/
Retrieved 20 Dec 2017

(7) Trying To Avoid Gluten? Don’t Make These Common Mistakes! (Food Babe)
Warning: Not a scholarly article
https://foodbabe.com/2015/09/22/trying-avoid-gluten-dont-make-common-mistakes/
Retrieved 20 Dec 2017

(8) YumEarth Organics Lollipops Ingredients
https://yumearth.com/products/lollipops
Retrieved 20 Dec 2017

(9) USDA Food Composition Databases:  Sugars (Total, Dates)
https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/nutrients/report?nutrient1=269&nutrient2=&nutrient3=&&max=25&subset=0&offset=3000&sort=f&totCount=6789&measureby=m
Retrieved 22 Dec 2017

(10) Appeal to Nature Fallacy
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-nature
Retrieved 22 Dec 2017

(11) Alter Eco Dark Quinoa Ingredients
http://www.alterecofoods.com/product/dark-quinoa/
Retrieved 20 Dec 2017

(12) Disclaimer for Amazon Associates
https://termsfeed.com/blog/disclaimer-amazon-associates/
Retrieved 20 Dec 2017

(13) Lindt Lindor Chocolate Truffles Nutrion Information
https://www.lindtusa.com/wcsstore/LindtStorefrontAssetStore/Attachment/products/nutritional-information-SKU-4852.pdf
Retrieved 25 Dec 2017

(14) Food Babe: Ditch Refined Sugar
Warning: Not a scholarly article
https://foodbabe.com/2011/12/19/ditch-refined-sugar/
Retrieved 25 Dec 2017

Image Credits
Food Babe, Theo, Kur, Alter Eco, Google, Amazon, YumEarth, and all other product/branded imagery shots are used in strict compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Trix Are For Food Babe

According to the old breakfast cereal slogan, “Trix are for kids.”

Vani Hari  (the “Food Babe”) has a new variation on this theme with her latest misinformation campaign: Tricks are for kids–and their gullible parents.

Let’s look at a Hari Facebook rant from October 2, accusing General Mills of targeting children with alleged carcinogenic compounds in General Mills’ Trix cereal.¹  As we’ll see in a moment, Food Babe also targets children with products containing these very same chemicals, and has been doing so for at least six years:

Food Babe sells the same falsely-labeled toxins in her Facebook post, ironically targeting children in the process.  (click/enlarge)

Hari asks if marketing artificial colors to children should be illegal.  An ironic question coming from a woman who markets products containing artificial colors to children herself.²  Not just any artificial colors, but the same “coal tar dyes” she rants about in her October 2 post.

Sherman, set the WayBack Machine to November, 2015, when I pointed out the (pink?) elephant in the room to Food Babe:

Two years ago, it was clearly pointed out to Vani Hari that she’s selling to children the same class of “coal tar dyes”that she labels toxic.  From Bad Science Debunked, November 15, 2015.   (click/enlarge)

Yes, this children’s fingernail polish marketed by Vani Hari is made from the same artificial colors that are causing her Blue #1 sky to fall.  But the hypocrisy doesn’t end there.  Not that anyone in the #FoodBabeArmy seems scientifically literate enough to pick up on the fact, but this children’s product also contains an organic pesticide, neem oil.  Vani Hari is an outspoken opponent of pesticides, but apparently has no qualms about selling them to children.

Hari does not get a “get out of jail free card” because she’s lambasting a food product and here she’s hawking a cosmetic.  Thus sayeth the Food Babe:

“Your skin is your largest organ!  What you put on your skin, is absorbed into your blood.”–Vani Hari³

This is a common theme in the world of “all natural” product salespeople–it doesn’t matter if it comes from food or beauty products–it it’s a toxin, it’s gonna kill ya, whether you swallow it, inhale it, or get it on your skin.

But it gets worse for Ms. Hari.  Several of the dyes that she calls out by name, including Blue #1 and Yellow #6, were openly sold via her online “Food Babe Shop” for several years before being quietly pulled overnight when called out on her gaffe.⁴  These products were ingested by humans, as they included a dozen different shades of Tarte lipstick.  Placed on the lips, the very dyes Hari calls “neurotoxins” were happily and enthusiastically lapped up by every woman who licked her lips while wearing Food Babe-recommended cosmetics.

The third artificial color, Red #40, which Hari curiously links to hyperactivity?  It has been a mainstay in the Giovanni Hair Care products she’s been hyping on FoodBabe.com since 2011.⁷  You’re three-for-three Vani. Well done.  Well done, indeed.

Food Babe highly recommends Giovianni hair care products. There’s only one problem…

Red #40, much maligned by Hari, is found in hair care products that she hawks in her blog. (click/enlarge)

Last but not least, Vani takes issue with the presence of genetically modified ingredients in Trix cereal.  Let’s rinse and repeat our investigative pattern for the #FoodBabeArmy crowd who are missing the obvious:  Food Babe has been selling you a product containing GMO corn long enough for Seralini to have faked a dozen more GMO cancer studies.⁶

This product, featured on FoodBabe.com, is made from GMO corn. (click/enlarge)

As the commercial goes, Trix may be for kids, but Tricks are for Food Babe.

Let us then revisit the original, deceptive General Mills Trix cereal box graphic that Vani Hari presented in her October 2 Facebook post, and put it into proper context by comparing her alleged toxic ingredients with those she sells or has consistently sold for years:

Food Babe’s Babes “Box of Tricks” includes an online store pushing products containing every single ingredient she disparages in General Mills’ Trix cereal.  

Gentle reader, there’s nothing dangerous in Trix cereal, or, indeed, any of the products that Vani Hari “trix” her followers into buying by pretending that the alternatives are harmful.  Buy any of the products mentioned in this article with complete confidence they’re safe.  Just please… don’t buy them from FoodBabe.com.

 

References
(1) Food Babe Trix Post
https://www.facebook.com/thefoodbabe/posts/1696483297053041

(2) Food Babe Selling Pesticides, Coal Tar Dyes To Children
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/food-babe-selling-pesticide-coal-tar-dyes-to-children/

(3) So Fresh And So Clean–Skin Care Tips
http://foodbabe.com/2011/08/09/so-fresh-and-so-clean-skin-care-tips/

(4) Food Babe Slam Kraft Over Three Dyes But Sells Same
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/food-babe-slams-kraft-over-three-dyes-but-sells-same/

(6) Food Babe is Selling GMOs
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/food-babe-is-selling-gmos/

(7)  She Did It Again!
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/she-did-it-again-food-babe-linked-to-another-company-using-same-dyes-she-forbids/

Image Credits
Food Babe screen snapshots are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

“American Pie” imagery photoshopped/produced by the author, used under the parody provisions of Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

“Trix/Tricks” imagery photoshopped/produced by the author, used under the parody provisions of Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

How Can Food Babe Sell Carrageenan So Cheaply? It’s Simple: Volume!

The calendar on the wall says it’s Friday!  That’s payday here at Bad Science Debunked headquarters, which means it’s time for a crowd favorite: another group shopping trip to FoodBabe.com.  Vani Hari, the “Food Babe”, earns a sales commission from purchases we make on Amazon.com after visiting her web site, even if she didn’t recommend the products.  It’s rewarding to have an altruistic science researcher like Vani throwing her weight around.  A portion of each purchase goes to help struggling penguin colonies at the North Pole.^** Or something like that.

Food Babe loves Aubrey Organics and John Masters hair care products and raves about the effects they have on her shiny mane.¹  Not coincidentally, the blogger who has been caught selling over thirty-six items that contain the same ingredients she says will kill you also happens to feature both companies prominently on her FoodBabe.com shopping page.²

Food Babe loves John Masters. (click/enlarge)

But Vani Hari hates carrageenan. Apparently confusing the safe food additive with degraded carrageenan, she falsely links it to cancer.  Oh, and don’t get any of this so-called toxic substance on your skin! Vani adamantly tells whoever is listening (and many who are patiently trying not to) that toxins in beauty products will be absorbed by the skin, the body’s largest organ.^6,7  But hey!  Have you heard Hari talk about John Masters and Aubrey Organics hair care products?  They’re the bomb!

Food Babe adores Aubrey Organics. (click/enlarge)

 

I see someone in the back of the room raising their hand excitedly.  You know what’s coming, don’t you?

Both John Masters and Aubrey Organics use carrageenan liberally in their product lines.

Yes, this is Food Babe, so hypocrisy is the order of the day.  Let’s have a look at some products and the Babe’s sales pitches for them, shall we?  Here are the ingredients for John Masters Honey and Hibiscus Shampoo:³

John Masters Honey and Hibiscus Shampoo ingredients.  Spelling error is the vendor’s  (click/enlarge)

Carrageenan!  Even though John Masters misspelled it, there’s carrageenan in this shampoo.  But Vani Hari says this is a toxin!  Food Babe, could you enlighten us on the John Masters hair care products that you claim to have so carefully researched?

“John Masters hair products are simply spectacular”–Vani Hari²

“Spectacular” is certainly one way of describing a skeleton in your own closet, isn’t it?

It doesn’t get much better with Aubrey Organics.  Your honor, the prosecution would like to submit into evidence a bottle of Camelia Shampoo:⁴

Aubrey Organics Camelia Shampoo. (click/enlarge)

As Homer Simpson would say, “Doh!”  There’s carrageen in this Food Babe product as well, and she claims it’s carcinogenic.   But remind the audience… how do you feel about Aubrey Organics products, Vani?

Aubrey Organics Hair Care – They have the most fantastic products that are all safe!–Vani Hari¹

“There is a safe shampoo and conditioner for every type of hair from Aubrey”–Vani Hari²

Food Babe throws out accusations of “toxins” with all the care of a cartoon character tossing a boomerang into air and turning to grin at the camera.  We all know what’s coming.  The loud “thunk!” is the sound of the Babe’s words cycling around to strike her in the back of the head.  She essentially claims the products sold on her web site can cause cancer.

“One of the findings has to do with a carcinogenic ingredient all these products have in common, a substance derived from red algae called carrageenan” (emphasis mine)–Vani Hari⁸

Oh dear.  Better not get anything containing carrageen on your skin.  Educate the masses, Vani:

“Your skin is your largest organ!  What you put on your skin, is absorbed into your blood.”–Vani Hari⁹

But fear not.  There’s nothing dangerous about carrageenan or the shampoos offered by John Masters or Aubrey Organics.  Buy them with wild abandon.

Just don’t buy from Food Babe.

Postscript
I’ve purposely omitted Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Shampoo, singled out by Food Babe  as a featured item in her online shop, because I used that product in my first “reveal” of Hari’s carrageenan sales earlier this week.⁵  As I pointed out at the time, Vani Hari is demanding that a certain carrageenan vendor retract their factual claim that she’s profiting from fear mongering over this safe compound.  Today, I’m pointing out more Food Babe carrageenan sales to preempt claims from #FoodBabeArmy members who might say that the first catch was just a mistake.

How does Hari hide her hypocrisy from her army?  Observe.  I tweeted her a polite note about the carrageenan:

A question for Vani Hari… (click/enlarge)

I received a reply that I must admit was not entirely unexpected:

Food Babe blocks those who question or disagree with her. (click/enlarge)

#FoodBabeArmy #EchoChamber

**There are no penguins at the North Pole.

References
(1) Holistic Hair Care: How & Why
http://foodbabe.com/2011/11/06/holistic-hair-care-how-why/

(2) Food Babe Shopping
http://foodbabe.com/shop/for-your-beauty/

(3) John Masters Honey and Hibiscus Reconstructing Shampoo (retrieved 09 Aug 2016)
https://johnmasters.com/products/hair-care/honey-hibiscus-reconstructing-shampoo.html

(4) Aubrey Organics Camelia Shampoo Ingredients (retrieved 09 Aug 2016)
https://www.amazon.com/Aubrey-Organics-Camelia-Shampoo-liquid/dp/B0006GZDEQ

(5) Food Babe Is Selling Carrageenan
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2016/08/09/food-babe-is-selling-carrageenan/

(6) Be A Drug Story Beauty Dropout
http://foodbabe.com/2011/07/31/how-to-find-safe-beauty-products/

(7) So Fresh And So Clean–Skin Care Tips
http://foodbabe.com/2011/08/09/so-fresh-and-so-clean-skin-care-tips/

(8) Watch Out For This Carcinogen In Your Organic Food (FoodBabe.com)
http://foodbabe.com/2012/05/22/watch-out-for-this-carcinogen-in-your-organic-food/

(9) So Fresh And So Clean–Skin Care Tips
http://foodbabe.com/2011/08/09/so-fresh-and-so-clean-skin-care-tips/

 

Image Credits
Food Babe screen captures, John Masters product/ingredient, and Aubrey Organics/Amazon.com product/ingredient images are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

“Be Vewy Vewy Quiet” parody by Mark Alsip/Bad Science Debunked.   Partially derived from content based on/used under parody provisions of Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

 

Food Babe Is Selling Carrageenan

Vani Hari (the “Food Babe”) is upset about being called out over her blatant profiting from fear mongering regarding carrageenan,¹ a safe food and beauty product additive derived from seaweed.  While of course Hari does have a financial interest (she uses fear to drive readers to carrageenan-free products and recipes that she happens to sell²), there’s a larger problem: Food Babe sells products that contain carrageenan.

Of course Food Babe has a financial interest. But she also SELLS carrageenan. (click/enlarge)

It’s been a while since we last put on our Food Babe Investigator Hats^TM and visited Vani Hari’s online store, doing a product investigation according to Hari’s own rules.  Do you remember where you left your hat?  Now would be a great time to fetch it.  Let’s go shopping!

Anyone in the mood for some Honeysuckle Rose Shampoo?³

Food Babe sells a wide variety of Aubrey Organics products, including Honeysuckle Rose shampoo (click/enlarge)

You just know what’s coming, don’t you?  I confess, I’m not a very good poker player.  I gave it away somewhere, didn’t I?  Perhaps in the title of this article?  Alright then, off to the shampoo’s ingredients:⁴

Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose shampoo, sold by Vani Hari, contains carrageenan. (click/enlarge)

Did you catch it?

Vani Hari fans who are still in denial, allow me to zoom in:

Lions and tigers and carrageenan! Oh my!

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: Food Babe is selling carrageenan!

Yes, carrageenan.  When I wrote about Ms. “All Natural Ingredients” selling this shampoo back in December, 2014, it was to point out that although she raved about the fresh honeysuckle in the product she hawked, there wasn’t actually any honeysuckle in it–Aubrey Organics faked it.  Oops.  Since then, they’ve added honeysuckle oil, but also tossed in one of Food Babe’s favorite ingredients: carrageenan.

Thirty-six times and counting, Vani.  You keep selling the very things you tell your followers are dangerous.  

For the #FoodBabeArmy members who would stubbornly insist that The Babe says carrageen is only carcinogenic if you eat it, not when you get it on your hair or skin, I’d point you to her seminal work “So Fresh and So Clean–Skin Care Tips”,⁵ where your Dear Leader solemnly warns against putting toxic substances on your body, not just in your body:

“Your skin is your largest organ!  What you put on your skin, is absorbed into your blood.”–Vani Hari⁵

Food Babe very clearly (though disingenuously) tags carrageenan as a carcinogen.²  So what happens if her shampoo dribbles onto your skin while showering?  Let’s ask her:⁶

” I also don’t like the idea that something I wash my face with can potentially cause cancer over time.”–Vani Hari⁶

Egad!

In the battle over toxins, Vani Hari stumbles around like a punch-drunk boxer, swinging wildly, essentially punching herself in the face by claiming her own products can cause cancer.  Fortunately, there’s nothing dangerous about carrageenan, Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Shampoo, or anything Food Babe disparages.  Buy Aubrey Organics products with confidence, just don’t buy them from Food Babe.

(Updated 11 August 2016: For even more carrageenan from Food Babe, see this new story.)

References
(1) Food Babe Facebook Post
https://www.facebook.com/thefoodbabe/posts/1249661371735238:0
Food Babe Store (Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Shampoo)
http://foodbabe.com/shop/for-your-beauty/

(2) Food Babe: Watch Out For This Carcinogen [Carrageenan] In Your Organic Food
http://foodbabe.com/2012/05/22/watch-out-for-this-carcinogen-in-your-organic-food/

(3) Food Babe Shopping
http://foodbabe.com/shop/for-your-beauty/

(4) Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Shampoo (Amazon.com)
https://www.amazon.com/Aubrey-Organics-Honeysuckle-Rose-Shampoo/dp/B0006GZAKI/

(5) So Fresh And So Clean–Skin Care Tips
http://foodbabe.com/2011/08/09/so-fresh-and-so-clean-skin-care-tips/

(6) Be A Drug Store Beauty Drop Out
http://foodbabe.com/2011/07/31/how-to-find-safe-beauty-products/

Image Credits
Food Babe screen captures and Aubrey Organics/Amazon.com product images are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

“Food Babe Eats Words” parody by Mark Alsip/Bad Science Debunked.  Vani Hari video capture and ABC logo used under parody provisions of Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

The Food Babe PlayBuzz Quiz #1

 

Well now… you’ve been debunking Vani Hari (the “Food Babe”) for years, and think you know every trick in her book?  The stories of her wanting to pump pure oxygen into airplanes and fearing microwave ovens and the whispering of “Satan” to water are old hat to you?

So what got Hari so excited she jumped up and down like a bunny rabbit high on carrot and beet juice?  Can you recall the circumstances behind her infamous rant about the benefits of wheat grass enemas and chlorophyl being the first product of light?  Did you know the notorious anti-GMO campaigner is selling a GMO product? (Which product is it?)

Curious?  Then challenge your knowledge of Food Babe’s notorious and hilarious gaffes with this 15 question quiz:

Launch Quiz

Image Credits/Copyright Notice
All images displayed in this quiz are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

The Quack Doctor/Blogger Quiz

So you think you know your con artists?

Which major organization did “holistic psychiatrist” Kelly Brogan falsely accuse of supporting birth control in Africa via vaccinations?

What inanimate substance did woo peddler David Wolfe hilariously claim is alive?

Which doctor sells the most “toxic”, heavy-metal containing products branded in his own name: Mercola, Hyman, or Oz?

If you think you know the answers, try my thirty-question Playbuzz quiz.  (I got really bored last night, and we were out of blackberry wine and red velvet cupcakes, so I put this quiz together). Click the image below to launch:

Try the quiz! (Click to launch)

Over Three Dozen Times and Counting, Food Babe Sells Another “Toxic” Product: Tarte MutiplEYE Eye Liner

Vani Hari has been caught selling more than three dozen products featuring the very chemical compounds she warns her followers to avoid.

Happy Friday!  It’s been a while since we’ve taken one of our payday shopping trips to FoodBabe.com.  Admittedly, the shtick has become a little tired.  Lets’ be honest–if GMO-poisoned cats existed, you couldn’t swing one in Food Babe’s online shop without hitting a product that contains the same “dangerous” chemicals she warns her followers to avoid. Hari’s hypocrisy is so obvious to anyone who cares to look that the only possible explanation for how she continues to make money is, clearly:  nobody is bothering to look.

And yet, it’s not in my nature to sit quietly by and watch an unsuspecting public be deprived of their hard-earned money.  So, dear reader, let’s once again point our web browsers at FoodBabe.com and check out another product pushed by Food Babe that is, in her own words, harmful to her readers’ health.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Tart MultiplEYE Eye Liner:¹

Tarte MultiplEYE, for sale on FoodBabe.com¹  (click/enlarge)

Vani Hari, who makes her living scouring product labels, would have done well to have read the packaging on an item she’s been hawking on her web site since December, 2013:

Source code behind the FoodBabe.com web site reveals that Food Babe uploaded her Tarte Multipleye content in 2013.  Remember, this is a woman who claims to read all the labels and personally approve every product she sells. (click/enlarge)

Here are the Tarte Multipleye ingredients, per the manufacturer’s statement on Amazon.com²:

Aqua, ethylhexyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate copolymer, butylene glycol,  alcohol, beheneth-30,  ammonium acrylates/methyl styrene/styrene copolymer,  magnesium ascorbyl phosphate,  sodium chloride,  adenosine,  calcium chloride,  myristoyl pentapeptide-17,  soy amino acids, phenoxyethanol, acrylates/octylacrylamide copolymer, pentylene glycol,  1,2-hexanediol,  caprylyl glycol, ethylhexylglycerin,  polyglyceryl-3 disiloxane dimethicone,  sodium hydroxide,  disodium EDTA, black 2 (CI 77266).²

I’ve highlighted one particular ingredient in this list, polyglyceryl-3 disiloxane dimethicone, because of an urgent warning from Vani Hari to stay away from:

“Siloxanes. Look for ingredients ending in “-siloxane” or “-methicone.” Used in a variety of cosmetics to soften, smooth and moisten. Suspected endocrine disrupter [SIC] and reproductive toxicant (cyclotetrasiloxane). Harmful to fish and other wildlife.” ³–Vani Hari, “Be a Drug Store Beauty Dropout”

As has happened on nearly 40 occasions since I began writing about Vani Hari, she’s been caught selling an item that contains the same “chemicals” she warns her followers to avoid.  The self-styled “Food Babe” cautions against any additive ending in “siloxane” or “methicone”, then pushes disiloxane dimethicone in a recommended product:

FoodBabe.com screen snapshot:  Vani Hari recommends Tarte Multipleye

Bless her heart!

Sadly, every time Hari is caught in a scam like this, her followers run to her defense, stopping just short of screaming “shut up with the criticism and let her take my money!”

Take my money, please! (click/enlarge)

 

While Food Babe has tried to quietly pull some products from her marketplace in the hope no-one notices they were ever there, she continues to sell others, such as those derived from GMO corn (and we all know how she feels about GMO technology.  Her hidden affiliate links seem to be a clear violation of Amazon.com policies–another problem her adoring followers ignore.   My modest proposal: her web page needs an automobile industry advertisement-style disclaimer:

Professional con artist on closed course.  Do not attempt.

 

Now, of course, there’s nothing toxic about this or any other Tarte product.  This is a reputable company with a solid safety record, and they shouldn’t be punished for Hari’s double standards.  The only bone I’ve ever had to pick with Tarte is their refusal to discuss the source of the soy in their products (shades of another GMO nightmare for Tarte Champion Vani Hari, who already contradicts herself by selling a product derived from GMO corn).  No, the real problem here is that Vani Hari, who touts herself as an avid label reader and consumer advocate, apparently can’t be bothered to investigate the very products from which she’s earning sales commissions, even though she says:

“[this] shop contains affiliate links for products Food Babe has approved and researched herself. ” ¹

Apparently research doesn’t involve reading the label of what you’re selling, Vani?

 

Image Credits
Food Babe screen captures and Tarte product images are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

References
(1) Food Babe Shopping Page
http://foodbabe.com/shop/for-your-beauty/

(2) Tarte Multipleye on Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/Tarte-MultiplEYE-Enhancing-Liquid-Liner

(3) Be a Drug Store Beauty Dropout
http://foodbabe.com/2011/07/31/how-to-find-safe-beauty-products/

Food Babe: Just Label It :-)

As Vani Hari (the “Food Babe”) gloats over a nonsensical GMO labeling victory in which she arguably had no involvement, my nominee for the World’s Greatest Hypocrite award continues to pull the wool over the eyes over the collective sheep following her: This November, Food Babe will mark her sixth year as a seller of products derived from GMO corn.

Food Babe calls for a labeling revolution, but what about the GMO products SHE sells? (click/enlarge)

As I’ve pointed out numerous times, Clean Well Hand Sanitizer, which Hari hawks on her shopping page, is made with GMO corn.  Food Babe has been selling this product for over five years, and the GMO-sourced corn has been very clearly pointed out to her time after time.  How can you rant against GMOs and simultaneously sell products made with them?  Oh, your name is Vani Hari.

To be sure, there is nothing to fear from GMOs.  The entire labeling campaign, sponsored in large part by the $39 billion (2014 figures) organic food industry, is a clear attempt to demonize a competitor’s products in order to sell your own.  Not surprisingly, Hari stands to benefit greatly from GMO labeling.  Except… except that she’s selling so many products that contain the very ingredients she says are dangerous: like this hand sanitizer with the GMO corn.  #JustLableIt Vani!  Or quietly pull it from your storefront, like you did the BHT you were selling during your anti-BHT campaign, or the cellulose during your anti-cellulose campaign, or the artificial dyes and endocrine disruptors that…

Oh, wait.  You haven’t pulled all the artificial dyes yet.   You’re still selling them to children, along with an organic pesticide.  I’m sure you’ll get around to addressing that.  Eventually.  Maybe.

JUST LABEL IT VANI.  Food Babe claims GMOs are toxic and bad for the environment, but it hasn’t stopped her from selling a product made with GMO corn for over 5 five years.

Vani Hari deserves to be called out on this. The net result will likely only be her quietly pulling the product from her online store and denying it ever existed, but why not try?  Suggested Twitter hashtags: #FoodBabeArmy, #FoodBabeWay, #PotKettleBlack, and #GMO.

Oh, and how about #JustLabelIt?  😉

Based on the upload date of her product image, we can deduce Food Babe has been selling her GMO-laden hand sanitizer since November, 2011.  (click/enlarge)