# What is the most unhealthy food that is commonly considered healthy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382 "2007-11-22T01:46:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/61 "2010-09-13T18:51:45Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > The unhealthiest food that has traditionally been considered healthy is a fruit: > > **Peaches** > > The others: > > Apples > Nectarines > Strawberries > Cherries > > These fruits/berries/whatever are pesticide laden and many types are found in/on them… So is it the peaches themselves that are bad or just the pesticide residue? Are organic peaches healthy? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/62 "2010-09-13T19:03:41Z")
Anybody else remember low-fat baking recipes that replaced fat with things like fruit puree? Lower in fat, yes, but often higher in calories than the original. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_Astronaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bad\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/63 "2010-09-13T19:08:04Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > The unhealthiest food that has traditionally been considered healthy is a fruit: > > **Peaches** > > The others: > > Apples > Nectarines > Strawberries > Cherries > > These fruits/berries/whatever are pesticide laden and many types are found in/on them. While it may be be true that fruits contain pesticide residues, I don’t think there is any evidence linking eating fruit to health problems. I rather suspect that the amount of pesticide present in fruit is too tiny to be harmful. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/64 "2010-09-13T19:08:34Z")
> [@robby](#): > > > [@Philster](#): > > > > The unhealthiest food that has traditionally been considered healthy is a fruit: > > > > **Peaches** > > > > The others: > > > > Apples > > Nectarines > > Strawberries > > Cherries > > > > These fruits/berries/whatever are pesticide laden and many types are found in/on them… > > So is it the peaches themselves that are bad or just the pesticide residue? > > Are organic peaches healthy? According to Bruce Ames, 99.99% of all of the pesticides that Americans ingest are natural pesticides produced by the plants themselves: [http://www.pnas.org/content/87/19/7777.full.pdf](http://www.pnas.org/content/87/19/7777.full.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/65 "2010-09-13T19:17:44Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > In the “heath” calculus [hijack]When I was a young boy, my mother\* left us with a babysitter and a snack. It was a Heath bar. I misread it as “Health Bar”, and I wondered how what was obviously just a regular candy bar could be considered healthy. Maybe it was magical ingredients. \*just getting into the zombie mood by dropping a year-appropriate reference ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/66 "2010-09-13T20:00:02Z")
A distinction should also be made between things that are nutritionally null and things that are actively bad. Iceberg lettuce, or most vegetables boiled into unrecognizable gray paste, won’t really do any good for you, but on the other hand, they won’t really hurt you, either. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/67 "2010-09-13T20:18:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A distinction should also be made between things that are nutritionally null and things that are actively bad. Iceberg lettuce, or most vegetables boiled into unrecognizable gray paste, won’t really do any good for you, but on the other hand, they won’t really hurt you, either. Neither will anything other than poisons, if you don’t eat too much of them. Even then, some things are poisonous in large amounts but safe or even necessary in small amounts, e.g. salt. It’s not as simple as “avoid these unhealthy foods, and eat only these healthy ones”. You can still get into trouble by eating too much of healthy foods. Chankonabe, the traditional food of sumo wrestlers, is a soup that’s pretty healthy, if eaten in reasonable quantities. The quantities that sumo wrestlers eat are presumably not what most people would consider reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/68 "2010-09-13T20:30:49Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > [QUOTE=Hazle Weatherfield] > True, but I refuse to drink a broccoli screwdriver… On a total sidenote, my favorite thing I ever saw on a drink menu was a cordless screwdriver. Vodka with an orange garnish. [/QUOTE] OMG, that is AWESOME!!!😃 ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/69 "2010-09-13T21:17:56Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Nuts. Totally loaded with fat, highly caloric, and if they are roasted in oil and salted, they are worse than candy bars. Moderate nut consumption is VERY good for you. See [here](http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/89/5/1643S) for a review: > [@](#): > > Epidemiologic studies have been remarkably consistent in showing an association between nut consumption and a reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Some evidence has emerged recently to suggest health-protective benefits of nuts other than CHD. Frequent nut intake probably reduces risk of diabetes mellitus among women, but its effects on men are unknown. Evidence on the anticarcinogenic effects of nuts is somewhat limited because studies in the past 2 decades have examined only 3 tumor sites, and the benefits appear to be manifested only in women. However, the protective benefits of frequent nut consumption on gallstone diseases are observed in both sexes. Long-term nut consumption is linked with lower body weight and lower risk of obesity and weight gain. You can read [here](http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/138/9/1741S) some about possible mechanisms for nuts apparent paradoxical effect of contributing to weight loss despite their high energy density and fat content. I’d still hold go for dry roasted or raw and unsalted though. My nomination for the op is Gatorade, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/70 "2010-09-13T21:30:41Z")
Gatorade is fine, for its intended purpose. If you’re spending a few hours in sweaty, high-activity physical exertion, it’s great. It’s only a problem (mostly from the calories) if you’re drinking a 20 oz bottle every day at your sedentary office job, or the like. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/71 "2010-09-13T21:45:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Gatorade is fine, for its intended purpose. If you’re spending a few hours in sweaty, high-activity physical exertion, it’s great. It’s only a problem (mostly from the calories) if you’re drinking a 20 oz bottle every day at your sedentary office job, or the like. It’s also good for restoring fluids and electrolytes if you have diarrhea. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/72 "2010-09-13T21:47:55Z")
True, if for the much less than 1% of its consumption that is done by those who are drinking it while engaged in prolonged physical activities (for example running or playing college level football for two hours plus), or for rehydration whilst in the midst of a bout of severe gastroenteritis, it is healthy. For those who drink it instead of water while on a 45 minute jog, or as an “healthier” alternative to soda or even juice … um no. It wins because its brand is built on the impression that it makes you perform better and because the vast majority of its consumption has harmful, not beneficial, health effects (for the 99% plus majority it is just another form of sugar water). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/73 "2010-09-13T22:06:04Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > Gatorade is fine, for its intended purpose. If you’re spending a few hours in sweaty, high-activity physical exertion, it’s great. It’s only a problem (mostly from the calories) if you’re drinking a 20 oz bottle every day at your sedentary office job, or the like. > > It’s also good for restoring fluids and electrolytes if you have diarrhea. It’s also good before or after a long food/liquid fast, Yom Kippur for example. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/74 "2010-09-13T22:07:24Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Umm, dude? I think they do that as many people prefer the taste and texture of white meat. Great. Leave the tastier and more moist dark meat for those of us who appreciate it. 🙂 And has anyone mentioned carob? You’d be better off eating chocolate. And rice cakes are nothing but high-glycemic-index carbs. And all the dozens of yogurt-like products that contain lots of sugar, but no acidophilus (which is the whole point of eating yogurt). ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/75 "2010-09-13T22:23:08Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > > [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > > > It’s also good for restoring fluids and electrolytes if you have diarrhea. > > It’s also good before or after a long food/liquid fast, Yom Kippur for example. But I _hate_ Gatorade. 😛 I think I’ll stick with what I usually have. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/76 "2010-09-13T22:46:46Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > > [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > > > It’s also good for restoring fluids and electrolytes if you have diarrhea. > > It’s also good before or after a long food/liquid fast, Yom Kippur for example. I had a doctor prescribe it for dehydration as well. My nominees: 1. Filtered/bottled water: Filtered tap water removes most of the fluoride in it. Most brands of bottled water will add chemicals and minerals to give it a ‘water’ taste. 2. Red wine: supposedly good for the heart, but the short-term damage to the body is greater, and any alcohol has adverse effects on people with depression or mood disorders or are pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/77 "2010-09-13T22:59:25Z")
I once had a housemate who thought anything labeled “all-natural” had to be, at least not too bad for you. I, of course, [knew better](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/390/how-can-companies-get-away-with-calling-processed-foods-natural), but I never could convince her. (Even a natural-food nut who says MSG and aspartame are toxic admits [here](http://www.naturalnews.com/005778.html) that “all-natural” is not a regulated term on food labels and is essentially meaningless) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/78 "2010-09-13T23:08:39Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And has anyone mentioned carob? You’d be better off eating chocolate. According to the Chocolate Lovers Handbook, chapter 13, which I quote in its entirety: Chapter 13: Carob Carob isn’t chocolate. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/79 "2010-09-13T23:09:13Z")
I have to say, fruit juice and Gatorade are close contenders, but fruit juice wins it by a solid length. Gatorade could be specifically beneficial in some circumstances. No one needs fruit juice, except as an occasional treat. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382/80 "2010-09-13T23:23:23Z")
I’m not sure if it’s quite in the spirit of this (resurrected) thread, but I have an anecdote. I saw a chicken and bacon pasta meal today clearly labelled as having just 1 gram of saturated fat. I put it in my basket but then thought that maybe it was too good to be true. Aha! The small print said “per tablespoon serving”. Seriously. And this was Tesco (britain’s biggest supermarket chain)…what are they thinking? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-unhealthy-food-that-is-commonly-considered-healthy/427382.md?page=5)