Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)

Those are long words! BHA and BHT help keep foods from changing color and turning rancid. If you forget a banana in your lunchbox over the weekend, you return to a brown, mushy mess. That’s how decomposition works, and that’s a good thing. BHA and BHT prevent this natural process from happening.

Manufacturers rely on BHA and BHT to keep chips, cereal, enriched rice, and sausage looking fresh. However, our bodies don’t need preservatives, so they form cancer-causing oxidizing agents, disrupting the endocrine system.