#table salt

[a-typical]

Probability figures in everyday decisions we make. Consider the public’s sentiment toward genetically modified organisms—GMOs. Reactions tend to be bimodal, depending on your politics, itself a warning flag. The truth and efficacy of science should never correlate with your political views.

The food chemical company Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, developed a genetically modified variant of corn that was completely resistant to glyphosate, a weed-killing herbicide marketed under the name Roundup, which they also developed. Monsanto scientists genetically removed their corn’s susceptibility to the chemical. This potent combo—Monsanto’s GMO corn coupled with Monsanto’s weed killer—enabled farmers to spray their entire crops and have the herbicide kill everything but the corn. The Vermont ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s uses corn syrup as a sweetener for some of their products. (Yes, I too was surprised to learn this.) News that some of their ice creams had trace amounts of glyphosate from the corn used in their syrup created a media dust-up. In response, Ben & Jerry’s decided to stop using GMO corn syrup altogether, even though the one-part-per-billion detection levels of glyphosate were far below US and European standards. Since many people who buy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream lean left—aligned with the company’s generally progressive views on all things—Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. judged this ban to be a wise business decision.

Let’s look closer at what happened there. Every substance you could possibly ingest, food and otherwise, has a calculated lethal dose associated with it, measured by what’s called LD50. That’s the dose per kilogram of body weight where 50 percent of the people who consume that amount will die quickly. These data often come from tests on laboratory mammals such as mice. There’s another metric, called no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL), which addresses the long-term influence of a substance on your health and is more sensible when thinking about food safety. LD50 helps to make a different point. The smaller its value for a substance, the more lethal it is. As such, tables of LD50s can be quite illuminating. Here’s a sampling:

Sucrose (table sugar) | 30 grams per kilogram

Ethanol (common alcohol) | 7 grams per kilogram

Glyphosate (Roundup) | 5 grams per kilogram

Table Salt | 3 grams per kilogram

Caffeine | 0.2 grams per kilogram

Nicotine | 0.0065 grams per kilogram

The most lethal substance on this hand-picked list is nicotine. Caffeine looks quite potent too. Just drink about eighty demitasse cups of espresso if you want to die from it. Next comes salt.

The least deadly on the list is sugar, as you might expect. Notice further that glyphosate is less lethal than table salt, but not by much. Actually none of this concerns us here. What matters is what happens to a 150 lb. (70 kg) person who eats Ben & Jerry’s ice cream—a fact I calculated but relegated to my Forbidden Twitter file, where it remains, simply for how disturbing it would be. In social media, I never intend to be disturbing:

You would need to consume four hundred million pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for its trace amounts of glyphosate to kill you. But after only 20 pints you will die from its sugar content.

Ben & Jerry’s made the right corporate decision if it protected their profits. Although they could have also used the occasion as a teaching moment—a mind-blowing lesson on comparative risk. But that works only if people are open to learning. In modern times, many of us don’t satisfy that criterion, perhaps because, according to the nineteenth-century British essayist Walter Bagehot,

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

It is, as common people say, so “upsetting;” it makes you think that, after all, your favourite notions may be wrong, your firmest beliefs ill-founded.… Naturally, therefore, common men hate a new idea, and are disposed more or less to ill-treat the original man who brings it.

— Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization - Neil deGrasse Tyson (2022)

[theshippirate22]

one day Lyn gets home from work and Hunter very obviously wants to fuck and shes on board but she’s really tired and gets her wires crossed and says “how can i help you?” in her customer service voice and they both just sit there for a second and then he climbs off of her and they both roll over and go to sleep and they never speak of it again

[onemoreattempt]

trick or treat!!!!

Happy Halloween!! 🎃 You get a treat: an ancient form of currency

[idonotblogatall]

I legitimately don't know the difference between a slug and a snail except one can explode with sodium chloride.

[theultimatetournament]

[manybackflips]

You come over to my house for Halloween, a “take one” is on the front stoop.

You look inside.

There’s nothing but fine grains of salt.

[doveghost]

I swallow rocks all the time

I feel like if humans swallowed rocks like birds do to help grind up food we'd have so much fun with it.

Can just imagine all the girlies on tiktok going "I know this is a bit controversial but I honestly love using limestone as a gastrolith. Not only can you readily forage it but they are just so pretty when smoothed out after regurgitating them"

and then all the comments would be like " girl 😭 😭 calcite dissolves in stomach acid!! Just use quartz if you want a pretty gastrolith like 💀"

[cippy42]

I bet table salt is really nice to eat

[surinderbhalla]

Choosing the Best Salt for Health: A Comprehensive Guide

When choosing the best salt for your health, understanding the differences is crucial. Not all salts are created equal. Each type offers unique benefits based on mineral content. They also show potential risks based on processing techniques and sodium levels. In today’s topic: “Choosing the Best Salt for Health: A comprehensive guide”. we will explore the health implications of different salts.…

[caramhel]

Ingredients - Homemade Spice Blend - King's Seasoned Salt Smoked paprika with a hint of thyme creates a seasoned salt with more character.

[theshippirate22]

Lyn: What, you’re gonna hit a woman?

Hunter: If it’s you, yeah

Kelly: did you just assume your own gender

Lyn: I’m gender-fluid i always assume my own gender

[gugiskitchen-blog]

The Essential Tar Salt : Pros and Cons

Table salt Table salt, a pantry staple found in virtually every household, plays a fundamental role in enhancing the flavor of our meals. Derived from the natural deposits of salt found in the Earth, it has its advantages and disadvantages. In this blog post, we will dive into the pros and cons of table salt, shedding light on its impact on our health and culinary experiences. Pros of Table…

[rocksmyassrecords]

King's Seasoned Salt Smoked paprika with a hint of thyme creates a seasoned salt with more character.