Is my sister BU to say these photos show little pieces of metal in her food? (Photos attached) (Update with extra photos on page 5)

[Carla786]

My older sister has recently begun reading info on bad things in food like microplastics, EDCs, UPFs etc. Now, I agree with her these things are worrying.

She sent me these photos yesterday evening, saying she thinks they show 'little pieces of metal' in her food, and is now worried about how to avoid metal..

I just see bubbles and the light shining. Is she BU?

Maybe I'm wrong. ... Or not...

She says it looks different from bubbles & light. Really?

I think some info on health food on SM can slide into 'government is putting metal in food' conspiracies, personally, and this is why she is worried. I mean, if it is metal large enough to see, why doesn't it taste hard or crunchy?

Or maybe it is weird?

Absolutely brilliant. Excellent.

You win the internet today, this week, this month, this year. 🥇

I wonder what she’d say.

I'd be very worried about her mental health.

I think she needs therapy.

Tell her that any packaged food goes through metal detectors in factories to check for any metal contamination at all. Even tiny specks are picked up and the product is dumped.

Yes someone does

None of it looks very appetising

Paranoia
Psychosis
OCD
Orthorexia

All potential reasons. Either way, she needs to see a professional. Convincing her of that however, could be tricky. She's unlikely to actually realise she's potentially quite unwell.

OP I agree with those saying she needs to see a GP.
I have a family member who has ocd about contamination and she would thing there was glass in things like cosmetics.
Your sister needs to step away from the internet as it is obviously causing her to be anxious.

In food production the products are put through metal detectors to check for metals. It’d be a huge loss of money and reputation for any food manufacturer to put out a product that contained metal (of which the batch would have to be recalled).
Environmental Health Officers go and do regular compliance checks at food production companies.
Obviously it happens, but it is an error not a conspiracy - perhaps this line of rationale might convince her? Agree that microplastics are a concern and glad that the general public are becoming more aware - it’s our purchasing power that I feel will be the agent of change for pushing for solutions on that one!

I agree with pp’s that this sounds very like OCD. I have had OCD and I have a child with it. The way your sister is ruminating and her fears are taking over sounds very familiar. Also involving you with the reassurance seeking. Does she suffer from anxiety in general? Definitely worth a visit to the GP. My son has contamination OCD, but has also had counting rituals and sought repeated reassurance. Learning techniques to improve it is crucial. Not saying it definitely is OCD of course. It just sounds very similar from the information you’ve shared.

I would suggest trying to get her to speak to her gp. My dad became paranoid about food (as well as other government related conspiracies) till the point that he ended up only consuming fizzy drinks and milkshakes. Turned out he was schizophrenic. Not saying that’s what your sister has, but maybe keep a close eye on the things in case they escalate.

Your sister clearly didn't pay much attention to science in school.

We need to consume some tiny amounts of some metals in prder for our bodies to function healthily.

A lot of the elements in the periodic table are metals. The characteristics of a metal are to do with the electron configuration which makes the element "shiney" and makes it more conductive of heat and electric signals than non-metallic elements. However not everything that is shiny is a metal.

The most important metal is Iron - which yes is present in leafy greens like the Kale pictured. Every one of the 30 trillion-ish red blood cells in the human body contains about 250 million molecules of haemoglobin each of which incorporates 4 iron molecules. Every time you do a poo, some of the matter expelled is old worn out red blood cells that need replacing, so we need to eat iron-rich foods regularly. However if a piece of one of these metals was in your food in the form of a grain big enough to see, it would be too big for your digestive system to absorb much from and it would mostly just pass through and be out next time you poo.

Other metals that have important roles in human biology are Chromium, Copper, Magnesium, Manganese, Zinc. Potassium and Calcium are technically metals too but rarely exist in metallic form.

The amounts needed by the body are tiny and the amounts in which they are naturally present in food are also tiny but our extremely sophisticated digestive system is well adapted to absorb the elements we need from the food we eat and to excrete what we don't need. They are not visible to the human eye. The smallest particles resolvable to the unaided human eye is about 100µm (0.1mm) and the trace metallic elements naturally and correctly present in food are much much smaller than this. However if you did swallow a 100µm speck of one of these metals it would not do you any harm - possible exception for Chromium which can be toxic in large doses but you'll only get exposed to that level of chromium if you're eating food that is growing in industrial waste slurry.

Yes there are toxic metals too : notably Lead, Mercury, Arsenic. Quite a lot of effort goes into keeping these out of the food chain. The one to be most cautious about is Mercury which does exist in some fish at higher levels than is ideal but still low enough to not cause major problems.

Microplastics on the other hand certainly are an issue but the whole "micro" thing is because they are only an issue when they are too small to see. A bit of plastic that is large enough to be seen in a spoonful of bean stew is again too big for your digestive system to absorb and would just pass through and be out next time you poo. Traces can be absorbed from microplastics that are much much too small to see and taking steps to reduce microplastic absorption is a good thing. The biggest way for microplastics to be consumed is from beverages in plastic containers (particularly bottled water and hot drinks in disposable takeaway cups) and UPFs so it's not mad to avoid these. Eating lots of fibre-rich foods helps the body to get rid of any microplastics you do end up eating.

Bits of metal aren’t a health risk in the same way microplastics are.
Humans are made from copper, iron, zinc etc etc. No good for your teeth but what does she imagine the risk is ? If it’s big enough to be seen it’s big enough to be poo’d out.

Shes definitely got mental health issues.

That’s what I was going to say, if she’s eating that grey slop she has bigger worries than tiny bits of metal or plastic 😀

This. Evidently there is no visible metal in that food. No tinned soup would contain bits of metal. This is a mental health question now.

Do not further engage with her about the "metal". You are just feeding her paranoia.

She is in need of help and needs to see her GP ASAP. How old is she and does she live with a supportive adult?

Seriously OP, she needs urgent help. She is seeing things that are not there.

She has reached the point in her concern about the food chain where she's crossing into conspiracy and absurdity. She needs to take a breath.

What is it I’m supposed to be looking at?

My sister believes in things like this. She does heavy metal cleanses to rid her body of the metals. (She believes food companies/governments are trying to kill her, but she doesn't believe in the liver and kidneys). She also does parasite cleanses and believes all illnesses are caused by metals in food, or parasites. She knows people whose cancer and COPD have been cured by a parasite cleanse.

Anyway what I've learned is there's no point telling them they're wrong.

Your sister needs to make her own soup, buy beans from whole food stores and wash all her food carefully. You won't convince her there isn't metal there.

Does she mean iron powder? Like in fortified cereal? Because there definitely is but that's the whole point...

She can’t be that genuinely bothered or she would be cooking fresh food from scratch. Seems like some attention seeking and performative anxiety going on here.

No I’d be concerned about her. I think she needs a break from social media and some help. Maybe both of you do if you’re fuelling each others food worries.

I think she sounds mentally unwell, not in a joking haha way, in a please take your sister to the GP and get a referral to a psychiatrist way

To what end are the "government" contaminating our food?

That soup looks revolting.
Im confused as to why someone so concerned about metal in her food is eating… tinned food. Surely she’s better off cooking her own leek and potato soup? It might even look vaguely edible if she makes it herself.