Bruce Ames Quotes

Almost all the world is natural chemicals, so it really makes you re-think everything. A cup of coffee is filled with chemicals. They've identified a thousand chemicals in a cup of coffee. But we only found 22 that have been tested in animal cancer tests out of this thousand. And of those, 17 are carcinogens. There are ten milligrams of known carcinogens in a cup of coffee and thats more carcinogens than youre likely to get from pesticide residues for a year!

The obese are eating the worst diet in the country if you define worse as ratio of calories to essential micronutrients. They're just eating empty calories.

For example, in Vitamin K, the clotting proteins get it first... and only after they're satisfied do you prevent calcification of the arteries, or prevent cancer, or prevent bone fractures. It's all insidious damage that you get that's a long term consequence. In fact, we call these the diseases of aging.

The effort to eliminate synthetic pesticides because of unsubstantiated fears about residues in food will make fruits and vegetables more expensive, decrease consumption, and thus increase cancer rates. The levels of synthetic pesticide residues are trivial in comparison to natural chemicals, and thus their potential for cancer causation is extremely low. [Ames believes that "to eat your veggies" is the best way to prevent cancer.]

Folic acid deficiency does the same thing as radiation.

If I don't eat veggies with a meal, I feel deprived.

I think we all should try and eat a good diet. It's actually a wonderful to eat a good diet, because you're eating all of these different kinds of foods... and they all taste good, and when you get used to it, you feel better!

What you want to know is... does it shorten your life? You can do those kinds of questions in mice, but those are expensive to do and no one's been really doing them.