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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Be cautious about Apeel, a plant-derived food coating, and if you are concerned, choose locally grown or home-grown produce or avoid heavily coated items rather than relying on the coating's safety claims. Dr. Westman notes that Apeel is classified as "generally regarded as safe" and is said to be built from edible plant mono- and diglycerides, but he points out the company does not disclose its plant source and he found few independent safety studies.
Key Points
- Apeel is described as a food coating that slows oxidation and spoilage on produce, and the video notes that 40 to 50 percent of produce worldwide is wasted, partly due to overproduction.
- The speaker says Apeel's main ingredients are mono- and diglycerides, which the company says are found in plant seeds, peels, pulps, and human breast milk, and are formed during fat digestion.
- The speaker points out that the company does not say which plant oils the lipids come from, and lists possible sources (soybean, canola, sunflower, cottonseed, coconut, palm, grapeseed) with different concerns for each.
- The video says Apeel's "generally regarded as safe" status means it has not been required to show a full safety profile, and that the speaker found limited published studies on it in people.
- A safety data sheet circulating online was for a different product, a surface cleaner also named Apeel, which the speaker says should not be confused with the food coating.
- The speaker questions the company's claim that the coating is "non-GMO," and says that without knowing the oil source, the coating is hard to evaluate.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Consider the source of health information and check whether the reviewer is in clinical practice; Dr. Westman says this matters when judging advice on individualizing changes, though this video is more a general review of the product.
- Concrete instructions: Ask your grocery store whether produce is treated with Apeel, since some packaging says Apeel but marketing is not consistent.
- Concrete instructions: If you want to avoid the coating, the speaker suggests buying locally, growing your own produce, or eating less of the heavily treated items; he says that when the oil source isn't known, he personally would choose non-Apeel produce.
- Concrete instructions: Washing may remove some of the coating, but the company says it is unlikely to remove all of it without damaging produce, and the video does not recommend washing as a complete solution.
- The company's website says the lipids are in human breast milk and that plant lipids have "50 years" of safe consumption history; the speaker questions how well that supports safety for a coating applied to produce.
- Dr. Westman says that people with high triglycerides, high cholesterol, or heart or vessel problems may want to be more careful, based on his concerns about certain plant oils.
- Public figures Bill Gates, Oprah, and Katy Perry are named as investors; the speaker says investor identity alone does not determine whether a product is safe.
Bottom Line The video does not prove Apeel is harmful, but it argues the company has not clearly disclosed its oil sources or provided strong independent safety data, so consumers with concerns about processed plant oils may prefer uncoated or locally grown produce.
