UW study: What you eat is what you get

UW study: What you eat is what you get

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Story Published: Dec 4, 2008 at 12:18 AM PDT

Story Updated: Dec 4, 2008 at 11:15 AM PDT

By Robert Santos

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SEATTLE -- You are what you eat, or so they say. Turns out our world is what we eat, too.

'Tis the season for all kinds of delicious meals cooked up with ingredients that spice up more than just the holiday, according to researchers at the University of Washington.

For the past two years researchers have been testing samples from Seattle's West Point Treatment Plant. They found everything we eat ends up in the Puget Sound.

"One day after Thanksgiving, we see a drastic increase in amount of cinnamon that comes out of wastewater treatment facility and into Puget Sound," said UW reseracher Brittany Kimball.

Researchers found the level of thyme also skyrockets after Thanksgiving.

During the holidays they see a spike in pure vanilla what with all the homemade baked goods. But during the summer, because of all the ice cream we eat, they see high concentrations of imitation vanilla -- an ingredient often used in manufactured products.

Those are in everything, vitamins, medicines, our baked goods, in our drinks. Vanilla is just everywhere," said Kimball.

What began as a fun experiment has now evolved into a huge network of more than 200 students and professors. They call it the Sound Citizen program. The participants provide samples from backyard streams to the Puget Sound.

Researchers plan to apply their findings toward more complex research involving chemicals from medicines and plastic bottles.

"Using Sound Citizen, we're able to figure out what's wrong, how we are affecting it and what we can do to fix it," Kimball said. "Spices are a nice way to calmly communicate that we do impact Puget Sound."

Researchers hope by simplifying a complex issue, more of us will realize how everything we do, eat and drink affects the Earth.

Sound Citizen is looking for volunteers. Researchers are looking for samples of rainwater coming off rooftops or en route to city drains. To learn more about Sound Citizen, click here.

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