| August 2013 | Volume 12 Issue 8 |
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GMO Foods: A Potentially Disastrous Distraction Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) products, especially foods, have been a hot-button issue in recent years as more consumers seek assurances that they will not harm their health. Are efforts now spent on limiting their use going to translate into better health for people worldwide? Or would all the time and money be better directed towards other food matters? Planet Earth faces enormous challenges regarding food safety and accessibility. Industries trying to brighten our future (and make a fat profit) have turned modern science towards the production of GMO foods. These “frankenfoods” are synthesized by inserting genetic material (DNA) from one species of plant or animal into an entirely different species. This advancement in genetic engineering allows humans to do what nature will not do: transfer genes between species. Cutting and pasting DNA in a laboratory seems so unnatural, if not unhealthy and unethical. GMOs are a global dispute with many consumers worrying that the costs will far outweigh the promised benefits (such as herbicide-resistant plants). This controversy has resulted in riots, international trade disagreements, and attempts to pass legislation requiring that GMO foods be properly labeled. Vocal anti-GMO activists contend that there is a large-scale conspiracy between agribusinesses and governments: The primary suspects are Monsanto, the largest producer of GMO products, and the US government. |MORE| I am Travis, and my background is one of a concerned person, passionate about the scientific literature, and enthusiastic about shedding light on diet and health with readers of the McDougall Newsletter. In this article I explore how advocates of low-carb diets (such as Paleo, Primal, and Atkins-type diets) have grossly misrepresented the medical literature and the diets of healthy traditional populations in Asia. I also examine how advocates of fad diets have unfairly demonized wheat, which has been used as a staple by many healthy populations throughout the world. Furthermore, I present evidence showing how their dangerous dietary recommendations for consuming unlimited quantities of animal foods, regardless of whether pasture raised or factory farmed, can increase the risk of many of the leading causes of disability and death in the modern world. You can read more of my work about the dangers of low-carbohydrate diets in the September and October 2012, and the February and May 2013 McDougall newsletters. |MORE| Featured Recipes
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