The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Seeds are available year-round, throughout the seasons. They are compact, powerful packets of energy that can lie dormant for years, decades, even centuries. Seeds beget new food, and more seeds. As the first—and last—step in the life cycle of most plants, seeds complete the circle of life. It’s why many cultures throw seeds like rice at weddings.
Seeds have played a pivotal role in human history. The pharaoh of Egypt consolidated power by forcing farmers to pay taxes partly in seeds; when famine struck, Egypt’s amassed seed bank allowed it to control food supply for surrounding lands. Captured African women on slave ships hid seeds in their hair to ensure a continued supply of food and medicine. During the Nazi’s nine-hundred-day siege of Leningrad in World War II, 12 Russian scientists in the Pavlovsk agricultural station chose to starve to death rather than eat the unique collection of seeds and plants they were protecting for humanity, which Hitler aimed to seize. Grain shortage can precede civil unrest, from the French Revolution to the Arab Spring. Seeds remain the object of struggle for commercial power today.
The word “ingrained” means “in the seeds.” Seeds—including grains, nuts, and beans—are our history and our future, continuity between our ancestors and future generations. They safeguard biodiversity, which allows for abundance. Above all, they produce plants that are vital to our very survival.
LEGUMES
There is evidence that our ancestors gathered tiny wild legumes more than twenty thousand years ago, likely because they remained edible long after being harvested. Legumes like beans and lentils are high in protein, but lack an essential amino acid called methionine. This is why legumes are commonly eaten with methionine-rich grains, which together provide a “complete protein.” Generally, legumes that are colorful—red, purple, black—have the highest levels of phytonutrients. Their soluble fiber can slow digestion and keep you fuller longer.
Soybeans, when grown and prepared properly, are also legumes. Soy isn’t always bad, just as it isn’t always good. Processed soy found in packaged products in U.S. groceries is almost always genetically modified, which means it’s heavily sprayed with Roundup or other pesticides. Soy also has high phytoestrogen levels; this impact on our health is controversial. But some organic, fermented soy seems to be fine for those who don’t react to soy. Fermenting helps release soy’s beneficial compounds and mitigates many negative ones. Fermented soy includes miso, tofu, tempeh, soy sauce, and tamari. Eat them in small to moderate amounts and minimize exposure to processed soy products and the ubiquitous soybean oil used in nearly every restaurant (If you don’t believe me, just ask!).
Nuts
Nuts are dry, single-seeded fruits with high oil content enclosed in a tough outer layer. Many seeds also fall into this category (such as sunflower and safflower). Some nuts, like peanuts, fit more than one description (legume and seed). Historians hypothesize that ancient societies about ten thousand years ago likely centered on the harvesting of nuts, which may then have fostered agriculture. They’re nutrient-dense with generous amounts of calories, fats, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. And they’re good sources of minerals like magnesium, zinc, and selenium, which are often underconsumed in today’s largely processed Western diet.
Nuts and seeds protect against disease. They’re rich in phytochemicals and plant sterols, which help keep cholesterol levels in balance and reduce cancer risk. People in countries that eat lots of nuts have lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases than those in countries where few eat nuts. In a study of more than 34,000 Seventh-Day Adventists, those who consumed nuts at least five times a week halve their rate of heart attack compared to those who rarely ate them; eating nuts once a week still lowered risk by 25 percent compared to nut avoiders.1 The Nurses’ Health Study, involving more than 86,000 women, reported lower rates of heart disease among frequent nut consumers than nut avoiders,2 and the Physician’s Health Study of over 20,000 men found lower rates of mortality from all causes in those who consume nuts.3,4
Despite their reputation as a high-calorie, fat-filled snack, nuts and seeds may actually enhance weight loss and maintenance. Nuts promote satiety, which can reduce consumption of other foods.5 Of 65 people on a weight-reduction program, those who ate a diet rich in almonds lost more weight and maintained their weight loss compared with those who ate a diet rich in complex carbohydrates.6 In another study, participants who ate 3 ounces of peanuts daily reduced their intake of other foods because they felt satiated, which helped them control their weight.7
Consuming nuts may even play a role in diabetes prevention and glucose control. Nut consumption can lower risk of type 2 diabetes in women. Eating almonds helps avoid spikes in blood glucose from foods that are known to raise blood sugar levels.8 Nuts and seeds in general, with their low glycemic index and dense nutrient profile, can play a role in preventing or controlling diabetes.
The nutrients and other bioactive components in nuts and seeds benefit the brain and cognition. Walnuts in particular protect the hippocampus, our memory center, from oxidative stress and other damage.9(They also look like little brains!) Regular nut consumption—ideally soaked, then roasted—may prevent and help reverse brain dysfunction.10
Over the last several years, obtaining unprocessed nuts has become increasingly difficult. Industry pools almonds from hundreds of farmers, which amplifies the risk of contamination. A contaminated batch from one farm causes limited problems because we can trace it back to the source, but when that batch is combined with thousands of other batches from other sources it has led to massive recalls mostly due to salmonella or listeria.11 As a result, many nuts sold in the United States—and all almonds—are irradiated, which can cause nutrient losses due to formation of highly reactive free radicals that degrade the structure and activity of vitamins.12 Formation of radiolytes and radioactivity in the food itself pose their own health (and environmental) hazards. No labeling exists at this time that allows consumers to identify which foods are irradiated, though it’s worth knowing that typically Italian and Spanish almonds are not irradiated. They can be obtained from several Internet-based nut companies.
“Antinutrients”
In order to protect themselves from being destroyed before germinating, beans, seeds, nuts, and grains have several defenses, which some call “antinutrients,” that allow them to survive insects, mold, fungus, and the digestive tract of animals. After all, a primary way that seeds spread is because animals deposit seeds in their scat. An example of an antinutrient is phytic acid, which binds minerals, making them unusable by your body.13 A diet that includes too many phytates means that calcium, iron, and zinc may bind to phytic acid to form insoluble complexes, resulting in reduction of these minerals in your body.14Phytic acid can also exhaust phosphorus supplies. In populations where cereal grains provide a major source of calories, rickets and osteoporosis are more common.15 Nuts’ phytic acid content can particularly block absorption of iron.16 And eating straight bran or high-fiber foods with bran can contribute to bone loss and intestinal problems.17 Given their high demand for minerals, growing children can run into problems when eating a phytate-rich diet, due to lower calcium, phosphorus, zinc, and iron.18
You shouldn’t fear eating grains, beans, seeds, or nuts. Simply source and prepare these foods properly and eat them in moderation. Phytates in small amounts have antioxidant-building and toxin-binding properties—and may even have anticancer properties.19 Listen to your body. And as always, balance is key.
The way to dissolve phytic acid is with its counterenzyme: phytase. We humans do not produce much phytase, in contrast to cows and other ruminants, but probiotic lactobacillus and our healthy human digestive microflora do.20Studies show that the body can adapt to the effects of some phytates in the diet, likely through the microbiome. Subjects who consumed high levels of whole wheat at first excreted more calcium than they took in, but after several weeks, they stopped excreting excess calcium. It seems our flora can adjust somewhat to our phytate input. Similarly, a combination of sprouting/soaking/fermenting/cooking—which benefits our bodies in other ways as well—activates the seeds’ innate phytase before even entering our digestive tract, which reduces phytates while boosting nutrients.21 Similarly, food combinations can make a difference with phytates. For instance, consumption of meat or vitamin C–containing foods increases our absorption of iron.22 Adding onion or garlic to rice or beans also enhances the amount of iron and zinc you absorb from them.23 The sulfur-containing phytonutrients that give onions and garlic their pungent smell also “unlock” certain minerals to be better absorbed. Daily consumption might consist of a slice or so of genuine sourdough bread; a handful of soaked, sprouted, and roasted nuts; and one to two servings of properly prepared oatmeal, pancakes, rice, or beans. In a nutrient-dense diet rich in vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and lacto-fermented foods, most people tolerate up to four to five servings daily.
Problems arise when grains or legumes become the foundation of every meal, especially in children who eat a limited array of foods.24 This is one reason that children who are raised vegan and even vegetarian can be at a significant disadvantage nutritionally—they’re not eating nutrient-dense animal proteins and fats, while they’re consuming foods that contain large amounts of antinutrients that bind minerals they need.25 Children under age six, pregnant women, and anyone with serious illness should be careful to consume a diet lower in phytic acids because their bodies have such a high demand for these minerals.26 This means preparing phytate-rich foods by sprouting and cooking, and restricting consumption to two to three servings daily. Chronically ill children or those with numerous cavities or bone fractures may benefit from a trial off grains and legumes altogether for one to three months under careful medical supervision and monitoring for improvement. We all benefit from minimizing unfermented soy products, extruded whole-grain cereals, rice cakes, unsprouted granola, raw muesli, and other high-phytate foods, but this group should avoid them.
GRAINS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE GLUTEN
Whole grains prepared in traditional ways have clear health benefits, although reactivity to wheat—gluten in particular—has become a significant issue for an unprecedented number of children, as discussed in Chapter 4. Reasons for this reactivity may include poor soil fertility, hybridized wheat strains with shallower roots that can’t absorb nutrients from the soil, and residues of the Roundup that are repeatedly sprayed on the wheat. Almost all white flour in the United States—which is designed to last on the shelf but not to be nutritious and flavorful—is treated with chlorine bleach (azodicarbonamide), then sprayed with fungal amylase (which slows down the growth of mold) and potassium bromate. These compounds are associated with kidney and nervous system disorders as well as cancer. Banned in many countries, they’re legal in the United States. One old study showed that animals fed white flour suffered from infertility significantly more than those fed freshly stone-ground wheat.27 Fertility is a window to overall health.
But these are all problems that we caused. Traditional grains—both with and without gluten—carry health benefits. Buckwheat, used in an eastern European dish called kasha, contains D-fagomine, a compound that effectively reduces blood glucose28 and insulin release.29 It inhibits intestinal adhesion of several kinds of potentially harmful bacteria, such as types of Escherichia coli and salmonella, and promotes adhesion of beneficial bacteria like lactobacillus, balancing intestinal microbiota.30 Quinoa, a grainlike berry, is high in protein and has the high-antioxidant characteristic of berries.31
Wheat and its sister grains like spelt and rye have gotten a bad rap despite their nutritional benefits. But that’s mostly because we don’t go to the best sources and prepare it traditionally. For instance, sprouting wheat increases vitamins A, B12, C, and promotes enzymes that facilitate digestion of starches and proteins. Some studies suggest that fermenting or sprouting wheat can reduce the gluten content significantly.32,33 Sprouting also destroys flatulence-promoting oligosaccharides along with phytates and trypsin inhibitors (which bind nutrients and prevent protein breakdown).34 Sourdough bread (made using traditional fermentation methods) breaks down phytates by fermentation, which increases mineral availability and digestibility and decreases rate of spoilage. Fermenting gluten-free grains into sourdough has been shown to heal and balance gut microbiome after celiac diagnosis.35 These preparations also regulate rises in glucose to prevent a subsequent damaging spike in insulin that can lead to inflammation in the body and brain.36
Traditional preparation enhances other grains as well. When corn is traditionally prepared by nixtamalization—soaking, cooking in alkaline solution (like limewater), then hulled—it becomes the nutritionally superior masa harina. It’s more easily ground, the flavor and aroma are improved, mycotoxins are reduced, and nutrients are more accessible. This process also enhances the availability of niacin, which prevents the deficiency syndrome pellagra—still a widespread problem in the world.
Bob’s Red Mill and Gold Mine are a few companies that offer cornmeal prepared as traditional masa harina. Brands like Lundberg, TruRoots, and Now Foods offer sprouted organic rice. In the New York area, Cayuga Organics offers freshly ground wheat, and Biodynamics and To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co. offer sprouted grains more widely.
A Guide to Eating Seeds
• Choose organic, preferably biodynamic whole grains over processed ones, i.e., brown rice versus white, and steel-cut oats versus rolled.
• Opt for ancient varieties such as kamut, emmer, amaranth, millet, quinoa, or einkorn. These are much less likely to be monocrops, which are depleted of nutrients and excessively sprayed with pesticides.
• If you want to eat corn, try buying (or growing) an heirloom variety, such as the antioxidant-rich blue corn from companies like Anson Mills. Pop your own corn from these beautiful varieties. Avoid microwave popcorn and its chemical-infused packaging, trans fats, and GMO or monocropped kernels. Foods made with properly prepared cornmeal, called masa harina, offer optimal nutrition and flavor.
• Sprout and ferment (sourdough) your grains or flours to aid digestibility and nutrient absorption and to boost the microbiome.
• Find freshly milled flour locally if possible—often a farmer’s market is the first place to explore. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can obtain and grind your own wheatberries or other grains in a Vitamix blender or a flourmill to experience the fresh, living flour. Yes, fresh flour is more delicious and nutritious in everything from cakes to breads—and you probably won’t want to go back to the old stuff for baking.
• Choose sourdough or sprouted breads, gluten-free or not, as tolerated.
• Sprouted nuts taste exceptionally better than the regular kind most of us eat. Many companies offer them sprouted, including Living Intentions.
• Add chia, flax, and hemp seeds to everything from salads to smoothies to homemade cracker recipes. No soaking necessary.
• To reduce the gassiness of beans and increase their nutrient availability, soak them for 24 to 48 hours with a postage stamp–size piece of kombu. Drain and add fresh water before cooking.
TIP
Wild Milky Oats (WMO)
Grains can have medicinal benefits. One week of every year, wild oat plants—which grow in all parts of the country—exude a milky substance. During that week, these harvested oats possess special properties of calm (but without sedation). As a gentle antidepressant and restorative, WMO reduce the stress response; revive the nervous system and adrenal glands; help to restore minerals the body needs; aid sleep; and bestow a feeling of general well-being. WMO makes a relaxing, nutritive tea or tincture (infused in a very small amount of alcohol) that lifts mood and can reduce social anxiety while being gentle enough to be a daily tonic even for young children to “take the edge off.” Parents like it, too!
DEMONIZING MACRONUTRIENTS
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.
—JOHN MUIR
Since macronutrients—fats, proteins, and carbohydrates—were identified, they’ve taken turns at being considered “bad.” Fat of any kind was the fall guy for a long time. Protein and fat from animals are perpetual villains. These days, though, the bad guys are gluten and “carbs.”
But as we’re learning, foods are more than macronutrients or micronutrients. Equating milk with calcium, or eggs with cholesterol, reduces food to one element and ignores its complexity. Too often, we focus on the “what” of our foods (whether one element is “good” or “bad”) and not enough on the when (when was it harvested), how (what kind of soil, how was it grown, processed, and cooked), why (why do we grow and prepare food in this way), and who (who benefits or suffers).
It’s true that we’re eating more carbohydrates than ever before. A study of general caloric intake between 1909 and 1997 found that people have been eating significantly more calories, and that carbohydrate consumption accounted for 80 percent of those calories.37 A 2004 study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Center for Health Statistics found that carbohydrate intake was at the root of an increase in calorie consumption during the past 30 years (a 22 percent climb for women, 7 percent for men).38 The real problem, though, may be that these carbohydrates came primarily from processed foods and sugar.
Sometimes eliminating carbohydrates can be absolutely appropriate as a medical treatment, as with children with refractory epilepsy or chronic GI disorders. Indeed, the ketogenic or modified Atkins diets can control seizures better than many epilepsy medications and may improve some cases of bipolar disease.39,40 Specific carbohydrate diets appear quite promising for Crohn’s disease.41 (Whenever possible, such diets should consist of real food, even blended, over carb-free formulas. Either way, be sure to engage the help of a nutritional expert.)
Yet gluten, carbohydrates, or even sweeteners are not villains in and of themselves. The whole of the plant is always greater than the sum of its parts. The fats and phytonutrients of living grains can actually modulate blood sugar and prevent a spike in insulin.42,43 Moreover, only in times of plenty do we have such choices about what we should eat—cutting out entire food categories isn’t sustainable in the long run. Rather than villainizing entire food groups in this reductionist way, I recommend sourcing and preparing them well and eating them in moderation, if tolerated.
Vegetarian Kids
Though strict vegan or vegetarian diets can be healing at times in adults, I tend not to recommend them in children. While some kids may thrive eating vegetarian or occasionally vegan diets, children’s rapid development means they need an even broader array of foods and nutrients than adults. In our current food system, keeping these children optimally nourished and healthy takes exceptional care. Of special concern are vegetarian kids—or as I call them, carb-etarians—who consume diets largely free of vegetables! Although meat is not a must for everyone, pastured animal products like eggs and milk can help restore health, veggies must be copious, and diverse fats (not just olive oil, for example, but pastured butter, ghee, coconut oil, sesame, flax hemp, and more) are critical. Chronic illness may merit a trial of animal protein for vegetarians, just as it can mean the opposite for meat eaters.
THE REAL DIRT ON GMO: POWER OVER SEEDS
Our entire much-praised technological progress, and civilization generally, could be compared to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal.
—ALBERT EINSTEIN
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have become the next chapter in the history of seeds and attempts to control food production. The biotech and food industries say that GMO foods are safe and will “feed the world.” The FDA claims that these crops are “exactly the same” as conventionally grown food. Some senators have introduced bills in Congress to allow GMO products to be labeled 100 percent natural.44 Anyone who disagrees is labeled “anti-science” (industry’s term for those who disagree with its spin on science). Meanwhile, 26 foreign markets ban GMOs and 62—and counting—restrict them.
Crops from GMO seeds comprise nearly 100 percent of soybean crops and at least 50 percent of corn, as well as canola, squash (zucchini and yellow), Hawaiian papaya, sugarbeets (another sugar source aside from corn), alfalfa, and cotton. This may not sound like much until you consider that soy, corn, and sugarbeets make up a tremendous portion of every processed food—including institutional and restaurant foods, where industrial products like soybean oil are almost universally used. And you likely consume meat, eggs, or milk from animals that consume alfalfa (or vegetables that are fertilized by the manure from animals that eat genetically modified alfalfa) and cottonseed. GMOs are also commonly used in processed food additives that we’ve already discussed.45 Wheat, rice, and flax—considered “high risk”—are not GMO but have genetically modified cousins that can cross-pollinate with them. Indeed, the USDA detected GMO wheat—currently not approved in the United States—in Oregon in 2013 and again in Montana in 2014. These findings caused Asian markets to ban U.S.–grown wheat for a period. After the second finding, Monsanto—the creator of GMO wheat—was fined.
A genetically modified organism has had foreign genes—from a different kind of plant, an animal, even a bacterium or virus—added to its DNA to improve crop yield, resist drought, or evade predators. The problem is that in nature every functional gene—plant, animal, or human—has corresponding regulator genes that determine whether and when to turn genes on and off. Removing a fragment of a gene without its regulator genes means that the transplanted gene can act in untethered ways in its new home in our food’s DNA. An even bigger problem arises when these unregulated (“promiscuous”) genes enter our bodies. They can lead to unexpected food allergies, toxicity, tumors, and other health problems. Promiscuous genes—deposited in soil from GM plants or in our own gut—can produce new, foreign proteins that affect our food and our health.
GMOs currently cover millions of acres of farmland—or should I say pharmland?—across the United States. Here’s why that affects you:
The most common GMO seed named Roundup Ready was designed to grow crops resistant to pests. Monsanto creates Roundup Ready crops by injecting a fragment of DNA into a seed to render the plant resistant to the Monsanto-made herbicide Roundup—of which glyphosate is a major ingredient. Roundup Ready plants withstand vast quantities of Roundup without dying, as toxic glyphosate kills “nondesirable plants” or weeds. Yet the “war on weeds” never works for very long, because the weeds develop resistance to an herbicide and become “superweeds”46,47 that come back stronger than before.48In response, farmers apply higher doses of Roundup more frequently.
The amount of glyphosate used since GMOs were introduced in 1996 has increased fivefold (to 880 million pounds a year). All of that glyphosate soaks into the soil, and according to a 2014 study, it is ubiquitous in more than 75 percent of air and rain samples.49 So much glyphosate applied repeatedly to crops binds minerals in the soil, preventing them from entering plants.50 As such, those plants become less nutritious and more vulnerable to pests. Plants need bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi to feed them and build their immune systems, but glyphosate acts as an antibiotic, which further weakens the plant by limiting exposure to diverse microbes that both support them and stress them into producing more phytonutrients. Glyphosate accumulates in the growth points of the plants—seeds, root tips, and shoot tips—which also happen to be the most edible parts of the plant. So both we—and the animals we eat—accumulate glyphosate in our tissues.51
Even at very low doses of exposure, glyphosate kills placental, embryonic, and umbilical cells.52 Glyphosate is associated with genetic damage (mutations), including chromosomal aberrations, even at doses below those recognized as “safe.”53,54 The herbicide acts as a potent endocrine disruptor, which can affect future reproductive health of young boys and girls.55 Glyphosate was even implicated recently in the development of autism, neurobehavioral problems in children, and other neurological diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.56,57 Glyphosate—and other components inherent to using GMOs—are linked to conditions such as increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut), imbalanced gut bacteria, immune activation, food allergies, impaired digestion, and damage to the intestinal wall.58 Eating GMO crops impairs fertility in livestock.
Above all, glyphosate impairs detoxification59 and was called out by the World Health Organization (WHO) as possibly causing cancer. A 2014 study from MIT researcher Stephanie Seneff convincingly correlated the precipitous increase in chronic conditions—celiac, thyroid disease, kidney disease, and others—with the increased use of glyphosate. Urinary levels of glyphosate in chronically ill subjects were significantly higher than healthy individuals.60Glyphosate residues are neither removed by washing nor broken down by cooking. The herbicide residue remains on food for more than a year, even if processed, dried, or frozen. Bt toxin, also a pesticide (derived from a spore-forming bacteria), has now been genetically added to GM corn. When insects ate crops sprayed with Bt, it attacked their gut walls and killed them—but then was washed off. Now GM corn produces Bt toxin, which we consume, and which may similarly damage our own guts.61 GMOs have spread worldwide, to the dismay of many countries.
Some of the earliest GMO literature described a spike in anaphylactic reactions in the United Kingdom after GM soybeans combined with Brazil nut genes were introduced from the United States.62 The United Kingdom is one of the few countries that annually evaluates food allergies. In March 1999, researchers were alarmed to discover that “soy” allergy had skyrocketed by 50 percent since the previous year. The Brazil nut gene had somehow expressed itself in the GM soy, which had now become genetically contaminated with hidden tree-nut allergen and triggered anaphylaxis.
When industry patches genetic material from one plant or animal into another, genetic and epigenetic complexity can lead to unanticipated outcomes in our bodies and the environment.
In the case of GMO, however, we are not given a choice as to whether it is something we want our bodies, our food, or our environment to be exposed to: wind and water carry GMO seeds that grow in one field to other farmers’ fields, where they take root and grow. And because GMO-containing foods in the United States are not required to be labeled, we as consumers cannot choose whether we want to expose ourselves to this technology.
Myth: GMOs Are Proven to Be Safe Because They Are FDA Approved
You might imagine that the FDA established safety based on extensive examination of GMOs, using peer-reviewed soil, plant, and human health studies. Nope. The FDA has never conducted safety studies on GMOs. In the 1990s, the FDA classified food from GM seed as generally recognized as safe (GRAS), as if it were like any other food. The FDA justified the GRAS based on the assumption that nutritional components—proteins, fats, carbohydrates—of a GM plant are “the same as or substantially similar” to those found in non-GM foods.63 Maybe, but aren’t we more interested in the differences? In 1996, the FDA first allowed GM foods into world markets, even as its own scientists warned that genetic engineering differs fundamentally from conventional breeding and poses special risks, specifically production of new toxins or allergens.64,65,66,67,68 The FDA did not use data to approve GM food as safe. The FDA didn’t and does not commission independent safety tests on these foods.
Indeed, the FDA has no mandatory GM food safety assessment process—only a voluntary program for premarket review of GM foods, with no legal requirement for companies to participate. Because of a U.S. government decision to “foster” the growth of the GM industry,69 the FDA does not exercise oversight. Agritech companies may release any GMO product into the market without even notifying the FDA. The only safety testing done is by the very companies that stand to profit from selling their own GM seeds as well as the accompanying chemicals.
Needless to say, many of the safety studies are flawed or biased. For instance, a 2015 study found that standard laboratory animal feed tested positive for GMO and glyphosate.70 If both the exposed and nonexposed animals consumed GMO feed, the safety data are invalid, as no group was “GMO-free.” Skepticism grew when the New York Times revealed that the biotech industry “has published dozens of articles, under the names of prominent academics, that in some cases were drafted by industry consultants” and they’d given scientists unrestricted grants.71
David Schubert, professor and head of the cellular neurobiology laboratory at the Salk Institute, stated in a peer-reviewed study: “One thing that surprised us is that U.S. regulators rely almost exclusively on information provided by the biotech crop developer, and those data are not published in journals or subjected to peer review. . . . The picture that emerges from our study of U.S. regulation of GM foods is a rubber-stamp ‘approval process’ designed to increase public confidence in, but not ensure the safety of, genetically engineered foods.”72 In other words, our government is staking our children’s health on the word of biotechnology companies.
Our government has been filled with ex-Monsanto executives, lobbyists, attorneys, and board members, from the well-known—Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld, various members of Congress, even former secretary of state Hillary Clinton worked as an attorney for a law firm that represented Monsanto—to the lesser-known Monsanto employees who attained high positions in the FDA and USDA.73Conversely, FDA and USDA officials also have gotten top positions in Monsanto and its subsidiaries after leaving public service.74 Current FDA deputy commissioner of policy Michael Taylor, for example, orchestrated the FDA’s approach to GM foods in 1991.75 Prior to joining the FDA, Taylor worked at a law firm that represented Monsanto. In 1998, Taylor became Monsanto’s vice president for public policy.76 In 2010, Taylor returned to the FDA as deputy commissioner for foods.77
Simply put, the fox is guarding the henhouse. While the Hungarian government destroyed all of Monsanto’s genetically engineered cornfields within its borders, the U.S. government has never denied a single application from Monsanto for new genetically engineered crops. Not one, ever. According to the New York Times, “It was an outcome that would be repeated, again and again, through three administrations. What Monsanto wished for from Washington, Monsanto—and, by extension, the biotechnology industry—got. If the company’s strategy demanded regulations, rules favored by the industry were adopted. And when the company abruptly decided that it needed to throw off the regulations and speed its foods to market, the White House quickly ushered through an unusually generous policy of self-policing. Even longtime Washington hands said that the control this nascent industry exerted over its own regulatory destiny—through the Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department, and ultimately the Food and Drug Administration—was astonishing.”78
Myth: GMO Is Just as Nutritious as Conventionally Grown Crops
Glyphosate was first patented as a chelator and antibiotic. Chelators bind nutrients in the soil, reducing what’s available for the plant (and us). In addition, glyphosate attacks microbes and mycorrhizae that facilitate nutrient uptake into plants and strengthen plant connections.79 While glyphosate may help kill some weeds, the weeds inevitably evolve to become resistant. Ultimately, the remaining (or subsequent) crops have fewer mycorrhizae, earthworms,80nutrients,81 and phytonutrients,82 which impacts soil, plant, animal, and human health.
Myth: GMO Increases Crop Yields
Biotech companies claim that GM foods will solve world hunger problems by increasing yields and resistance to pests. No studies to date show that genetically modified food can actually increase crop yield. Recent events suggest that it’s quite the opposite. In India, the government banned conventional cottonseed in favor of GM to please Monsanto and as a way to receive contingent International Monetary Fund loans to help its economy. Indian farmers were convinced to spend what was often one thousand times the cost of conventional seed on Monsanto’s “magic seeds.” Yet the crops were often destroyed by bollworms and other kinds of crop failure,83 demanding costly pesticides and herbicides. The GM crops also required twice the water of conventional cotton to grow—but water in that quantity was not available, so many crops died. Farmers, who subsisted by saving seeds from year to year, discovered they’d have to purchase new seeds every year. To families already in insurmountable debt, this was the final blow. More than 270,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide since 1995, which some claim was in part a response to the monstrous debt incurred as a result of their agreement to use Monsanto’s GMOs.84
Myth: GMOs Will Feed the World
GMOs create dangerous monoculture. Biodiversity of crops means some plants will survive and thrive when challenges arise. One hundred percent of soybeans might be Roundup Ready, but the inevitable Roundup-resistant pest or fungus could then decimate 100 percent of soybeans. Drought-resistant crops may survive drought, but not wet weather. Biodiversity, not GM technology, ensures resilience.
As for “feeding the world,” there is no evidence to date that GMOs can achieve this goal. Moreover, our world doesn’t suffer from a shortage of food. The USDA recently published a study stating that Americans throw away 133 billion pounds of food annually, or about 30 percent of the world’s available food. It’s widely agreed that the world has enough food, but it’s not getting to people who need it. Our global food problem is one of distribution, not scarcity. To argue otherwise is a scare tactic meant to manipulate. And GMO-based monoculture is likely a far greater threat to food security, anyway. As Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel half-way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
GMO: The Hidden Ingredient
Currently, no legislation requires food manufacturers to disclose GM ingredients. But surveys show that more than 90 percent of American consumers want to know whether products are made from genetically modified seeds. At least 62 other countries mandate labeling of these products so that consumers can make an educated choice. Yet the U.S. food industry has invested billions of dollars in a huge battle against legislation that supports consumers’ right to know. This isn’t about banning GMOs, mind you—they refuse to simply label them so that consumers can make an educated choice. Industry says, “Food grown from genetically modified seeds is no different from other food so there is no need to label it.” Yet simultaneously manufacturers applied for—and won—patents on these seeds because they consider them fundamentally different from regular seeds. How can they have it both ways? Another argument that industry makes is, “Americans aren’t sophisticated enough to understand how to interpret information about GM food. They will become overwhelmed.” Citizens of 62 other countries have managed to navigate such labels, but simpleminded Americans cannot?85
HOW DO I AVOID FEEDING MY CHILDREN GM FOODS?
Shockingly, more than 80 percent of food in North America contains GMOs, much of which is marketed to children—cereals, snack bars, snack boxes, cookies, processed lunch meat, and crackers. Because manufacturers are not obligated to label products containing GM foods, the only way to avoid them is by shopping organic. The use of GMOs is prohibited in certified organic products. This means an organic farmer can’t plant GMO seeds, an organic cow can’t eat GMO alfalfa or corn, and organic bread can’t be made with any GMO ingredients.
CONCLUSION
GMO seeds may one day have the potential to offer benefit to society. So far, however, GMO technology has been used almost exclusively as a way to allow application or integration of vastly more pesticides to crops. The extensive rigorous, peer-reviewed safety testing we expect simply hasn’t been conducted in animals or humans, and the science we do have is highly alarming. At a minimum, consumers deserve transparency as to whether the food they purchase contains GMO.
TAKE HOME
1. Seeds—grains, beans, nuts, etc.—are nutrient-dense, delicious, and long-lasting. You should buy organic—or even biodynamic—and non-GMO. See if you can find local growers to get the freshest products. Some high-quality producers even believe that grains and rice should be refrigerated from the moment after harvest to maintain the aromatics and other phytonutrients that confer flavor and health.
2. Most grains and beans, and some nuts and seeds, should be soaked, sprouted, then slow-cooked or roasted for full nutritional benefits. More and more companies are offering consumers sprouted options as demand increases for traditionally prepared, nutrient-dense foods.
3. Check resources like Consumer Reports for testing on different brands of rice for arsenic and other contaminants.
4. Beware of anything fortified. For instance, fortified grains mean the most nutrient-dense parts of the plant are gone and packagers added, at most, a few vitamins and minerals, which creates a veneer of healthfulness. Synthetic vitamins cannot achieve what nutritious whole foods can. In this case, freshly ground whole grains provide the complex array of nutrients your child needs.
5. Ditch cereal. Feeding your kids fortified cereal is like giving them cookies and milk for breakfast with a few added synthetic vitamins. Actually, many cookies are healthier! Instead, try soaking your oatmeal or eating sprouted granola, good-quality sourdough bread, or warm quinoa or amaranth, with delicious additions like sprouted nuts, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom; blueberries, maple syrup, and raw honey; extra-dark maple syrup or blackstrap molasses. Or forgo grains and eat eggs or soup for breakfast. Source grains from companies that offer presprouted options for maximum nutrient availability.
6. Demand GMO labeling and transparency, and rigorous, independent testing for safety for food ingredients, from industry as well as local, state, or federal lawmakers.