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“You Are What You Eat”
It has finally become conventional to associate good nutrition with good health. Mainstream medicine and the public at large now acknowledge that a good diet can not only promote health, but also prevent disease. Today it is customary to talk about how food choices affect our overall well-being and help ward off heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, and other ailments. Most people also are aware that a healthy diet can decrease the risk of disease by reducing predisposing conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Eating a balanced diet is the most effective way to ensure that our bodies receive the nutrients we need. Nutrition experts recommend that the daily diet include a certain number of servings from each of the five major food groups: breads, cereals, rice, and pasta; vegetables; fruits; milk, yogurt, and cheese; and meat, poultry, fish, dried beans and peas, eggs, and nuts. Fats and sugars should be used sparingly.
The importance of whole grain foods was not recognized by the mainstream until relatively recently. But carbohydrates are necessary in order to have energy, and whole grains—such as oatmeal, whole grain bread and brown rice—are the best way to obtain carbohydrates. Whole grains, as opposed to highly processed carbohydrates, provide the outer (bran) and inner (germ) layers, in addition to the energy-rich starch. The key here is that the human body does not digest whole grains as rapidly as it does processed carbohydrates. By not doing so, it prevents blood sugar and insulin from quickly increasing and decreasing. When these two are better controlled, hunger is better controlled, which may prevent type II diabetes.
Over the past several years, much has been written about the value of fats in the diet, though this notion was shunned not too long ago. But remember, I am referring to plant oils, not all kinds of fat. Excellent sources of healthy unsaturated fats are olive and flaxseed oil, walnuts, almonds, coconuts, avocados, hazlenuts, in addition to fatty fish like salmon and sardines. Healthy fats improve cholesterol levels and also protect the heart against deadly arrythmias.
Fruits and vegetables have long been an integral part of the alternative movement’s dietary recommendations. When eaten in healthy amounts, they can—among other things—reduce the likelihood of heart attack or stroke, provide protection against cancer, and help prevent cataract and macular degeneration, the main causes of blindness in people over 65.
Unfortunately, the typical American diet does not meet many of the requirements for good health. Part of the problem relates to the types and proportions of foods that people eat. Just as important to our health, however, is how the foods are grown and processed as they make their way to our grocery shelves and kitchen tables.
Because of today’s agricultural and manufacturing practices, foods once full of vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber have indeed become bankrupt. Not only does refining wheat and other grains strip them of their fiber, the wheat grown on today’s soils contains only a fraction of the protein content it once had. But this is not the only adverse consequence of modern-day food production. Even with thorough washing, many chemical pesticides are not removed. They penetrate the skin of fruits and vegetables and invade the body’s systems.
Food Supply
A half-century ago roughly a third of the grocery store was devoted to natural, fresh produce. Today, it is a small fraction of that, and even what appears to be natural has often been altered. Fruits and vegetables are routinely grown with artificial fertilizers, sprayed with pesticides, treated with chemicals to control the time of ripening, and coated with waxes to give a glossy appearance.
Modern bread fares no better. For thousands of years wheat has been prepared as bread. Known as the staff of life, whole wheat is a rich source of nutrients: complex carbohydrates, protein, oils, roughage, and an excellent balance of vitamins and minerals. When making whole-wheat flour, these ingredients are retained. Refined flour, used to make white bread, is processed in a different way. Rollers flatten and separate the bran and germ, which carry most of wheat’s nutrients. Fiber is lost. Chlorine gases are used to bleach out remaining substances. The product is then “enriched” with synthetic versions of some of the nutrients removed earlier in the processing. To increase shelf-life, preservatives are added.
Among the ingredients commonly listed on loaves of bread made from enriched flour are barley malt, ferrous sulfate, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening, yeast, salt, dicalcium phosphate, and calcium propionate. Potassium bromate was a popular additive until its association with cancer in laboratory animals led many countries to ban its use. In 1999, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to prohibit the use of bromate in the United States. While many bakers have voluntarily switched to bromate-free processes, many continue to include bromate in their products. Some of the flour additives and processing chemicals that need not be listed on bread packages include oxides of nitrogen, chlorine, nitrosyl chloride, chlorine dioxide, benzoyl peroxide, acetone peroxide, azodicarbonamide, and plaster of Paris.
Let’s take a look at meat and poultry. Many of us picture farms as being like those we remember from childhood, or like those we have seen in pictures or on television. We imagine farm animals in their pens, or even roaming around a farmyard. Such farms may exist, but they are not the source of most of the meat and poultry we buy and eat today. Chickens are raised by the tens of thousands in giant buildings where they never see the light of day. They are kept in cages where they cannot move, with conveyor belts bringing them food and water and carrying away their waste. When they do move about, they often slide around on their breasts, as some modern breeds grow too fat for their legs to support them. They are constantly sprayed and their food is doused with chemicals, hormones, and medicines. Attempts also are being made to breed featherless chickens.
Steers spend most of their lives outdoors, but are no less exposed to chemicals in their upbringing. Today a steer is born, taken from its mother and put on a diet of powdered milk, synthetic vitamins, minerals, and antibiotics. It is permitted to eat some pasture grass, but this is supplemented with processed feed that is premixed with antibiotics and growth-promoting drugs. At 6 months, the steer weighs 500 pounds and is ready for the feed lot. Here it is doused with pesticides and then placed in a pen that is lit around the clock to change natural sleep rhythms and encourage continuous feeding. Food consists of grains, urea, carbohydrates, ground-up newspaper, molasses, plastic pellets, and most recently, reprocessed manure, a high protein source. After 4 months in the feed lot, a steer weighs 1,200 pounds. A few more doses of pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones are administered to pretenderize it while it is still alive, and it is ready for slaughter.
As meat takes an especially long time to digest and is essentially fiberless, chemicals are not easily eliminated and can accumulate to cause all sorts of toxic reactions within the body. According to a recent General Accounting Office report, “of the 143 drugs and pesticides identified as likely to leave residues in raw meat and poultry, 42 are known to cause or are suspected of causing cancer, 20 of causing birth defects, and six of causing mutations.”
Pesticides
It has been estimated that more than 2.5 billion pounds of pesticides annually invade our nation’s lands, fields, and forests. As of 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had registered approximately 900 pesticides, which the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides reports are used in well over 20,000 products. According to the EPA, more than 60 percent of herbicides, 90 percent of fungicides, and 30 percent of insecticides are carcinogenic.
In addition, the EPA has licensed more than 400 pesticides for use on America’s foods. But how are these pesticides regulated? How much residue remains in our food? How are pesticides affecting our health and the health of our children? This last question is particularly important as children face a greater risk from pesticides because their bodies are still developing. The National Academy of Sciences and the Environmental Working Group report that children who come in contact with carcinogenic pesticides are at a greater risk of cancer in the future. Other research reports that pesticide use is linked to an elevated risk of malignancies during childhood.
Unfortunately, governmental regulations of pesticides have been ineffective and inconsistent. In 1996, in recognition of the critical need for new standards for pesticide use on food, the Food Quality Protection Act was signed into law. This law mandates that the EPA “consider the public’s overall exposure to pesticides (through food, water, and in home environments) when making decisions to set standards for pesticide use on food.” More specifically, the law requires the EPA to address risks to infants and children, to implement a screening program for reproductive and developmental effects, and to set a “single, health-based standard for all pesticide residues in all types of food.” It is alarming to know that these basic safeguards are considered part of a new law. By 2006, EPA is required to review all old pesticides to make sure that their use on food meets the “new, tougher safety standard.”
Current research truly details the dangers of pesticides. In 2005, an article in the Guardian titled “Pesticides Can Cause Prostate Cancer,” detailed how farmers face an abnormally high risk of prostate cancer. This is believed to be connected to their use of certain pesticides. The report cites a study in which researchers analyzed more than 55,000 farmers and nursery workers who had used pesticides in Iowa and North Carolina. From this population, 566 new cases of prostate cancer were reported between 1993 and 1999. Generally, approximately 495 cases would be the average. When measured against the general population, the farmers in the study had a 14 percent greater chance of developing prostate cancer. Six pesticides—chlorpyrifos, coumaphos, fonofos, phorate, permethrin, and butylate—were responsible for this increased risk for those men with a previous history of the disease. The pesticide methyl bromide increased the risk in all the men. The American Cancer Society estimates that this year alone, approximately 30,000 American men will be killed by prostate cancer and more than 220,000 will be diagnosed with the disease.
An article in Occupational and Environmental Medicine reported that exposure to workplace or household pesticides during the early stages of pregnancy increased the likelihood of stillbirths. Pregnant women exposed to workplace pesticides during the first two months of pregnancy had a 2.5 times greater risk for stillbirth. Furthermore, pregnant women exposed to pesticides for one month in the workplace during the first trimester faced a 70 percent increased risk for stillbirths due to placental, cord, and membrane complications.
It has long been suspected that many pesticides are carcinogens. The National Cancer Institute conducted one study in which it reported that children raised in households that regularly use home and garden pesticides were at a 650 percent greater risk of contracting leukemia.
THE GOOD NEWS
There is a silver lining in this pesticide-filled cloud: You can greatly reduce your exposure to pesticides by:
☐ Buying certified organic fruits, vegetables, and meats. (Remember to always wash your produce, even if it’s organic.)
☐ Using natural pesticides
☐ Avoiding chemical bug repellants or lice shampoos.
Food Additives
Chemical additives in foods have become so prevalent that they now make up a good portion of our diet. The average American consumes more than 150 pounds of food additives annually. Currently, more than 14,000 man-made chemicals are added to the American food supply. As noted in the discussion on pesticides, children suffer more than anyone else from food additives because their bodies are not fully developed. However, everyone should be cognizant of the kinds of chemicals and additives used in their food. Most of these additives are not put in foods just to preserve shelf life or retard spoilage, as is usually claimed. Instead, they are there to make the product look, taste, feel, and nourish more like the real thing.
Manufacturers contend that these chemicals are safe, that they have been tested and approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Are all these chemicals really safe? The answer is no. Among some of the more questionable and well-known additives are nitrates, saccharin, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and artificial colorings (yellow dye no. 6, red dye no. 2). There are hordes more less-familiar additives that may pose equal dangers to our health.
If food additives can be dangerous, why are we told otherwise? The answer lies in the complex interrelations of the food industry, media, government, and medical research. The food industry is very big business, with annual sales well over $200 billion. Each year, well over $500 million worth of chemicals are added to foods. The food industry is a major advertiser in consumer magazines and on television, so magazines and television too often are careful of being critical. Food industries are major sources of grants for university research departments. Government agencies have close relationships with the industries they are supposed to regulate. Many research scientists and government management personnel eventually enter the industry they previously regulated—and at much higher paying jobs.
Few of the chemicals have been adequately tested. Many that have been tested have been known to be dangerous for 30 years or more. Industry fights attempts to ban such chemicals every step of the way. When a ban is finally achieved, some producers continue to use it anyway. Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a case in point. This synthetic hormone used to fatten cattle has been known for decades to cause cancer. It was banned from use in food-producing animals in the United States more than 20 years ago. Yet, as of January 2000, the Swiss government reportedly informed the U.S. government that DES had been found in beef coming from this country.
Agribusiness encourages a way of eating that disrupts our physical health and erodes the sense of fulfillment that comes from preparing and eating real food. A fast-food rationale enters the community and the home, with deleterious effects. Agribusiness also undermines local farmers, who lend economic and ecological stability to the country. And industrialized foods simply do not taste as good as food should. They are dependent upon salt, sugar, chemicals, and billions of dollars in advertising. The fact is, most of us simply have forgotten what real food tastes like.
SUGAR One of the most common additives in processed foods is sugar. The average American consumes 160 pounds of sugar a year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (UDSA) recommends that a person who eats a 2,000-calorie diet limit added sugars to no more than 10 teaspoons daily. Unfortunately, the average person actually eats about twice this amount.
Sugar is ideal for the processed-food industry because many people like its taste and it is cheap, but primarily because it is addictive. Sugar in large quantities is concealed in many foods; not only in candy, cake, and soft drinks, but in bread, breakfast cereals, cheeses, condiments, and canned or packaged foods. On a food label, sugars include corn syrup, brown sugar, corn sweetener, lactose, maltose, fructose, glucose, and molasses. Most processed foods have large amounts of sugar, and those that do not have large amounts of salt.
A few years ago, a number of leading health experts and organizations petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require food labels to disclose how much sugar has been added to soft drinks, ice cream, and other foods. Alarmed at surveys showing that sugar consumption increased nearly 30 percent between 1983 and 1999, these experts also asked the FDA to set a maximum daily value of 10 teaspoons (40 grams) of sugar on Nutrition Facts labels.
ASPARTAME Aspartame is a sugar substitute that is sold as Equal and NutraSweet. It was lauded as the answer to every dieter’s taste bud woes because it did not have the nasty aftertaste of saccharine. That may be so, but it has more than its share of liabilities. Let’s begin with phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder in which the body can’t utilize phenylalanine, one of the two amino acids in aspartame. One out of 20,000 babies is born with phenylketonuria. When phenylalanine reaches toxic levels the blood, mental retardation can result. Several scientific reports indicate that aspartame may be responsible for altered brain function as well as behavior changes.
You should avoid aspartame especially during pregnancy or if you have PKU.
MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (MSG) Consuming too much MSG can cause headaches, tightness in the chest, and a burning sensation in the forearms and the back of the neck. If you think you are sensitive to MSG, you should always search food labels for it. Additionally, you should avoid hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP, which may contain MSG.
NITRITE AND NITRATE Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate are two very similar chemicals that have been used for hundreds of years as meat preservatives. Although nitrate is relatively harmless, danger lurks because it can easily be converted into nitrite. When nitrite mixes with secondary amines, they form nitrosamines—extremely potent carcinogens. The chemical reaction takes place during high degrees of frying. Nitrite has been connected to stomach cancer.
SULFITES Sulfites are chemicals responsible for making cut fruits and vegetables appear fresh. They were deemed safe until studies came out in the 1980s showing that sulfites caused severe allergic reactions. Sulfites were even linked to fatalities in asthmatics. Congress eventually made the FDA prohibit sulfites from the vast majority of fruits and vegetables. However, the prohibition does not apply to fresh-cut potatoes, dried fruits, and wine.
Genetically Engineered Foods
In genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, a gene from one seed or crop is inserted into another to give it a desired trait. More than four dozen genetically engineered foods and crops are grown or sold in America. These foods and crops are commonly made a part of the food chain and the environment. More than 75 million acres of genetically engineered crops are being cultivated in America, while up to 500,000 dairy cows are injected regularly with Monsanto’s recombinant bovine growth hormone.
The majority of the processed food sold in supermarkets tests positive for genetically engineered components. According to projections from the biotechnology industry, virtually 100 percent of American food will be genetically engineered within 5 to 10 years.
The Food and Drug Administration and the food industry argue that genetically modified foods are no different from other foods and thus don’t need to be identified or labeled as such. The one way you can know you are not eating genetically engineered food is if you eat something labeled “organic,” because the law does not permit organic food to be genetically engineered.
Nicols Fox, an independent investigative journalist and author of Spoiled—The Dangerous Truth About the Food Chain Gone Haywire, says: “I think the American consumer has been misled to think that the FDA is doing thorough testing of these products and that is not true. What they are doing is looking for a substantial equivalency. If it looks like a tomato, if it is chemically similar to a tomato, then that is fine. They ask the companies to look for allergens or toxins that are produced but they go no further than that. If there are long term feeding studies being done with these products, we don’t know about them. They are not being required and if the companies are doing it they are not telling us about them. Really we are the test rats for these products.”
Fox explains some of the concerns about genetically engineered foods. “Genetic engineering is basically about the art of the impossible. These are genes that would never cross in real life. You could never get a flounder to breed with a tomato in real life. You could only do it in the lab. Now why are these mixes potentially dangerous? Because we have been co-evolving with the environment for a hundred thousand years. We have developed a relationship with these foods that we eat that has taken a great deal of time to establish itself. When we are confronted with these new genetic crosses, our bodies have no experience. Also, there is a common misperception that a gene has one trait and when you transfer that gene you are simply transferring that one trait to the new product. That is not true. A gene can do many things and it can do different things in different situations so when you put it in to a new environment you may have very unexpected consequences.”
Genetic engineering of foods is another example of how the multibillion dollar food industry simply ignores public health in its quest for profit. “Consumers have not been out there saying we want a genetically engineered tomato, we want a genetically engineered soybean,” Fox says. “What the companies are telling us is that these products will enable farmers to use less pesticides, less herbicides and perhaps have higher yields. That is not necessarily true. For instance, if you have a corn that is resistant to a certain herbicide such as Roundup it is common sense that you are not going to be using less of it, you are going to be using more of it. USDA studies have found that the yields vary: in some places you may have increased yields and in other situations you may have decreased yields, and the same with pesticide and herbicide use. There is no conclusive evidence that these are universally of benefit. So that really needs to be studied a great deal more, but the fact is that no one is doing this for the consumer. This is being done to enhance the profitability of agriculture, of distribution, of processing, and of marketing. That is why it is being done, not for us.”
I would be remiss if I did not remind the reader of some important history concerning the danger of genetically engineered products. In 1989, a genetically engineered form of L-tryptophan killed 37 Americans and permanently disabled or caused harm in more than 5,000 others with a potentially deadly and painful blood disorder prior to being recalled by the FDA.
Showa Denko, the Japanese manufacturer, had used genetically engineered bacteria to create the supplement. The widely held belief is that the bacteria became contaminated during the recombinant DNA process. Showa Denko has had to pay out well over $2 billion to the victims.
Furthermore, a study by Dr. Marc Lappe in the Journal of Medicinal Food reported decreased levels of highly beneficial phytoestrogens, which are believed to provide protection against heart disease and cancer, in genetically modified soybeans. Other studies report that genetically engineered food will probably result in lower-quality foods with inferior amounts of nutrition. For example, cow milk that has been injected with genetically engineered bovine growth hormone has greater levels of pus, bacteria and fat.
Water Supply
Most Americans have grown accustomed to an excellent supply of high quality drinking water. For more than a century, treatment of municipal water with chlorine disinfectants has provided protection against disease-causing microorganisms. Private wells are usually tested periodically to assure quality standards.
However, a larger problem is looming: the industrial pollution of drinking-water supplies. Hundreds of thousands of industrial plants discharge grit, asbestos, phosphates, nitrates, mercury, lead, caustic soda, sulfur, sulfuric acid, oils, and petrochemicals into many of the waterways from which we eventually drink. Treatment plants designed to handle human wastes are unable to remove many of these more toxic, chemically complex, and sometimes unstable substances. Ironically, one of the carcinogens identified as occurring in water results when chlorine mixes with organic matter.
Nationwide, more than 700 chemical pollutants have been identified in public water supplies. Many are believed to cause cancer, birth defects, or other toxic effects. More than 20 scientific studies have documented a consistent link between consumption of trace organic chemical contaminants in drinking water and elevated cancer mortality rates. Parallel failures to protect drinking water quality and to regulate massive discharges of nonbiodegradable industrial wastes forecast a grim future. The response to this dual environmental and health dilemma has been woefully inadequate.
The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments are the government’s attempt to address the issue of water safety. These amendments require that consumers receive more information from water suppliers and state agencies about the quality of their drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued drinking water standards for more than 80 contaminants, and established pollutant-specific minimum testing schedules for public water systems.
Organic Foods
The organic food industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. It has grown about 20 percent a year for the past 7 years. Dr. Elson Haas, a practicing integrative medicine physician and director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Rafael, California, tells about the many benefits of organic food. In several studies, he says, organic foods are shown to have higher levels of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. For example, flavonoids, which are plant by-products effective in preventing cancer, heart disease, and a whole host of other diseases, are found in higher levels in organic produce. Flavonoids work by protecting cells from free radical damage.
Also there is the taste factor; organic foods are more flavorful. By eating organic, we are preventing potential health problems that may be caused by pesticides and other toxic chemicals. Doctor Haas continues: “I think also by supporting organics we are basically supporting an industry and saying we don’t want so many chemicals in our food, we don’t want so many chemicals in our environment. We are helping independent farmers, we are protecting the soil, we are protecting the water quality, and we are protecting the animals. We are protecting our future.”
Eating organically grown food is the best way to reduce the amount of toxins entering the body. Remember, these toxins are not limited to pesticides, but also include heavy metals like mercury and lead, as well as solvents like benzene and toluene. Heavy metals cause damage to the nervous system, play a role in multiple sclerosis, and are associated with lower IQ. Solvents have been proven to harm white blood cells, thereby weakening the immune system.
In one study reported by the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences in February 2005, rats given organic food were considerably healthier than rats given conventionally grown produce. They were demonstrably healthier, had better sleeping patterns, possessed a stronger immune system, and were less overweight.
Basic Nutrition
Nutrition is the way the body makes use of foods to meet its needs for growth, repair, and maintenance. There are six major groups of nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. Along with an understanding of these basic nutrients, you also need to be aware of the air you breathe, the balance of enzymes in your body, and the function of antioxidants in helping your body to combat disease and degenerative processes. Your body needs all of these nutrients every day. How much you need of each depends on your health as well as your energy needs.
Energy may be why we need food, but it isn’t necessarily why we eat the way we eat. When it comes to nourishing our bodies, many of us follow the dictates of myths, fads, or bizarre and exotic diets. We all know the proper kind of gas for a car and the best kind of food for our cat or dog. We may know our carburetors and our Siamese, but we don’t know ourselves.
Information about good nutrition abounds. Yet many people don’t bother to find out more about it. Some simply don’t know where to look or whom to trust. The following chapters should help point the way and begin the journey toward a more healthful life.
