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What Happened to Our Food?

July 12, 2019

To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Food is supposed to be for sustenance – but instead of giving us the building blocks for health and life, food today is perhaps our most toxic daily exposure. The quality of our food is directly tied to the quality of our health, and changes in our food supply since World War II have resulted in a significant increase in inflammation, infertility, cancer, birth defects, infections, and neurologic diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It is no longer true that all you have to do to be healthy is to eat a low glycemic diet, exercise, and balance your hormones.

A Brief History – Patented Herbicide

Man spraying herbicide in non-organic garden causing food contamination

What happened? The decline of the quality of our food production began with the end of WWII, as weapons manufacturers looked for another market to sell the nitrogen that had been used in weapons production. Farmers began to use this to fertilize their crops, neglecting proper care of the soil. This caused nutrient deficiencies in the soil that led to more weed growth, which became quite problematic for farmers. Instead of returning to proper soil stewardship, which naturally controls weed growth, they turned to the use of pesticides. In 1964, glyphosate was patented as a descaling agent used to clean out mineral deposits from water pipes. Glyphosate was accidentally found to kill weeds and, in 1969, it was patented as an herbicide under the name Roundup.

Glyphosate – Beyond Pesticides

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum chelating agent, which means that it grabs onto mineral ions (calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, etc.) and makes them soluble in water so that they wash away. It is very effective at pulling minerals and vitamins not only out of the soil to which it is applied, but out of microorganisms, plants, animals, and humans. Why is that bad? Enzymes are proteins that catalyze biological reactions within the body. These enzymes require cofactors like vitamins and minerals in order to accomplish the reactions which support life. If the cofactors are absent because they have been chelated out by glyphosate, the normal enzymatic reactions that support life, including reactions such as protein synthesis, fat and carbohydrate metabolism, and DNA repair cannot occur. Dr. Arden Anderson, an expert in this field, refers to these vitamin and trace mineral cofactors as the ignition keys that activate the enzymes; “If the key is deactivated or removed, the enzyme cannot function any more than can your car start without the key in the ignition.”

When trace minerals are removed, an organism becomes weakened and can no longer resist pathogens. This is actually the main way in which glyphosate kills plants – it weakens the immune system so that the plant can no longer resist attack by pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Glyphosate also kills beneficial bacteria in the soil and in the gut of animals and humans, allowing overgrowth of harmful bacteria. In fact, glyphosate was patented as an antimicrobial in 2010.

Genetically Engineered Crops

Man in coveralls and gloves examining corn crops in field due to food contamination and GMO contamination

The other perhaps even more sinister side of the use of glyphosate is the development of genetically engineered crops. Genetic engineering of crops is not the same as plant breeding. It is, rather, the introduction of foreign DNA into the plant genome that codes for an insecticide, fungicide, or confers resistance to the application of glyphosate. This foreign DNA is introduced into plant cells by infection with a viral vector attached to a gene for antibiotic resistance, necessary for crop developers to identify the plants that have taken up the foreign genetic material. The plant, then, is able to produce its own chemicals to resist attack by insects, fungi, herbicides, or pesticides. The goal was to decrease crop damage and increase yield, but instead, genetic modification has led to more resistant pathogens, which has actually resulted in an increase in the application of pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides, lower crop yield, horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance to gut bacteria, and further nutritional impoverishment.

Becoming a Smarter Consumer – In Conclusion

Unfortunately, when you or another animal eats that plant, or you eat an animal that has dined on those plants, you are consuming not only the new genetic material and the proteins for which it codes (insecticide, herbicides, or fungicide) but you are also consuming more pesticides/herbicides which have been sprayed on those plants. Since the proteins that are encoded by the inserted gene are completely foreign, your immune system reacts, beginning with inflammation in the lining of your intestine. Since you consume foods containing these foreign proteins nearly every day, your body is in a state of chronic inflammation, which leads to diseases like cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune diseases, arthritis, heart disease, and dementia.

mature man shopping for in season fruits and vegetables at farmers market for non-contaminated food

With this sort of daily toxic exposure, how can you expect to remain healthy? A change in this system will only succeed if it comes from the consumer and spreads upward. Remember that your most powerful vote comes at the grocery store with the money that you spend on food – please vote daily to stock the shelves with wholesome food.

* This information was adapted from a lecture by Arden Anderson DO, MSPH, Ph.D. at the AMMG 2013 conference in Hollywood, FL

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Additional Resources

4 Dos and Don’ts for Eating Healthy While Traveling

Healthy Snacks to Get You Through the Day

7 Tips To Make Any Meal Healthier

Vitamins That Can Improve Your Health And Help You Lose Weight

The Role of Vitamins and Minerals as Micronutrients

Achieving Healthy Weight Loss: The Problem with Fad Diets

What Are Processed Foods & Why Are They Dangerous?

Building a Nutritional Plan: Food for Weight Loss

Contributor: Julie McCallen, M.D. President of Cenegenics Denver

Dr. Julie McCallen is the President of Cenegenics Denver. She is board-certified in Family Medicine, a member of the Endocrine Society, the International Hormone Society, American Academy of Family Physicians, and the Age Management Medicine Group. After earning an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Cornell University, Dr. McCallen received her MD from the University of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine in 1990. She completed her residency in Family Medicine at the University of Wyoming-Casper in 1993.

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