Q & A of the Month

October 2007

What are GMO foods?

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are foods that have had their DNA altered to make them more resilient. Typically the crop is modified to make it herbicide or pesticide resistant. This involves taking the genetic material from one plant, bacteria, fungus, or animal and merging it into the desired crop. This creates a stronger plant to withstand tougher growing conditions.

Why are GMO™s bad?

• Creating a plant that is herbicide resistant allows for cultivators to spray the crop with more chemicals, which in turn absorb into the plant. This creates fruits, vegetables and grains with a higher chemical toxicity level.
• Rats fed GMO foods developed liver and intestinal disease and had higher death rates. They also had higher rates of infertility.
• There is no long-term testing of these foods. Ultimately, we do not know how GMO foods affect us long term and how they can change our world.
• People who have food allergies are unsuspectingly eating contaminated foods. If you have a peanut allergy and you eat a soy product that has been genetically altered to include a peanut gene, you are at risk for having an allergic reaction.
• Some GMO foods can also produce their own pesticides. Every cell of the plant produces an insect-killing toxin, which we then ingest. In essence, we eat pesticides every time we have a meal, even if we wash our produce well.
• There is no labeling of what is real food and what is GMO. 90% of all corn and soy is GMO. The majority of the food that you buy in the regular grocery store is GMO.

What can we do?

• Buy organic as much as possible. Organic foods cannot be genetically modified
• Get involved with the movement for labeling laws. Europe reached the tipping point in April 1999 and within a single week, virtually all major manufacturers publicly committed to stop using GM ingredients in their European brands.
• For more information on GMO foods go to www.responsibletechnology.org

Previous Q and A

Q: I just read an article about Vitamin D and its potential for cancer prevention. How much should I be taking? I thought it was toxic in high doses?

A: Over the last 2 years, there have been a number of research studies pointing to the beneficial effects of Vitamin D. Most notably, is the effect on bone health and cancer prevention. The study published in the June 2007 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stated that Vitamin D cut the risk of several types of cancer by 60% overall, including breast, colon, lung, and blood cancers.

In addition to helping to strengthen bone and prevent cancers, Vitamin D is also important in brain health, specifically depression. This may be the reason some people get the blues during the winter season. They may be not getting enough sun and, consequently, enough Vitamin D.

Vitamin D comes from 2 sources: plant (D2) and animal (D3). Most multi-vitamins have D2, but the active form is D3. Our bodies can make Vitamin D3 from sunlight, but because we spend less time in the sun and use various sunblocks, we are not getting enough Vitamin D, even here in sunny Southern California.

We recommend adding 1000-2000IU of Vitamin D3 to your normal supplement regime. Because it is a fat soluble vitamin, there is a toxic level. However, the toxicity level is reached after supplementing 25,000IU a day for months.

There is a blood test available that measures your Vitamin D levels and can help you decide if you need to supplement. Ask your Restoration Health team for further details.