The Wide-Ranging Influence of Gut Microbes on Your Mental and Physical Health
September 05 2012
By Dr. Mercola
Story at-a-glance
Ninety percent of the genetic material in your body is NOT yours. It is from the nearly 100 trillion bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microorganisms that compose your microflora
Your microflora influence your genetic expression, your immune system, weight, mental health, memory, and your risk of numerous chronic and acute diseases, from diabetes to cancer
It is becoming increasingly clear that destroying your gut flora with antibiotics and poor diet is a primary factor in rising disease rates. Recent research suggests intestinal inflammation may play a crucial role in the development of certain cancers
Avoiding antibiotics (including those from conventionally-raised meats and rBGH-laced milk), adhering to a low-sugar diet, along with plenty of unpasteurized fermented foods and/or a high-quality probiotic supplement, are crucial elements for restoring and maintaining both your gut’s inner ecosystem and your overall health. Make sure to avoid both conventionally-raised meat and milk laced with rBGH
There are 100 trillion cells in your body, but 90% of the genetic material is not yours. It is from the bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microorganisms, i.e. your microflora. Gut microbes are big in the news lately, as researchers continue to discover the important roles these tiny organisms play in your overall health and well-being. We now know that your microflora influence your:
Genetic expression
Immune system
Weight, and
Risk of numerous chronic and acute diseases, from diabetes to cancer
Most recently, research has shown that a certain set of these microbes may actually influence the activity of genes in your brain – and the parts they play are not small parts. They may work to manipulate your behavior, and your memory as well.
Microbes Manipulate Your Mind
According to a recent article in The Guardian1, certain species of gut bacteria have been found to influence gene activity in your brain. Some of this research was published in 2011.2Mice lacking gut bacteria were found to engage in “high-risk behavior,” and this altered behavior was accompanied by neurochemical changes in the mouse brain.
According to the authors, microbiota (your gut flora) may play a role in the communication between your gut and your brain, and:
“Acquisition of intestinal microbiota in the immediate postnatal period has a defining impact on the development and function of the gastrointestinal, immune, neuroendocrine and metabolic systems. For example, the presence of gut microbiota regulates the set point for hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity.”
But they also discovered other differences between the mice with normal gut flora and those lacking gut bacteria. When examining the animals’ brains, they discovered a number of genetic alterations in the germ-free mice. According to The Guardian:
“Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was significantly up-regulated, and the 5HT1A serotonin receptor sub-type down-regulated, in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. The gene encoding the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor was also down-regulated in the amygdala.
All three genes have previously been implicated in emotion and anxiety-like behaviors.
BDNF is a growth factor that is essential for proper brain development, and a recent study showed that deleting the BDNF receptor TrkB alters the way in which newborn neurons integrate into hippocampal circuitry and increases anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Serotonin receptors, which are distributed widely throughout the brain, are well known to be involved in mood, and compounds that activate the 5HT1A subtype also produce anxiety-like behaviors.
The finding that the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor down-regulated in the amygdala is particularly interesting. NMDA receptors are composed of multiple subunits, but those made up of only NR2B subunits are known to be critical for the development and function of the amygdala, which has a well established role in fear and other emotions, and in learning and memory. Drugs that block these receptors have been shown to block the formation of fearful memories and to reduce the anxiety associated with alcohol withdrawal in rodents.”
for the rest of the article, go to: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/05/microbes-manipulate-your-mind.aspx?e_cid=20120905_DNL_artNew_1
Microwaves:
Microwaving — Dangers to Your Food and You
Overview
Microwave ovens are in 90% of American homes. However, the micro-oven manufacturers, Washington City politics, and plain old human nature are suppressing the facts and evidence. Because of this, people are continuing to microwave their food without knowing the effects or dangers of doing so. One short-term study found significant and disturbing changes in the blood of individuals consuming microwaved milk and vegetables. All foods that were processed through the microwave ovens caused changes in the blood of the volunteers. Hemoglobin levels decreased and over all white cell levels and cholesterol levels increased. Lymphocytes decreased.
In Dr. Lita Lee’s book, “Health Effects of Microwave Radiation – Microwave Ovens,” and in the March and September 1991 issues of Earthletter, she stated that every microwave oven leaks electro-magnetic radiation, harms food and converts substances cooked in it to dangerous organ-toxic and carcinogenic products. Micro ovens are far more harmful than previously imagined. Listed are the many findings of the German and Russian investigators. Here are just a few:
Cancer Causing Effects — Creation of a ‘binding effect’ to radioactivity in the atmosphere, creation of cancer-causing agents within protein hydrolysate compounds, malfunctions within the lymphatic systems, higher percentage of cancerous cells within the blood serum, cancer-causing free radicals, stomach and intestinal cancerous growths, with a gradual breakdown of the function of the digestive and excretive systems.
Decrease In Food Value — Microwave exposure caused significant decreases in the nutritive value of all foods researched. There was a decrease in bioavailability of B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics in all foods, a loss of 60 to 90% of the vital energy field of all tested foods, and a marked acceleration of structural disintegration in all foods.
Biological Effects of Exposure — Breakdown of the human “life-energy field,” degeneration and circuit breakdowns within the front portion of the brain where thought and higher functions reside, loss of balance, long term cumulative loss of vital energy and long-lasting residual effects.
In America, neither universities nor the federal government have conducted any tests concerning the effects on our bodies from eating microwaved foods. Isn’t that odd?
Ten reasons to throw out your Microwave oven (taken from research):
1. Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term, permanent, brain damage by ‘shorting out” electrical impulses in the brain (de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue).
2. The human body cannot metabolize (breakdown) the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3. Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4. The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual (long term, permanent) within the human body.
5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.
6. The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.
7. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths (tumors). This may explain the rapid increased rate of colon cancer in America.
8. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.
9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and serum alterations.
10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.
{Health Freedom Resources, Public Awareness Announcement #1, June 2000, Radiation Ovens, The Proven Dangers of Microwaves.” Also information from the Forensic Research Document, prepared by William P. Kopp, A.R.E.C. Research Operations. TO61-7R10/10-77F05. Written by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell. healthfree.com, Apr. 2003} Editor’s comment: The use of artificial microwave transmissions for subliminal psychological control, ‘brainwashing,’ has also been proven. Clinical experiments have been written up by Drs. Luria and Perov.
Microwave cooking is an important cause of ill health, and its effects are mostly ignored. The violent change that microwaving causes to the food molecules forms new life forms called radiolytic compounds, which are mutations that are unknown in the natural world. Ordinary cooking also causes the formation of some radiolytic compounds, but microwaving cooking causes a much greater number. This then causes deterioration in your blood and immune system. In addition, it was found that the number of leukocytes increases after eating microwaved food, something which hematologists take very seriously because this is often a sign of highly harmful effects, such as poisoning. Cholesterol levels increase after eating microwaved foods. In summary: Blanc and Hertel found that eating microwaved food: increases cholesterol, increases white blood cell numbers, decreases red blood cell numbers, and causes production of radiolytic compounds (compounds unknown in nature). Editor’s comment: For those who are interested, there is a long list of effects from microwaves observed by Russian forensic teams.
I see clients for sessions of kinesiology (muscle testing), and correct the problems I find. I found that when ‘fixing’ or ‘correcting’ the electrical circuits of those who ate microwaved foods, they soon were out of balance again. However, this was not true of those who did not eat microwaved food. I gave this a higher priority than any of the things that are normally considered as health risks, such as alcohol or cigarettes. I began to tell my client on the first visit that under NO circumstance were they to ever do microwaved cooking again. David Bridgman, a kinesiologist with many years experience said, “Of all the people I test for allergies, so far 99.9% show severe sensitivity to any microwaved food.” Be aware that many restaurants use microwaved cooking, even ‘health food’ restaurants. Some of the information from this Web site on microwaved food is published in an eight volume lawyer’s encyclopedia which is used by lawyers who sue in medical cases. Some of this can be seen this Web site for those who are interested. Also much of the information on this Web site is from the 1994 edition of Acres magazine, USA, by Tom Valentine. Information on irradiated foods and labeling laws may be found at Public Citizen – www.citizen.org. Irradiation is not the same as microwaving, but they are similar in that both use unnatural frequencies to alter food.
Our society runs pretty much on money, and there is no money in telling people to stop using microwave cooking. The multinational companies who make microwaves make a lot of money from the sale of microwave ovens. There is, however, the satisfaction and happiness from knowing that you are saving people’s lives by spreading the word to stop eating microwaved foods.
{“Microwave Cooking is Killing You!” by Stephanie Relfe, B.Sc. (Syd.) on www.relfe.com/microwave.html, 2003}
for more information, go to: http://www.jrussellshealth.org/microwaves.html
People around the world are noticing that our planet’s weather is dramatically changing. They are also beginning to notice the long lingering trails left behind airplanes that have lead millions to accept the reality of chemtrail/geoengineering programs. Could there be a connection between the trails and our severe weather? While there are many agendas associated with these damaging programs, evidence is now abundant which proves that geoengineering can be used to control weather. In this documentary you will learn how the aerosols being sprayed into our sky are used in conjunction with other technologies to control our weather. While geoengineers maintain that their models are only for the mitigation of global warming, it is now clear that they can be used as a way to consolidate an enormous amount of both monetary and political power into the hands of a few by the leverage that weather control gives certain corporations over the Earth’s natural systems. This of course, is being done at the expense of every living thing on the planet. Directed/Produced by Michael J. Murphy and Produced/Edited by Barry Kolsky.. Written by Michael J. Murphy and Barry Kolsky. www.witwats.co
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEfJO0-cTis
Deepak Chopra: Part 1 -The Real Secret to Staying Healthy for Life
If you want to stay healthy for life, you need to take care of yourself. That’s the conventional wisdom. It’s a frequent guilty reminder when we look in the mirror and realize that we aren’t in the best shape. “I’ve got to start taking better care of myself.”
But the real secret to lifelong good health is actually the opposite: Let your body take care of you. I’m not being contrary. The human body consists of hundreds of billions of cells that function perfectly, and if we were single-celled creatures, immortality would be normal. An amoeba or blue-green algae keeps on living indefinitely by constantly dividing in two to produce the next generation of cells. Absent death from external circumstances, such as being eaten or drying up in the sun, one-celled organisms exist in a state of perpetual well-being.
Instead of being disadvantaged by having many cells instead of one, the human body has made tremendous evolutionary leaps. Our cells have perfected special functions for each organ and tissue. They’ve learned to cooperate with one another by staying in constant communication. An immune system keeps watch on threats from the outside world, and if an injury or disease occurs, the healing system rushes in to repair it.
Modern medicine, for all its advances, knows less than 10 percent of what your body knows instinctively. Humbling as it is to realize, a doctor doesn’t heal his patients. He facilitates the body’s healing system, adding whatever is lacking when self-healing falters. By the same logic, everything you and I do to take care of our bodies is actually just an adjunct to letting our bodies take care of us. Our active role is quite secondary. Yet there is no doubt that it is vital.
What makes it vital is the brain and nervous system. They send a constant stream of messages to the rest of the body, creating a feedback loop of information. One side of the feedback loop runs automatically. The other side supports free will and choice, which means that what you decide to do with your life enters the body’s feedback loop, gets communicated to every cell, and has repercussions. If you ran your body entirely on its automatic processes, you’d be in a coma. As long as you are awake and alive, making choices, you are adding to the feedback loop.
This picture is simple but not simplistic. Despite the incredible complexity of the brain and nervous system, it forms an information highway teeming with messages, and these are either positive (enhancing your health and well-being) or negative (injurious to health and well-being). Your body will take care of you for life if you maximize the one and minimize the other. I doubt that anyone would seriously disagree with that proposition, but then we reach a fork in the road. Modern medicine looks at the body’s feedback loop almost entirely in physical terms. The subjective world of thoughts, feelings, hopes, wishes, and dreams is discounted. If that world intrudes, as it does in depression, for example, the conventional solution is still physical — take an antidepressant.
The other road is holistic, which doesn’t deny the physical but refuses to discount the subjective world. The body doesn’t recognize that there is a fork in the road. A chemical signal sent from the brain fits into a receptor site in the outer membrane of the cell wall. The entire feedback loop runs on that mechanism, and as far as the cell is concerned, there is no difference between a message that began as an emotion or mood and one that began as growth hormone or estrogen. Your body couldn’t survive a single day without being holistic.
Fixating on the physicalist approach, modern medicine has constructed a map to health that puts almost the whole emphasis on physical measures. Exercise is physical, obviously, but so is proper nutrition. Although we take it for granted, sanitation is a physical measure that has probably done more to increase human life span than any kind of drug or surgery. Avoiding toxins is physical, and beyond not smoking and overusing alcohol, there is a growing awareness that environmental toxins we take for granted because our exposure is minuscule may still have harmful effects. (These include pesticides, herbicides, and hormones that are routinely introduced into the food chain.)
But if you adhered rigorously to the entire physical side, as beneficial as the results might be, you are not really letting your body take care of you. You are basically minimizing risks. A risk-free life is far from being a healthy life. To begin with, the very word “risk” implies worry, and people who worry about every bite of food, sip of water, the air they breathe, the gym sessions they have missed, and the minutiae of vitamin doses, are not sending positive signals to their cells. A stressful day sends constant negative messaging to the feedback loop, and popping a vitamin pill or choosing whole wheat bread instead of white bread does close to zero to change that.
To let your body take care of you, two things are vital:
1. Create a matrix for a positive lifestyle. You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable.
2. Create the best inner environment for your brain. The brain processes every experience you have, and it must function well in order for the real controller of your life — the mind — to make its best intentions known.
A damning new evidence-based report about genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) has just been published – and it reveals that most of the claims made by the pro-GM camp are nothing more than hot air.
Genetic engineers on genetic modification of food
This comprehensive and fascinating report, published by non-governmental organisation Earth Open Source, is entitled GMO Myths and Truths: An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops.
What makes it so powerful is that two of the authors are genetic engineers – Michael Antoniou PhD, of King’s College London School of Medicine in the UK, and John Fagan PhD, a leading sustainability expert in food system, biosafety, and GMO testing, and founder/chief scientific officer of the Global Id Group.
Dispelling the GM myths
The report effectively dismisses the “far reaching claims” used as the basis for extensive promotion of GMO crops by the biotech industry, governments and government agencies and proponents of GMO technology. It reveals that the exact opposite of the pro-GM claims is true pretty much universally. Most notably, the reports shows that GMOs are associated with hazards to health and the environment – none of which comes as a surprise to those of us who have been following GMO developments closely.
Rather than representing the solution to world hunger, GMOs, according to these authors, not only fail to deal with the problem, but they also distract from its real causes: “Poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, lack of access to land to grow it on”.
Traditional plant breeding outperforms GM
The report provides evidence that conventional plant breeding outperforms GM crops in terms of yield, drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance – all of which confirms the findings of a 30-year study comparing organic with conventional farming methods, including GMOs. GMO-free farming is absolutely able to meet our present and future food needs, without all the risks and damage being wreaked by GMO technology!
The new report also echoes the findings of 400 scientists from 60 countries who concluded, back in 2008, that GMOs were no solution to food shortages in the developing world. This research was detailed in the UN’s International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report.
The 2008 report concluded that GM raises numerous contentious issues for developing countries, such as gene transfer, contamination of organic crops, undermining of local practices, reduced food security and unpredictable or reduced yields.
The biotech industry and government agencies must now be answerable
Opposition to GMO technology can no longer be dismissed as emotional anti-science or pseudoscience. With every uncomfortable truth and dirty trick now exposed by solid science from genetic engineers themselves, GMO food and agriculture now looks less like an impressive, modern technology, and more like a dangerous and foolhardy con trick designed to secure ownership of the world’s food supply for highly unscrupulous and unethical corporations.
Call to Action
Select organically certified foods or others guaranteed to be free of GM ingredients
Support the Californian ballot initiative campaign, which, if it successfully forces mandatory labelling of GM foods in California, has the potential to cause a domino effect across other states in the USA. This is critical because US citizens, without their informed consent, have become the biggest consumers of GM-containing foods anywhere in the world
Let your elected representatives know about this new, comprehensive, evidence-based report written by genetic engineers, and express your concern about the mounting evidence of harm to human health and the environment from GMOs
Stay informed on the GM issue, and share our stories widely. See the summary of our concerns on our Say NO to GM campaign page
Though Mother Nature’s formulas are proprietary, she does not grant patents.
Some of the most powerful medicines on the planet are masquerading around as foods and spices. While they do not lend themselves to being patented, nor will multi-billion dollar human clinical trials ever be funded to prove them efficacious, they have been used since time immemorial to both nourish our bodies, and to prevent and treat disease. So valued were these in ancient times that they were worth their weight in gold, and entire civilizations either rose to great power or collapsed as a result of their relationship to them.
What is even more amazing is that many of these “plant allies” are found growing in our backyards, and often sitting there in our refrigerators and spice racks, neglected and under appreciated. In fact, many of us use these daily unaware that this is why we don’t get sick as often as those who do not incorporate them into their diet. Let’s look at a few examples….
1) Garlic – with the increasing prevalence of multi-drug resistant bacteria and the failure of the conventional, drug-based model to develop effective solutions against them (nor accepting responsibility for creating them), spices have regained their once universal reign as broad spectrum infection-fighters with sometimes life-saving power. Garlic, in fact, has several hundred therapeutic properties, confirmed by a growing body of scientific research, which you can view directly on GreenMedInfo.com.[i] One quick example of garlic’s power, is in killing multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which the mainstream media has termed the “white plague,” roiling the masses with a fear of drug-resistant (but not plant-extract resistant) they are made to believe they are defenseless against. Last year an article was published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal showing that garlic was capable of inhibiting a wide range of multiple drug resistant tuberculosis strains.[ii] The authors concluded “The use of garlic against MDR-TB may be of great importance regarding public health.” Garlic’s anti-infective properties do not end with MDR-TB, as it has been demonstrated to inhibit the following pathogens as well
Amoeba Entamoeba histolytica (parasite)
Cholera
Clostridium
Cytomegalovirus
Dermatophytoses (a type of topical fungal infection)
Haemophilus Influenzae
Helicobacter Pylori
Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1
Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2
Klebsiella
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus A. (MRSA)
Parainfluenza Virus
Peridontal Infection
Pneumococcal Infections
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Streptococcus Mutans
Streptococcus Infections: Group A
Streptococcus Infections: Group B
Streptococcus pyrogenes
Thrush (oral fungal infection)
This amazing list underscores how important it is to keep a supply of garlic close by!
2.)Honey – bees produce a wide range of therapeutic substances beyond honey, e.g. propolis, bee venom, royal jelly, beeswax, bee pollen, etc., but this sweet, sticky stuff that we all love to dip our paw into occasionally, is the most well-known and most copiously consumed of them all – and for good reason, it tastes great! But did you know that this sweet treat is one of nature’s most powerful healing agents, as well? Here is just a smattering of some of honey’s more scientifically researched health benefits and/or applications:
Aspirin-Induced Gastrointestinal Toxicity (honey coats the delicate linings of the stomach, preventing aspirin-induced lesions and bleeding)
Bacterial Infections
Burns
Candida infection (despite the fact that honey contains sugar, it demonstrates anti-fungal properties)
Conjunctivitis
Dental plaque (a recent study showed that Manuka honey was a viable alternative to chemical mouthwash in dissolving dental plaque)[iii]
There are many more uses for honey than covered here. Needless to say, replacing synthetic sweeteners or highly processed sugars or high fructose corn syrup with a moderate amount of honey may be a great preventative health step to take.
3) Apples – an apple a day does in fact keep the doctor away, especially cancer specialists it would seem. For instance, one of the most well-established health benefits of consuming apples is to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. The more apples you consume, the less likely you are to develop this potentially fatal disease. To view the 5 studies that reference this relationship, go to the GreenmedInfo.com apple research page where you will also find 50 other health benefits of apple or apple byproducts (e.g. apple vinegar) consumption which include:
Aging, Reduce Rate
Allergies
Allopecia (Hair Loss)
Diarrhea
Insulin Resistance
Liver Cancer
Radiation Induced Illness
Staphylococcol Infection
4)Sunlight – this one may throw some of you off, but sunlight possesses both energy and information with real, metabolic value and is therefore a source of usable energy for the body – and so, in a very real sense it can be considered a form of food that we consume through our skin by way of its built in, melanin-based “solar panels.” Not only does adequate sunlight exposure result in the production of vitamin D, a hormone-like substance that regulates over 2,000 genes in the human body — and as a result prevents or ameliorates hundreds of vitamin D deficiency associated health conditions – but sunlight exposure itself has a unique set of health benefits not reducible to simply vitamin D production alone. One of the more interesting studies performed on sunlight exposure, based on data gathered from over 100 countries and published earlier this year in the journal Anticancer Research, showed that there was “a strong inverse correlations with solar UVB for 15 types of cancer,” with weaker, though still significant evidence for the protective role of sunlight in 9 other cancers. Here are some additional benefits of sunlight exposure:
Alzheimer’s Disease
Depression
Dopamine Deficiency
Dermatitis
Influenza
Multiple Sclerosis
Psoriasis
5)Turmeric – quite possibly the world’s most important herb. Named “Kanchani,” or literally “Golden Goddess,” in the ancient Indian healing tradition, its healing properties have been deeply appreciated, if not revered for countless centuries. Turmeric has been scientifically documented to have over 500 applications in disease prevention and treatment. It also has been shown to modulate over 150 distinct biological and genetic/epigenetic pathways of value in health, demonstrating a complexity as well as gentleness that no drug on the planet has ever been shown to possess.
As there are too many health conditions that turmeric may benefit to list, we are listing the top 10 as determined by the GreenMedInfo algorithm which calculates both the evidence quantity (number of articles) and evidence quality (human study valued higher than animal, and so on). Also, the number in parentheses denotes the number of studies on the database demonstrating the beneficial relationship.
Diana Reeves was furious when her state legislators caved into threats by Monsanto to sue the state of Connecticut if it passed a GMO labeling law. Lawmakers effectively told Connecticut’s voters, who had clearly expressed overwhelming support for GMO labeling, “oh well.”
Unlike her gutless state legislators who rolled over, Reeves is determined to keep the fight for transparency in GMO ingredients alive – and she’s taking her fight national. She’s started a group called GMO Free USA which plans to pressure food manufacturers into revealing which of their products contain GMOs. The ultimate goal is to organize national boycotts of those companies that refuse to switch to non-GMO ingredients.
GMO Free USA is Reeves’ first foray into activism. The mother of three was on the fast track at a major accounting firm when her son was diagnosed with cancer. She walked away from her job to take care of him.
“I never looked back,” she said. Her son died before he turned five.
“This is one of those things that act as a catalyst, that bring people together,” Reeves said. “You learn to live with it, to try to make some good come of it, to find better ways to channel the grief.”
Having lost one child to disease, and with two daughters who were also suffering from health problems, Reeves became increasingly interested in the relationship between food and health, About 4 or 5 years ago, she began reading about the potential hazards of GMO. “I started sending emails to my friends, telling them to ‘say no to GMOs,” she said. “I was probably driving them all crazy.”
Then a few months ago, a friend introduced her to NonGMO Hartford, which eventually led to her involvement with the Connecticut Right to Know group which was pushing for a state labeling law. She began distributing information, and campaigning for HB 5117, which included a provision for mandatory GMO labeling.
With overwhelming public support for the Connecticut GMO labeling law, Reeves and others were sure it would pass. But at the last minute, under threat of a lawsuit by Monsanto, the bill was eviscerated behind closed doors, and the labeling provision removed before it was voted on by the House.
“I was so angry that our legislators didn’t do their job, that they didn’t stand up to the corporations – especially because the majority of voters wanted this law,” Reeves said.
Just as she had channeled her grief, Reeves now channeled her anger. She decided that if the government wasn’t going to do its job, she would go directly after the food manufacturers.
She started GMO Free USA. The group’s first task is to attract a significant number of like-minded members (5,000+). Once they reach that critical mass, they’ll identify one company per week, and members will bombard that company with emails. The emailers will express concern about the health risks of GMOs, ask the company if they are sourcing GMO ingredients, and express their intent to boycott their products unless the GMOs are removed.
“We’re going to hit them from every angle,” Reeves said. “It’s going to be thousands of people speaking directly to food manufacturers.”
In order to make their voices heard by companies with very high sales volume, Reeves said they will need to mobilize thousands of people to act independently. So they’re trying to find a minimum of 5000 people who will commit to the campaign, before they begin emailing food manufacturers.
“The more people who join this consumer email initiative, the more powerful the campaign will be,” she said.
Anyone who wants to get involved in this national campaign can sign up on Facebook or Yahoo Groups.
New Evidence Against These Cancer-Causing Foods – And the Massive Cover-Up Effort
June 09 2012
Story at-a-glance
The World According to Monsanto explains how the biotech giant threatens to destroy the agricultural biodiversity that has served mankind for thousands of years
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup, has been deemed a major health hazard to the environment, and to animal- and human health. A French research team that has studied Roundup extensively has concluded it is toxic to human cells, and likely carcinogenic to humans
A recent safety review, which determined that “the available literature shows no solid evidence linking glyphosate exposure to adverse developmental or reproductive effects,” was in fact funded by Monsanto itself
Here is the link for the video: “The World According to Monsanto”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Rml_k005tsU
By Dr. Mercola
The World According to Monsanto is an absolutely brilliant documentary that should be on the required viewing list of virtually everyone on the planet. While it’s already a few years old, the information it contains will remain current until we stop allowing genetically engineered crops to be planted altogether.
The film explains how the biotech giant Monsanto threatens to destroy the agricultural biodiversity that has served mankind for thousands of years. I must warn you though; it may bring tears to your eyes as you learn how they have decimated so many lives and part of the environment through their morally bankrupt behavior.
A Hostile Takeover of Our Food Supply
For millennia, farmers have saved seeds from season to season. Genetically engineered seeds have completely altered the agricultural landscape, as these seeds are patented, which means farmers must purchase new seed for each planting season and are not allowed to share or save any of the seed.
Doing so equates to patent infringement, and Monsanto has become notorious for tracking down and prosecuting farmers who end up with patented crops in their fields without having paid the prerequisite fees—even when their conventional or organic crops are contaminated by unwanted genetically engineered (GE) seed spread by wind or pollinating insects from neighboring farms that grow GE crops.
To do this, Monsanto relies on a shadowy army of private investigators and agents who secretly videotape and photograph farmers, store owners, and co-ops. They infiltrate community meetings, and gather information from informants about farming activities. Some Monsanto agents pretend to be surveyors. Others confront farmers on their land and try to pressure them to sign papers giving Monsanto access to their private records. Farmers call them the “seed police” and use words such as “Gestapo” and “Mafia” to describe their tactics.
For nearly all of its history the United States Patent and Trademark Office refused to grant patents on seeds, viewing them as life-forms with too many variables to be patented.
But in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for seed patents in a five-to-four decision, laying the groundwork for a handful of corporations to begin taking control of the world’s food supply. Since the 1980s, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetic engineering and modification of seeds; many, if not most of which are “Roundup Ready,” meaning they can withstand otherwise lethal doses of the herbicide Roundup, also created and sold by Monsanto.
Most Commonly Used Herbicide Found to be Carcinogenic
As if the health hazards of genetically altered food crops weren’t bad enough, glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, has also been deemed a major health hazard both to the environment, and to animal- and human health. It is toxic to human cells, and according to a French research team, it is also carcinogenic. The team has studied the herbicide extensively, and published at least five articles on glysphosate’s potential for wide-ranging environmental and human harmi. Their research shows that glyphosate:
Causes cell cycle dysregulation, which is a hallmark of tumor cells and human cancers
Inhibits DNA synthesis in certain parts of the cell cycle—the process by which cells reproduce that underlies the growth and development of all living organisms
Impedes the hatchings of sea urchins. (Sea urchins were used because they constitute an appropriate model for the identification of undesirable cellular and molecular targets of pollutants.) The delay was found to be dose dependent on the concentration of Roundup. The surfactant polyoxyethylene amine (POEA), another major component of Roundup, was also found to be highly toxic to the embryos when tested alone, and could therefore be a contributing factor
Monsanto-Funded Research Finds “No Evidence” of Harm from Roundup
It doesn’t matter that the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health recently published “research” to the contraryii, the French team says―the world needs to know the truth about who did that “safety-finding” research. It was funded by none other than Monsanto itself! Is it any wonder they came to the conclusion that:
“[T]he available literature shows no solid evidence linking glyphosate exposure to adverse developmental or reproductive effects at environmentally realistic exposure concentrations.”
The new Monsanto-funded safety research actually used the French team’s original research to debunk the evidence that Roundup could have human or environmental safety issues. And that didn’t sit well with the French team, which was so angered they wrote a detailed response to Monsanto’s article, accusing the researchers of minimalizing the French group’s work and publishing misleading information.
One of the Monsanto-backed team’s major flaws was their total disregard for the scientific context within which their glysphosate research was performed―namely, the DNA-damaging and carcinogenic potential of the chemical.
Furthermore:
“The second flaw was the claim that their results were “not environmentally relevant” (repeated 5 times in the article), despite the fact that the French researchers were able to demonstrate toxicity in 100% of the individual cells at short exposure time below the usage concentration (20 mM) of the herbicide in present agricultural applications. They elaborated on this point further:
“Therefore, regarding the considerable amount of glyphosate-based product sprayed worldwide, the concentration of Roundup in every single micro droplet is far above the threshold concentration that would activate the cell cycle checkpoint. (2) The effects we demonstrate were obtained by a short exposure time (minutes) of the cells to glyphosate-based products, and nothing excludes that prolonged exposure to lower doses may also have effects.
Since glyphosate is commonly found present in drinking water in many countries, low doses with long exposure by ingestion are a fact. The consequences of this permanent long term exposure remain to be further investigated but cannot just be ignored,” GreenMedInfo.com reportsiii:
Monsanto Guilty of Falsely Advertising Roundup as Safe
for more, go to: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/06/09/monsanto-roundup-found-to-be-carcinogenic.aspx?e_cid=20120609_DNL_art_1
Pneumonia Vaccine Shown to Actually Increase Bacterial Infections It Is Supposed to Prevent
By Dr. Mercola
It’s estimated that nearly one in 7 U.S. adults have been diagnosed with sinusitis in the past 12 months, which occurs when the mucous membranes in your nose and sinuses become irritated.i In most of these cases (90-98%) a virus is the cause, whereas in 2-10% of cases, a bacterial infection is also present.
These bacterial infections are becoming increasingly drug-resistant and therefore harder and harder to treat, which is why the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently issued new treatment guidelines for sinusitis.
Alarmingly, however, buried on page 16 of their report is the acknowledgement that certain hard-to-treat bacterial infections in children are on the rise because of the widespread use of the conjugated pneumococcal vaccines!
Story at-a-glance
Certain hard-to-treat bacterial infections in children are on the rise because of the widespread use of antibiotics and the conjugated pneumococcal vaccines, including Prevnar
A report by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) revealed that the presence of certain types of bacteria in cases of upper respiratory tract infections has “markedly increased” since the widespread use of pneumonia vaccines
Pneumonia bacterial strains may change one DNA letter about every 15 weeks, a rate of mutation similar to that of the common antibiotic-resistant superbug MRSA
The overuse of antibiotics for ear and sinus infections has also caused these pneumonia bacteria serotypes to become resistant to antibiotics
Overall, your best defense against any disease is having a robust healthy immune system
to read more, go to:
By Dr. Mercola
It’s estimated that nearly one in 7 U.S. adults have been diagnosed with sinusitis in the past 12 months, which occurs when the mucous membranes in your nose and sinuses become irritated.i In most of these cases (90-98%) a virus is the cause, whereas in 2-10% of cases, a bacterial infection is also present.
These bacterial infections are becoming increasingly drug-resistant and therefore harder and harder to treat, which is why the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently issued new treatment guidelines for sinusitis.
Alarmingly, however, buried on page 16 of their report is the acknowledgement that certain hard-to-treat bacterial infections in children are on the rise because of the widespread use of the conjugated pneumococcal vaccines!
Promoting soy foods as health foods while ignoring the dangers of soy and soy derivatives should be considered a crime against humanity. If you think this statement is too extreme, read this article to the end, and then see what you think!
The dangers of soy are thoroughly documented in the scientific literature, which makes it hard to believe that many health and fitness communities and counselors, and most health food stores, still promote soy products as ultra-healthy foods.
Hopefully this harmful misrepresentation of soy foods will begin to change as the dangers of soy become better known.
A Summary of the Dangers of Soy
– Soybeans and soy products contain high levels of phytic acid, which inhibits assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc.
– Soaking, sprouting, and long, slow cooking do not neutralize phytic acid.
– Diets high in phytic acid have been shown to cause growth problems in children.
– Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may causepancreatic disorders.
– Test animals showed stunted growth when fed trypsin inhibitors from soy.
– The plant estrogens found in soy, called phytoestrogens, disrupt endocrine function, that is, the proper functioning of the glands that produce hormones, and have the potential to cause infertility as well as to promote breast cancer in adult women.
– Hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer may be caused by soy phytoestrogens.
– Infant soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
– Soy has been found to increase the body’s need for vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
– Fragile soy proteins are exposed to high temperatures during processing in order to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein, making them unsuitable for human digestion.
– This same process results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine andhighly carcinogenic nitrosamines. (Doesn’t sound like anything anyone would want to eat, does it?)
– MSG, (also called free glutamic acid), a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing. Many soy products have extra MSG added as well. (See video on the dangers of Aspartame, MSG’s chemical first cousin.)
– Soy foods contain elevated levels of toxic aluminum, which negatively effects the nervous system the kidneys and has been implicated in the onset of Alzheimer’s.
If this list of the dangers of soy isn’t enough to make you run out the door of your local health food store, keep reading. It gets worse.
Feeding Babies Infant Soy Formula Is Like Giving Them Birth Control Pills
– It’s been found that babies given infant soy formulas have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen than babies fed milk-based formulas.
– Babies fed exclusively on infant soy formula are receiving the estrogenic equivalent (based on body weight) of at least four or five birth control pills per day! You read that right. Four or five birth control pills per day! Here’s the reference so you can check this out for yourself. [Irvine, C. et al., “The Potential Adverse Effects of Soybean Phytoestrogens in Infant Feeding”, New Zealand Medical Journal May 24, 1995, p. 318.] By contrast, dairy-based infant formula contains almost no phytoestrogens, nor does human milk, even when the mother eats soy products. (Sally Fallon & Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.)
– There has been an increase of delayed physical maturation among boys, including lack of development of sexual organs.
– Conversely, many girls today show signs of puberty, such as breast development and pubic hair, before the age of eight, and some even before the age of three.
– Both of these abnormal conditions have been linked to the use of soy formulas as well as to exposure to “environmental estrogens” such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and DDE (dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene)a breakdown product of DDT.
Would you want to knowingly expose your tiny infant to the dangers of soy formula?
But Don’t Oriental Cultures Eat Lots of Soy?
It seems that historically, Oriental cultures consumed mostly traditionally fermented soy products such as miso, tempeh, natto, shoyu and tamari. (Tofu is not fermented, and falls into the dangerous soy foods category.) They consumed these soy foods in small amounts, as a condiment.
– Soy foods account for only 1.5 percent of calories in the Chinese diet, researchers found. (1977 Chang KC)
– The actual soybean consumed today is not the same one used by traditional Oriental cultures.
Problems with Soy Protein Isolate
– Furthermore, modern soy foods are very different from those consumed traditionally in Asia. Most are made with soy protein isolate (SPI), which is a protein-rich powder extracted by an industrial process from the waste product of soy oil manufacturing. It is the industry’s way of making a profit on a waste product. The industry spent over 30 years and billions of dollars developing SPI.
– In feeding studies, SPI caused many deficiencies in rats. That soy causes deficiencies in B12 and zinc is widely recognized, but the range of deficiencies was surprising.
– Although SPI is added to many foods, it was never granted GRAS status, meaning “Generally Recognized as Safe”. The FDA only granted GRAS status to SPI for use as a binder in cardboard boxes. During the processing of soy, many additional toxins are formed, including nitrates (which are carcinogens) and a toxin called lysinoalanine. It was concerns about lysinoalanine in SPI that led the FDA to deny GRAS status for SPI as a food additive.
– In spite of all these dangers of soy protein isolate, SPI is the basic ingredient of soy infant formula. The FDA even allows a health claim for foods containing 6.25 grams SPI per serving.
Scientific Studies Showing Adverse Effects of Dietary Soy
To give you an idea of how condemning these studies are, here are just a few summaries. There are over 50 more!
1986
Fort P and others. Breast feeding and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in children. J Am Coll Nutr 1986;5(5):439-441. Twice as many soy-fed children developed diabetes as those in a control group that was breast fed or received milk-based formula. It was based on this study that the American Academy of Pediatrics took a position of opposition to the use of soy infant formula. This objection was later dropped after the AAP received substantial grants from the Infant Formula Council.
1994
Hawkins NM and others. Potential aluminium toxicity in infants fed special infant formula. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 1994;19(4):377-81 (1994).Researchers found aluminum concentrations of 534 micrograms/L in soy formula, as compared to 9.2 micrograms/L in breast milk. The authors concluded that infants may be at risk from aluminium toxicity when consuming formula containing more than 300 micrograms/L.
1999
Sheehan DM and Doerge DR, Letter to Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305) February 18, 1999. A strong letter of protest from two government researchers at the National Center for Toxicological Research urging that soy protein carry a warning label rather than a health claim.
1999
White L. Association of High Midlife Tofu Consumption with Accelerated Brain Aging. Plenary Session #8: Cognitive Function, The Third International Soy Symposium, Program, November 1999, page 26. An ongoing study of Japanese Americans living in Hawaii found a significant statistical relationship between two or more servings of tofu per week and “accelerated brain aging.” Those participants who consumed tofu in mid life had lower cognitive function in late life and a greater incidence of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
2001
Strom BL and others. Exposure to soy-based formula in infancy and endocrinological and reproductive outcomes in young adulthood. JAMA 2001 Nov 21;286(19):2402-3. Although reported in the media as a vindication of soy infant formula, the study actually found that soy-fed infants had more reproductive problems and more asthma as adults.
The FDA Had the Scientific Information about the Dangers of Soy but Chose to Ignore It
You might think that people probably just didn’t know about the toxic effects of soybeans, that the food industry and the FDA must have just been misinformed about the supposed benefits, and very real dangers, of soy. Unfortunately for the FDA’s credibility, this was not the case.
If you simply do a search on ‘soybean’ at the Poisonous Plant Database of the United States FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, you can see this information yourself.
Right there in black and white you’ll find 288 studies on soy, many focused on the toxic properties and effects of soybeans. It’s not very easy to understand or get access to the actual studies, but it is cause for great concern that the FDA had this information and knowingly chose to ignore the dangers, just as it has done with so many other additives and pharmaceuticals.
It’s tragic to think of the human suffering that could have been avoided had the FDA just been more cautious and listened to their scientific advisors.
And it’s mind-boggling to think that the very federal agency whose mandate is, among other things, “to promote and protect the public health, to monitor products for continued safety after they are in use, and to help the public get the accurate, science-based information needed to improve health,” could knowingly do the apparent opposite.
This is one more example that highlights the need to educate yourself by finding good sources of information to base your health and diet decisions on, rather than relying on the FDA’s stamp of approval.
More Confirmation on the Dangers of Soy: Medical Conditions Possibly Attributable to Soy Consumption
Asthma
Chronic Fatigue
Depression
Diabetes
Heart Arrhythmia
Heart or Liver Disease
Infertility/Reproductive Problems
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Learning Disabilities/ADD/ADHD
Pancreatic Disorders
Premature or Delayed Puberty
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Thyroid Conditions:
Auto-Immune Thyroid Disorders (Graves’ or Hashimoto’s Disease)
Goiter
Hypothyroidism
Hyperthyroidism
Thyroid Nodules
Thyroid Cancer
Other thyroid disorders
Uterine Cancer
Weight Gain
Weston Price Foundation
Symptoms of Disorders Possibly Attributable to Soy
Always feeling cold or warm
Anemia
Behavioral problems
Brittle nails
Eczema
Hair thinning or loss
Hyperactivity
Learning deficiencies
Lethargy or low blood pressure
Sore bones and joints
Watery or swelling eyes
Weston Price Foundation
Do You Still Think We’re Exaggerating the Dangers of Soy?
When there is a pretty good possibility that something is harmful, as is the case with soy, common sense dictates that it’s better to avoid it!
The corporations who make billions from selling soy would like us to believe that until the dangers of soy are proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, we shouldn’t worry about them. This reminds me of Russian roulette: if a gun had a hundred chambers, and only one was loaded, I wouldn’t risk putting it to my head and pulling the trigger. Would you?
Or, as Roger Eichman, DDS, succinctly summed up the precautionary principle: “The precautionary principle requires action once the possibility of harm exists. It does not require proof beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
There’s more than enough sound scientific evidence to convince me. I used to think soy was a good dietary choice, but not anymore. I quit eating it a long time ago.
If you want to stay healthy for life, you need to take care of yourself. That’s the conventional wisdom. It’s a frequent guilty reminder when we look in the mirror and realize that we aren’t in the best shape. “I’ve got to start taking better care of myself.”
