The biotechnology industry asserts that GM technology will reduce the use of herbicides on crops, yet analyses of the U.S. agricultural industry show that the use of herbicides has actually increased significantly since GM planting started in 1996. Although herbicide use decreased slightly in the first three years of GM crop growing, use increased subsequently. During 2002 and 2003 in the United States, an average of 29 percent more herbicide was applied per acre on GM herbicide-tolerant corn than on non-GM corn. Dr. Charles Benbrook of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center in Sandpoint, Idaho, points out that GM “herbicide-tolerant crops have increased pesticide use an estimated seventy million pounds over the first eight years of cultivation.”24
We, the consumers, pay the price, while the farmers and agrochemical companies (who own both the patent for the new strain of soybean and the herbicide to which it is resistant) profit—and we are told that this technological advance is for the benefit of humanity! Consumer groups are campaigning for clear labeling to state when a food contains genetically engineered ingredients, and consumers are advised to avoid these products. Because pollen is carried by bees, insects, and the wind, contamination of other crops, including organic ones, will be inevitable if GM crops become widely grown.
The implications for human health and the environment remain unknown, though there are concerns that GM food could pose a serious health risk, with possible health problems involving antibiotic resistance, the creation of new toxins, and unexpected allergic reactions. The reality is that these concerns remain largely speculative because no one can predict what the outcome of the introduction of GM food into the food chain will be. No adequate safety tests have been carried out and no one is monitoring the impact of GM food on the diets of those countries now selling significant quantities of GM products for human consumption. Far too little is known about genes and DNA to predict what the possible unexpected effects of genetic engineering will be.
The only known trial of GM food on humans was commissioned by the British government’s Food Standards Agency and carried out by the University of Newcastle in 2002. Seven people were given a meal containing GM soy. It was found that in at least three people the GM material moved out of the food and entered their gut bacteria after only one meal! A Faustian feast, no less. Our gut bacteria perform an important role in digestion and any changes to their characteristics are a cause for concern.
Is your water fit to drink?
Water is not simply H2O. Natural water provides significant quantities of minerals: typical springwater, for instance, provides 100 mg of calcium per quart. The recommended daily intake of water is at least 1.5 to 2 quarts a day (that’s eight glasses), while for calcium it is 600 mg. So natural mineral water can provide a sixth of your calcium requirements. However, not all bottled water is the same. In the European Union (EU), only water that comes from an uncontaminated spring that has a consistent level of minerals across the seasons and the years (which means the source of the water is very deep and hence the water is very old) can be called “natural mineral water.” Other bottled water is not as reliable.
Tap water in a soft-water area provides as little as 30 mg of calcium a day. In addition, tap water contains significant levels of nitrates, trihalomethanes, lead, and aluminum, all antinutrients in their own right. In much of Britain and the United States, the levels of these antinutrients exceed safety limits. Approximately a quarter of all British tap water contains pesticides at levels above maximum admissible concentrations set by the EU for safety. Concerns over pollutants in water have led many people to switch to bottled, distilled, or filtered water. However, filtering or distilling water removes not only the impurities, but also many of the naturally occurring minerals. This again pushes up the need for minerals from food.
Out of the frying pan
What we do to food in the kitchen can alter the balance between nutrients and antinutrients. Frying food in oil produces what are known as free radicals, highly reactive chemicals that destroy essential fats in food and can damage cells, increasing the risk of cancer, heart disease, and premature aging, as well as destroying the very nutrients, such as vitamins A and E, that protect us from these dangerous substances.
The damaging effects of frying depend on the oil type, the temperature of the oil, and the length of time the food is fried. Ironically, it is the good polyunsaturated oils (see this page) that oxidize most rapidly, becoming undesirable trans fats. Frying with butter or coconut oil (saturated fat) or olive oil (monounsaturated fat) is therefore safer. Deep-frying is much worse than a two-minute sauté followed by adding a water-based sauce and putting a lid on the pan so the food “steam-fries” at a much lower temperature. Grilling, steaming, boiling, or baking, however, are better cooking methods than any form of frying. Finally, any form of overcooking will increasingly reduce the nutrient content of the food.
We used to think the main danger of frying was that fats cooked at high temperatures produce oxidants that are powerful cancer-promoting chemicals, hence the very strong association with burnt meat, rich in fat, whether fried or barbecued. However, alarming research has found another cancer-promoting substance, acrylamide, in foods cooked at high temperatures, with or without fat. While the safe limit set for acrylamide in food is ten parts per billion (ppb), French fries and potato chips have been found to contain more than one hundred times this amount!
The worst foods are fast-food French fries, potato chips, and crispbread. According to British research, Lay’s Classic Potato Chips averaged 1350 ppb and Pringles 1,500 ppb in surveys conducted in 2003. Ryvita contained between 1,340 and 4,000 ppb. In America, McDonald’s French fries, followed by Burger King’s, came out worst. However, even home-cooked French fries were found to be high. Acrylamide is produced by frying, barbecuing, baking, and even microwaving.
Anything browned or burnt, or cooked or processed using high heat, is therefore likely to be bad for you. The bottom line is this: Eat more raw food, and steam-fry or boil food, rather than cook it at a high heat. To steam-fry foods rather than stir-fry them, add a very small amount of olive oil to a pan and sauté the ingredients for literally a minute, just enough to generate enough heat so you can then add a water-based sauce, such as one-third each soy sauce, lemon juice, and water. This then steams the food when you put on the lid and gives you hot food, full of flavor, but not full of oxidants or acrylamide because nothing is burnt.
ACRYLAMIDE IN YOUR FOOD
Ryvita—dark, whole wheat rye
4,000
Homemade deep-fried potatoes
3,500
Ryvita—rye
2,400
Pringles potato chips
1,500
Kellogg’s Special K
250
Kellogg’s Rice Krispies
150
Source: Food Standards Agency—see www.foodstandards.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/65268
It is not just what is in your food that matters—what your food is in is also important. The mid-1990s scare concerning phthalates, substances used to soften plastics, being found in nine brands of infant food raised the question as to how significant quantities of such hormone-disrupting chemicals are finding their way into the food chain. Inspection of an average shopping cart will tell you how. Not only is fresh produce usually wrapped in soft plastics, but so also are drinks in cartons, which contain an inner plastic lining. An analysis of twenty brands of food in cans, now also lined with plastic, found significant levels of bisphenol A—some twenty-seven times higher than levels known to cause breast cancer cells to proliferate.
Unfortunately, plastics manufacturers are not required to state which chemicals are present in their products. Also, while the list of hormone-disrupting chemicals is growing, there is as yet no definitive list of what we should be avoiding and what is safe. For now, the best advice is to minimize the amount of food, especially wet or fatty food, that you buy in direct contact with soft plastic. Hard plastic is less likely to be a p
roblem. So store cheese, for example, in a plastic container rather than wrapping it in plastic film, although you can now get “non-PVC” cling wrap.
What’s your antinutrient load?
Score 1 point for each yes answer.
Do you drink tap water?
Is more than half the food you eat not organic?
Do you spend an hour or more a day in traffic?
Do you live in a city?
Do you smoke or live or work with smokers?
Do you often eat fried food?
Do you eat nonorganic meat or fish or large fish like tuna or swordfish?
Do you take more than twenty painkillers in a year?
Do you take, on average, one course of antibiotics each year?
Is most of the food you eat or drink in contact with soft plastic or cling wrap?
Do you have an alcoholic drink on most days?
The ideal score is 0. A score of 5 or more means you are likely to be taking in a significant quantity of antinutrients. Any yes answer highlights areas in your diet and lifestyle that warrant attention.
Minimize pharmaceutical drugs
Many common medicines are also antinutrients. In Britain alone, 650 million prescriptions are written every year, and the total cost has doubled in the last ten years to £7 billion. The U.S. annual drug bill is a staggering $200 billion. In Britain, £260 million is spent each year on painkillers such as aspirin and acetaminophen (Tylenol).
Salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin and other painkillers, is a gastrointestinal irritant, increasing the permeability of the gut wall. This in turn upsets the absorption of nutrients, allowing incompletely digested foods to pass into the bloodstream, alerting the immune system and triggering allergy responses to common foods. In the long term, this weakens the immune system, encourages inflammation, and burns up vital vitamins and minerals needed for healthy immunity, as well as triggers intestinal bleeding.
The alternative is acetaminophen, of which four billion tablets are taken worldwide every year. While acetaminophen does not irritate the gut like aspirin, it is bad news for the liver. As a result, in Britain alone thirty thousand people a year end up in the hospital as a result of taking acetaminophen, and in 1994, 115 acetaminophen-related deaths were reported. According to Professor Sir David Carter of Edinburgh University, one in ten liver transplants is made necessary because of damage caused by acetaminophen overdose. While twenty acetaminophen can kill you, even one is extra work for the liver. If a person takes six a day and lacks the nutrients that help the liver to detoxify, this can reduce their ability to deal with other toxins such as alcohol. The combination of alcohol and acetaminophen is particularly dangerous; acetaminophen produces a toxic by-product that can be broken down by the liver only if the body contains sufficient stores of the amino acid glutathione. If you run out, the result is trouble.
Many common drugs have direct or indirect effects on your nutritional status. Antibiotics, for example, wipe out the healthy gut bacteria that manufacture significant amounts of B vitamins. They also pave the way for unfriendly bacteria to multiply, which increases the risk of infection, thereby stressing the immune system. This can then lead to nutrient deficiency. Meanwhile, the U.S. National Institutes of Health estimates that more than fifty thousand tons of antibiotics are used every year throughout the world.
In summary, the twentieth century has fundamentally changed the chemical environment of every species. Let us hope that the twenty-first century will pursue, with equal fervor, cleaning up the mess. As far as nutrition is concerned, we will all need to consider what optimum nutrition is, in the light not only of what our bodies need to be healthy, but also of what extra they need for antinutrient protection. There are also simple changes that we can make to our diets and lifestyles to reduce our environmental load, which is a fundamental principle of optimum nutrition.
Tips to help decrease your environmental load
Invest in a good-quality, plumbed-in water filter and replace the cartridge every six months. Jug filters are also good if you replace the cartridge as instructed. Or drink natural mineral water.
Buy organic food. When not possible, wash or peel fruits and vegetables.
Never deep-fry foods, and switch to steam-frying instead of sautéing.
Don’t use cling wrap unless it states “non-PVC.”
Rearrange your daily schedule to minimize time spent in traffic.
Drink alcohol very infrequently, and avoid smoky places.
Avoid medical drugs unless they are the only viable option for treating a health problem. If you get frequent infections or aches, investigate the underlying cause rather than relying on painkillers or antibiotics.
PART 2 Defining the Perfect Diet
7 The Myth of the Well-Balanced Diet
8 The Protein Controversy
9 The Fats of Life
10 Sugar—The Sweet Truth
11 Stimulants—Are You Addicted?
12 The Vitamin Scandal
13 Elemental Health from Calcium to Zinc
14 Toxic Minerals from Aluminum to Mercury
15 Antioxidants—The Power of Prevention
16 Homocysteine—Your Most Important Health Statistic
17 Living Food—The Phytochemical Revolution
18 Your Body Is 66 Percent Water
19 Food Combining—Facts and Fallacies
20 Eat Right for Your Blood Type
7
The Myth of the Well-Balanced Diet
A human being is made up of roughly 63 percent water, 22 percent protein, 13 percent fat, and 2 percent minerals and vitamins. Every single molecule comes from the food you eat and the water you drink. Eating the highest-quality food in the right quantities helps you achieve your highest potential for health, vitality, and freedom from disease.
Today’s diet has drifted a long way off the ideal intake and balance of nutrients. The pie charts on the next page show the percentage of calories we consume that come from fat, protein, and carbohydrate. While little overall change has occurred throughout 99 percent of humanity’s history, in the last hundred or so years, particularly the last three decades, we have started eating much more saturated fat and sugar and less starch (complex carbohydrates) and polyunsaturated fats. Even the government guidelines fall a long way short of our ancestors’ diets or what are generally considered to be ideal dietary guidelines.
Part of the problem is propaganda. We are led to believe that as long as you eat a well-balanced diet you get all the nutrients you need. Yet survey after survey has shown that even those who believe they eat a well-balanced diet fail to get anything like the ideal intake of vitamins, minerals, essential fats, and complex carbohydrates. It is not easy in today’s society, in which food production is inextricably linked to profit. Refining foods makes them last, which makes them more profitable but at the same time deficient in essential nutrients.
The food industry has gradually conditioned us to buy sugar-sweetened foods to the tune of 8.68 million tons of sugar a year—that’s 73 pounds per person per year! The U.S. consumption of sugar now approaches 25 percent of total calories. The World Health Organization recommends that no more than 10 percent of calories come from sugar, but does little to discourage us from eating it. Sugar sells, and the more of it we eat the less room there is for less sweet, “slow-releasing” carbohydrates. As our lives speed up, we spend less time preparing fresh food and become ever more reliant on prepared meals from companies more concerned about their profit than about our health.
Ancient and modern diets.
Since 1984, the Institute for Optimum Nutrition has been researching what a perfect diet would be. Our conclusions to date are shown in the top ten daily diet tips on this page. While for many people this kind of balance of foods is not going to be achievable overnight, it does give a clear indication of where your diet should be heading. The general guidelines, which are substantiated in later chapters, are as follows.
Fat
Certain polyunsaturated fats, called linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid or omega-6 and omega-3 oils, are essential for the brain and nervous system, immune system, cardiovascular system, and skin. A common sign of deficiency of these substances is dry skin. The optimal diet provides a balance of these two essential fats. Pumpkin and flax seeds are rich in linolenic acid (omega-3), while sesame and sunflower seeds are rich in linoleic acid (omega-6). Linolenic acid is converted in the body into DHA (docoso-hexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), which are also found in mackerel, herring, salmon, and tuna. These essential fats are easily destroyed by heating or exposure to oxygen, so having a fresh daily source is important. Processed foods often contain hardened or “hydrogenated” polyunsaturated fats. These are worse for you than saturated fat and are best avoided.
Eat one tablespoon of cold-pressed seed oil (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, flaxseed, and so on) or one heaping tablespoon of ground seeds a day.
Avoid fried food, burnt or browned fat, saturated and hydrogenated fat.
Protein
The twenty-five amino acids—the compounds that make up protein—are the building blocks of the body. As well as being essential for growth and the repair of body tissue, they are used to make hormones, enzymes, antibodies, and neurotransmitters and help transport substances around the body. Both the quality of the protein you eat, determined by the balance of these amino acids, and the quantities you eat are important.
The New Optimum Nutrition Bible Page 5