I read "The Unhealthy Truth- How Our Food is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It" by Robyn O'Brien this past week and learned a few new things.
I have read a few books on food, how it is produced, preserved, flavored, colored, etc. and found my views on how our family eats forever changed ("In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan are a must read). However, "The Unhealthy Truth" added one more tidbit of knowledge on the subject.
After her daughter's severe egg allergy was discovered, the author Robyn O'Brien, began studying up on food allergies, as we mothers do when we realize our children are allergic to something.
However, Robyn's sleuthing led her to discover the political connections between the large food corporations and the "doctors" who write for the allergy groups giving advice to parents. For example, due to the genetic modification of the soy bean in recent years, many children now have cross-reactions from peanuts to soy, which is in probably most of all processed food. Peanut allergy has been rising at a rate of about 20 percent a year, with statistics showing this fast rise beginning a year after the introduction of this modified soy entering the market. (In 1998, the year that genetically modified soy was introduced in the United Kingdom, the U.K. rate of soy allergies jumped 50 percent). When people began to question this connection, the allergy organizations poo-pooed it. When one looks at the sponsors of these allergy groups, one finds they are funded by the very corporations producing or selling products made with this modified soy.
The most informative part of the book for me came in Chapter 5 when Robyn delved into more detail on genetically modified food and what scientists are attempting to do now. In order to produce crops that can fend off insects and diseases by themselves, the plant DNA is being manipulated with DNA that could never combine in nature- for example, a tomato with a scorpion. And as the author points out,
When we insert foreign genetic material into a host gene, we might know what happens some of the time, or even most of the time. but nobody yet knows what happens all of the time. There are just too many variables."
When you have genetically altered proteins, say in wheat, you can have a reaction to it although you are *not* allergic to wheat. Some companies are inserting peanut DNA into the wheat DNA so a person allergic to peanuts could eat something they think is safe and it can make them very sick.
As a personal example, when Hannah was a toddler, we attempted to determine what she was allergic to by doing a food elimination diet and challenge under the supervision of our doctor. She showed an allergic response to EVERY food we gave her. We were then told to feed her the most exotic foods we could find and rotate them every four days. We ate a lot of boring, weird food for awhile. However, about six years ago we made the switch to all organic food and discovered that Hannah is allergic to very few foods- mostly nuts and soy. She was reacting to the pesticides/herbicides and whatever else was on/in the conventionally grown food, not the food itself.
Now that I read about genetically modified food, it makes me re-think our position on eating out. We are very strict at home in regards to making sure our food is organic, but when we go on vacation or eat out (just a handful of times a year), we give ourselves a lot more freedom. But if we eat at a place that uses genetically modified wheat in their products and Hannah reacts, how will we know what is causing the reaction so we can avoid it in the future? The label would just say "wheat", not "wheat DNA manipulated in a lab so that your body will not recognize it as food".
This book was not the most well-written thing I have ever read. The way Robyn whines about how shocked and horrified she felt over each new discovery wore thin after the second chapter. I almost didn't finish reading the book because of the (almost constant) focus on her feelings. But the facts that she presented were needed information and for that, I am grateful that I stuck it out and read the whole thing.
I have read a few books on food, how it is produced, preserved, flavored, colored, etc. and found my views on how our family eats forever changed ("In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan are a must read). However, "The Unhealthy Truth" added one more tidbit of knowledge on the subject.
After her daughter's severe egg allergy was discovered, the author Robyn O'Brien, began studying up on food allergies, as we mothers do when we realize our children are allergic to something.
However, Robyn's sleuthing led her to discover the political connections between the large food corporations and the "doctors" who write for the allergy groups giving advice to parents. For example, due to the genetic modification of the soy bean in recent years, many children now have cross-reactions from peanuts to soy, which is in probably most of all processed food. Peanut allergy has been rising at a rate of about 20 percent a year, with statistics showing this fast rise beginning a year after the introduction of this modified soy entering the market. (In 1998, the year that genetically modified soy was introduced in the United Kingdom, the U.K. rate of soy allergies jumped 50 percent). When people began to question this connection, the allergy organizations poo-pooed it. When one looks at the sponsors of these allergy groups, one finds they are funded by the very corporations producing or selling products made with this modified soy.
The most informative part of the book for me came in Chapter 5 when Robyn delved into more detail on genetically modified food and what scientists are attempting to do now. In order to produce crops that can fend off insects and diseases by themselves, the plant DNA is being manipulated with DNA that could never combine in nature- for example, a tomato with a scorpion. And as the author points out,
When we insert foreign genetic material into a host gene, we might know what happens some of the time, or even most of the time. but nobody yet knows what happens all of the time. There are just too many variables."
When you have genetically altered proteins, say in wheat, you can have a reaction to it although you are *not* allergic to wheat. Some companies are inserting peanut DNA into the wheat DNA so a person allergic to peanuts could eat something they think is safe and it can make them very sick.
As a personal example, when Hannah was a toddler, we attempted to determine what she was allergic to by doing a food elimination diet and challenge under the supervision of our doctor. She showed an allergic response to EVERY food we gave her. We were then told to feed her the most exotic foods we could find and rotate them every four days. We ate a lot of boring, weird food for awhile. However, about six years ago we made the switch to all organic food and discovered that Hannah is allergic to very few foods- mostly nuts and soy. She was reacting to the pesticides/herbicides and whatever else was on/in the conventionally grown food, not the food itself.
Now that I read about genetically modified food, it makes me re-think our position on eating out. We are very strict at home in regards to making sure our food is organic, but when we go on vacation or eat out (just a handful of times a year), we give ourselves a lot more freedom. But if we eat at a place that uses genetically modified wheat in their products and Hannah reacts, how will we know what is causing the reaction so we can avoid it in the future? The label would just say "wheat", not "wheat DNA manipulated in a lab so that your body will not recognize it as food".
This book was not the most well-written thing I have ever read. The way Robyn whines about how shocked and horrified she felt over each new discovery wore thin after the second chapter. I almost didn't finish reading the book because of the (almost constant) focus on her feelings. But the facts that she presented were needed information and for that, I am grateful that I stuck it out and read the whole thing.
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