genetically modified food Archives - Life Symmetry Chiropractic-Blog

What Are The Most Common GMO Products?

Michael Schuneman, DC
March 11, 2015June 15, 2020

I have blogged about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) before – Genetically Modified Foods: Thoughts & Opinions, GMO Labeling in Colorado, Follow-up Article About GMO. In summary I think there are a lot of questions that are unanswered about their safety and that overall they should be avoided. Today’s post is more about where GMOs are found in foods. Unfortunately GMO foods or additives are ubiquitous today. And the short of it is if you really want to avoid GMO products, you need to know where it is coming from. So following is a some of the most common GMO foods and what other foods they might be in. A great resource is also the Non-GMO Shopping Guide published by the Institute for Responsible Technology.

Soy

The most prevelant GMO crop in the US is the soybean. In 2014 GM soybeans accounted for 94% of all soybean acreage in the US. These soybeans are herbicide resistant crops, which means that they are genetically modified to withstand applications of certain herbicides that normally would kill the plant. Eating soy in general has questionable health effects (unless it is fermented soy) with possible links with cancer and disruption of hormones. Unfortunately, soy is found in A LOT of processed foods and as additives. With 94% being GMO it is almost guaranteed that if it is not specifically labeled organic or non-GMO and contains soy or a soy product it contains GMO soy. So what are some of the soy products that might be added to foods? Here is a short list: soybean oil, soy protein, soy protein isolates, soy lecithin, and soy flour. Ever see any of these in the ingredient list?

Corn

Another big GMO crop in the US is corn. There are two types of GM corn, one is herbicide resistant like soybeans and the other is Bt corn which actually has the corn create an insecticide that will kill certain types of insects that eat it. Actually the most prevalent type of GM corn is a combination of the two types so it is herbicide resistant and also produces the Bt toxin. So in 2014 89% of corn had the herbicide resistance trait and 80% had the Bt trait. One good thing about corn though is that there are no GMO types for the variety used for popcorn.

So does your food contain corn? Well if you have ever looked at food label for thousands of processed foods, you have found corn or its derivative there. High fructose corn syrup sound familiar? Or even just corn syrup? How about corn starch? Or corn meal? Corn oil also is commonly used in processed food. When you consider these ingredients it is not difficult to see how easily that GMO might end up in your food. With how commonly high fructose corn syrup is used, it shows up even in sweets or other foods you might not expect.

Cotton

While you may not think about cotton ending up in your food, it actually is there sometimes in the form of cottonseed oil. But even if it isn’t in your food, many people may be surprised that much of the cotton in the US is now GMO as well. Again cotton has herbicide resistant and Bt varieties and also the combination of the two. The herbicide resistant cotton accounted for 91% and Bt cotton was 84% of cotton acreage in the US in 2014.

Sugar

One more major GMO crop is used to make sugar. Now we aren’t just talking about ‘corn sugar’ which some are trying to use as a re-branding of high fructose corn syrup. What I am referring to is sugar beets. While I am not as sure if this is completely accurate, from a brief look online 100% of sugar beets may be GMO in the US. These beets are designed to be herbicide resistant to glyphosate the main active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. Now not all sugar in the US comes from sugar beets but from what I understand about half comes from sugar beets. The other main source of sugar is from sugar cane. However, unless the ingredients specifically say the sugar is from sugar cane it is likely that at least some of the sugar is coming from GM sugar beets. So what that means is that if it is not organic or non-GMO if it just says ‘sugar’ on the label it likely is at least in part GMO.

Conclusion

I hope this information is considered useful. Now to be honest this is not an exhaustive list of all GMO approved crops. There are still a few others but these are some of the biggest ones. I know for me it is somewhat disheartening to realize just how wide spread GMO use is in our food supply. But with knowledge comes power and being aware of sources of GMO you can actually make a choice whether or not you want to eat it. This is one reason that I think GMO should be labeled: it would give those who want to avoid it the opportunity to do so and those that don’t care can still eat it. Unfortunately as the way our food system is set up if you wanted to avoid GMO or the possibility of GMO it removes most processed foods from your options which is inconvenient but if you can do it, you are really better off without them.

Resources

What Is Happening To Our Food?

Michael Schuneman, DC
August 7, 2013June 10, 2020

Recently in London, the world’s first lab-grown hamburger was eaten. The process for producing the hamburger involves taking stem cells from cows and growing them in a solution of nutrients and growth promoting chemicals. Over several weeks this creates little pieces of muscle tissue that are then combined into a patty that can be cooked like a regular hamburger patty. More information can be found here.

I personally find this disturbing. Why would anyone even think about creating a burger in a lab? Perhaps it is to say you can or maybe someone likes playing god? I don’t know exactly, but some of the reasons given by one of the researchers include a growing demand for meat worldwide and a more ‘sustainable’ process of producing meat. Apparently I am not in the know, but I was not aware of any meat shortages and a diet heavy on meat is not best either. The best way to produce meat is not on a huge farm or in the lab where you need to add so many unnatural things (antibiotics, hormones, growth factors, etc.). The best way is the natural way, with the animals eating what they naturally would eat.

You cannot imitate what nature does in the lab! While you may get something that feels similar and looks similar (after adding other colorings), it is not the same. We still do not understand all the many details in how animals and cells function. Don’t get me wrong, we understand many things but how often has the prevailing thought changed, especially on a micro level?

What effects would this synthetic meat have years down the road? What chemicals are needed to even allow this process to happen? I think we too often allow unnatural foods (GMO, processing, etc.) into our food supply without knowing the long-term effects. This seems to me that we are headed in the wrong direction when it comes to our food supply.

To be healthy the best thing to eat is mostly fresh organic fruits and vegetables, meats that are produced on a natural diet (grass fed beef, free range chickens), and limit highly processed foods as much as possible. A lab-grown burger seems pretty highly processed to me. If you would like help with eating a more natural diet, contact me and I can help point you in the right direction.