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| Nutritionist and Author |
by Melissa Diane Smith
People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have an 87 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer, a particularly deadly form of cancer, according to a 14-year study of 60,000 people just published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
by Melissa Diane Smith
(Opinion) There are many positive signs that there is a growing movement of people trying to get healthy: More people are eating gluten free, more are buying organic foods, more are paying out of their own pockets for complimentary and alternative medical treatments, and more are growing their own food in their own gardens.
But amidst those encouraging trends, there are several key health and nutrition concepts that most people, including many who eat gluten free, are missing or have never even heard. Part of my mission for this site is to inform you about health information you don’t hear elsewhere. So, to provide food for thought for the new decade, here is my list of the top concepts people need to understand to protect their health in the next decade and beyond:
The list of hazards associated with high-fructose corn syrup continues to grow. The refined liquid sweetener found in soft drinks, candy and countless foods in our food supply has been implicated in obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Earlier this year, mercury, a metal toxic to human health, was found in close to half of tested samples of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and nearly one-third of tested foods with HFCS in its top ingredients. (See the Nutrition News & Notes story on that.) Now new research shows that when HFCS is heated, it forms hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a chemical that can kill honey bees and is linked to DNA damage in humans.
Just a week before we heard about more food recalls and the continuing obesity crisis, the documentary “Food, Inc.” opened in the United States, warning us of those hazards and more from our current industrialized food system. The movie is now showing in select cities across the country. Readers of this blog already are in the know about many problems in our commercial food supply, but director Robert Kenner wanted to make a film that brought the subject to people who haven’t thought about the food they are eating and what we all can do about it.
Ready to take another step in eating for optimal health? Take the No GMO Challenge.
Five days ago, on April 22, Earth Day, co-sponsors Real Food Media and the Institute for Responsible Technology started a campaign urging consumers to take the No GMO Challenge to protect themselves from one of history’s greatest man-made health and environmental threats – genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It is a rolling challenge, meaning you can join at anytime. Begin by cleaning out your cupboard and make a 30-day commitment to eating as many non-GMO meals as possible. This challenge is particularly important for people who have switched to eating more corn after starting a gluten-free diet.
SPECIAL REPORT
By Jeffrey M. Smith
If you eat lots of corn, be careful. Most US corn is genetically modified (GM), and most is engineered to produce its own toxic pesticide. When certain insects such as European corn borers take a bite, the toxin from the plant splits open their stomachs and kills them.
Many people who begin eating gluten-free replace wheat products with corn products and are completely unaware that corn has several dark sides. Not only is corn a high-carbohydrate, high-glycemic food that packs on the pounds and elevates blood sugar and insulin levels, but most corn grown and eaten in the United States is genetically modified (GM), also called genetically engineered, which carries with it many potential health risks.
Soda, granola bars, ketchup and many other foods taste sweet but many have an alarmingly bitter side: they also come with mercury, a heavy metal that is toxic to humans.
These surprising findings come from two studies that focused on high-fructose corn syrup — one of which was published in the journal Environmental Health and the other by the non-profit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
Americans are speaking up about the importance of nutrition and of going against the grain in healthcare.
President-Elect Barack Obama has launched an interactive healthcare site
welcoming comments and ideas from people on what should be done to reform the U.S. healthcare system. There are already fifteen pages of comments, but on the first page alone, the importance of nutrition and some of the issues I raised about corn in previous posts — Corn Fed and Fat: The American Problem that is Spreading to Other Countries and “King Corn” A Must-See Film — have been raised.
Many people like to read nutrition information that motivates them to eat better, but they also like to learn information through watching movies. As one client said to me, “Being able to both read information and watch it works really well together, helping to reinforce why we all need to ‘go against the grain’ with our diet for improved health.”
In my previous post, I wrote about “King Corn”, a documentary that explains how cheap corn ends up in most commercial American foods and plays a major role in our widespread and widening health problems. But two other documentary movies to watch are “SuperSize Me” and “McLibel”.