Bleaching chemicals, rapid blood sugar spike, gluten inflammation, the reasons for NOT putting bread in your gut is overwhelming. Well, "I need my sandwiches for convenience" so try a Swiss chard wrap, they are terrific. My favorite is easy and delish (tear of the stem on a med size chard leaf, layer 3-4 slices of turkey or chicken then sliced avocado drizzled with the guacamole sauce Little Sprout sells) roll it up or fold it like a taco and enjoy.
Simple Way to Shed Pounds and Decrease Tiredness - Stop Eating This
Posted By Dr. Mercola
In 1911, the bread which made up 40 percent of the diet of the impoverished people of Britain was blamed for widespread poor health. Modern nutritional science confirms the accuracy of this assessment.
Refined white flour contains almost no natural minerals and vitamins. In particular, vitamin B deficiency from poor diet resulted in a range of illnesses that the Victorians called 'wasting diseases'. And white flour at the time was usually laced with alum, which made bad flour look whiter.
According to the Daily Mail:
"[In modern times], the Real Bread Campaign, a non-profit pressure group, claims that bread has actually gotten worse since 1911 in terms of secret adulterants -- enzymes that do not have to be declared on labels -- still being smuggled into it. Today, despite the modern fashion for healthy eating, 'nutritionally empty' white bread accounts for more than 50 percent of what we buy."
Sources:
The Daily Mail June 15, 2011
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
It's truly astounding—100 years ago, low-quality bread made up about 40 percent of the average Briton's diet (and the situation was likely similar in the US as well), and today, even lower quality bread makes up nearly 50 percent of the average diet!
Back in 1911, white bread was identified as a primary culprit for the declining health of the British population, which led to a massive campaign to revert back to more wholesome bread. At the time, wholegrain bread was considered a sign of poverty, so people from all levels of society sought after white, refined flour bread.
The campaign spearheaded by The Daily Mail was eventually successful. But it didn't last long... White bread was actually banned during World War II in the UK, and as a result, Britons were said to be in better health by 1947 after subsisting on limited rations of wholegrain breads for eight years.
However, at the end of the war, white bread was rendered legal once again, and today, more than 60 years later, our grocery shelves are stocked with breads and grain-products that are of even lower quality than 100 years ago... And, as in 1911, white processed bread is a major contributor to rampant obesity and poor health.
Do You Know the Chemicals Lurking in Your Bread?
As illustrated in The Daily Mail, the quality of bread has gotten far worse rather than better over the years. Back in 1911, salt, cheap fats, alum, lime powder, and bleaching constituted "bad" bread. Today, there's a whole new breed of health-harming ingredients to contend with in your typical store-bought bread, including:
Processed salt High fructose corn syrup Trans fats (hydrogenated oils)
Soy Treatment agents (oxidant chemicals) Reducing agents
Emulsifiers Preservatives Enzymes (typically from fungi or bacteria)
Many of these ingredients are hidden, as they're not required to be listed on the label. I've written numerous articles on many of these ingredients. For more information, simply follow the links provided. But hidden and potentially harmful ingredients aren't the only problem with modern bread. Today we have such things as Wonder Bread, and it's a wonder that anyone even considers it to be "bread" in the first place...
Refined Foods are Devoid of Nutrients
It's important to realize that when food is refined, vital nutrients are destroyed. In some cases it's questionable whether what remains is even fit to be considered food... at least if the term "food" implies something of nutritional value. In terms of bread, once you remove the most nutritious part of the grain, it essentially becomes a form of sugar.
Consider what gets lost in the refining process:
Half of the beneficial unsaturated fatty acids 50 percent of the calcium 80 percent of the iron 50-80 percent of the B vitamins
Virtually all of the vitamin E 70 percent of the phosphorus 98 percent of the magnesium And many more nutrients are destroyed -- simply too many to list.
How Processed Grains Can Deteriorate Your Health
The end result of the excessive consumption of white bread and other processed forms of grain products can be seen all around you in the form of:
Obesity Diabetes Heart disease
Allergies and asthma Gluten intolerance and Celiac disease Vitamin deficiencies and related health problems
Vitamin B deficiencies in particular contribute to a wide range of illnesses, and vitamin B deficiencies are pervasive around the world. For example, an estimated 25 percent of American adults are deficient in B12.
We've also seen an extraordinary rise in digestive illnesses, such as gluten intolerance and Celiac disease, and modern industrial baking methods are likely a major contributor to these widespread problems. The rise in asthma and allergies may also be related to our modern food processing and manufacturing practices. For example, one of the enzymes commonly used in modern bread making is amylase, which is known to cause asthma.
Many also forget that most commercial wheat production is, unfortunately, a "study in pesticide application," beginning with the seeds being treated with fungicide. Once they become wheat, they are sprayed with hormones and pesticides. Even the bins in which the harvested wheat is stored have been coated with insecticides. These chemicals all contribute to increasing the average person's toxic load, which is a contributing factor to virtually every possible disease imaginable. I can't think of any illness that is not made worse by frequent toxic exposure, such as what we get through conventionally-grown foods and unfiltered water.
Whereas old time mills ground flour slowly, today's mills are designed for mass-production, using high-temperature, high-speed steel rollers. Next, it's hit with another chemical insult--a chlorine gas bath (chlorine oxide). This serves as a whitener, as well as an "aging" agent. Flour used to be aged with time, improving the gluten and thus improving the baking quality. Treating it with chlorine instantly produces similar qualities in the flour (with a disturbing lack of concern about adding another dose of chemicals to your food).
The resulting white flour is nearly all starch, and now contains a small fraction of the nutrients of the original grain. Additionally, the chemical treatments on the grain results in the formation of a byproduct, alloxan—a poison used in the medical research industry to induce diabetes in healthy mice. Alloxan causes diabetes by spinning up enormous amounts of free radicals in pancreatic beta cells, thus destroying them. Beta cells are the primary cell type in areas of your pancreas called islets of Langerhans, and they produce insulin; so if those are destroyed, you develop diabetes.
Given the raging epidemic of diabetes and other chronic diseases in this country, it may be unwise to be complacent about a toxin such as this in your bread, even if it is present in small amounts...
Why a High-Carb Diet Can be Disastrous to Your Health
Overconsumption of carbs is the primary driving factor for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, the dietary establishment has unwisely been extolling the virtues of carbohydrates while warning you to avoid fats. But anyone who bought into the high-carb, low-fat dietary recommendations has likely struggled with their weight and health, wondering what they're doing wrong…
The truth of the matter is that a diet high in grain carbs (as opposed to vegetables) and low in fat may be dangerous to your health, and if you want to shed excess weight and improve your health, the converse diet is what you're looking for!
Why are high-carb diets so bad?
In a nutshell, overeating carbohydrate foods can prevent a higher percentage of fats from being used for energy, and lead to an increase in fat storage. It also raises your insulin levels, which in short order can cause insulin resistance, followed by diabetes. Insulin resistance is also at the heart of virtually every disease known to man.
Contrary to popular belief, eating fat does NOT make you fat—carbohydrates, such as sugar and grains, do. Your body has a limited capacity to store excess carbohydrates, but it can easily convert those excess carbohydrates into excess body fat. Any carbohydrates not immediately used by your body are stored in the form of glycogen (a long string of glucose molecules linked together). Your body has two storage sites for glycogen: your liver and your muscles. Once the glycogen levels are filled in both your liver and muscles, excess carbohydrates are converted into fat and stored in your adipose, that is, fatty, tissue.
So, although carbohydrates are fat-free, excess carbohydrates end up as excess fat.
But that's not the worst of it. Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates will also generate a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rapid rise, your pancreas secretes insulin into your bloodstream, which then lowers the levels of blood glucose. The problem is that insulin is essentially a storage hormone, evolved to put aside excess carbohydrate calories in the form of fat in case of future famine. So the insulin that's stimulated by excess carbohydrates aggressively promotes the accumulation of body fat!
Too Much Wheat or Grain Converts Into Fat
In other words, when you eat too much bread, pasta, and any other grain products, you're essentially sending a hormonal message, via insulin, to your body that says "store fat."
Additionally, increased insulin levels also:
Make it virtually impossible for you to use your own stored body fat for energy
Suppress two important hormones: glucagon and growth hormone. Glucagon promotes the burning of fat and sugar. Growth hormone is used for muscle development and building new muscle mass.
Increases hunger: As blood sugar increases following a carbohydrate meal, insulin rises with the eventual result of lower blood sugar. This results in hunger, often only a couple of hours (or less) after the meal.
So, all in all, the excess carbohydrates in your diet not only make you fat, they make sure you stay fat. Cravings, usually for sweets, are frequently part of this cycle, leading you to resort to snacking, often on more carbohydrates. Not eating can make you feel ravenous shaky, moody and ready to "crash." If the problem is chronic, you never get rid of that extra stored fat, and your energy and overall health is adversely affected.
Below is a list of some of the most common complaints of people with insulin resistance (IR). Many of these symptoms may occur immediately following a meal of carbohydrates; others may be chronic:
Fatigue. Some are tired just in the morning or afternoon; others are exhausted all day. Brain fogginess. The inability to concentrate is the most evident symptom. Loss of creativity, poor memory, failing or poor grades in school often accompany insulin resistance, as do various forms of "learning disabilities." Hypoglycemia. Feeling jittery, agitated and moody is common in IR, with an almost immediate relief once food is eaten. Dizziness is also common, as is the craving for sweets, chocolate or caffeine.
Intestinal bloating. Most intestinal gas is produced from dietary carbohydrates. Sometimes the intestinal distress can become quite severe, resulting in a diagnosis of "colitis" or "ileitis." Sleepiness. Many people with IR get sleepy immediately after meals containing more than 20-30 percent carbohydrates. This is typically a pasta meal, or even a meat meal that includes bread or potatoes and a sweet dessert. Increased fat storage and weight. In many people, the most evident sign is a large abdomen, or belly fat.
Increased triglycerides. High triglycerides in the blood are often seen in overweight persons. But even those who are not too fat may have stores of fat in their arteries as a result of IR. These triglycerides are the direct result of carbohydrates from the diet being converted by insulin. Increased blood pressure. It is well known that most people with hypertension have too much insulin and are IR. It is often possible to show a direct relationship between the level of insulin and the level of blood pressure: as insulin levels elevate, so does blood pressure. Depression. Carbohydrates are a natural "downer," and it's not uncommon to see many depressed persons also having IR. Carbohydrates do this by changing your brain chemistry—they increase serotonin, which produces a depressing or sleepy feeling. (This is a significant consideration for those trying to learn, whether at school, home or work.)
Does this sound like you?
One of the Fastest Ways to Dramatically Improve Your Health
The best suggestion for anyone wanting to shed excess fat and improve health is to moderate and normalize your insulin response by limiting (ideally, eliminating) your intake of refined sugars and fructose, and limiting all other carbohydrate intake as much as possible. (Proteins and fats generally do not produce much insulin.)
With the stress of insulin resistance eliminated, your body can finally be able to correct many of its own problems, and this is also why I keep reminding you that the underlying factor of most disease states that MUST be addressed is insulin resistance. Once you've normalized your insulin levels, your body actually has a phenomenal capacity for self-healing.
Related Links:
New Proof that Bread and Rice Increase Heart Disease
The Critical Role of Wheat in Human Disease
The Little-Known Secrets about Bleached Flour...
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
A don't miss article
Please get the word out, talk to people everyday that use Splenda and know nothing about how damaging it is to your gut.
The Caloric Mistake that DOUBLES Your Risk of Gaining Pounds
Splenda.com
Green Med Info
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh at the absurd methods employed by the food industry to deceive and manipulate you. Take Splenda, for example. Their website now touts three new "improved" versions:
Splenda with:
B vitamins
Antioxidants
Fiber
Of course, they claim these are "three smart new ways to sweeten" your food and drink. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it's sheer unmitigated nonsense! Splenda (sucralose), which is an artificial sweetener like aspartame, is likely to push your health in the wrong direction, and there's nothing smart about that…
Consuming artificial sweeteners can cause distortions in your biochemistry, and if you drink diet soda in an attempt to lose weight, they won't help you. Instead, most studies looking at this show very clearly that diet soft drinks actually double your obesity risk by stimulating your appetite, increasing carbohydrate cravings, and stimulating fat storage!
Several years ago, I wrote a book called Sweet Deception, in which I expose the many concerns related to the consumption of artificial sweeteners. It's an extremely well-researched book, and it's as valid today as it was when I first wrote it. I spent over three years and had five health care professionals work on it with me, as the maker of Splenda, Johnson & Johnson, had their legal firm write me a 20-page letter threatening to sue me if I published the book. Needless to say, the book was published and they did not sue me as the information was all true.
Spenda is Not a Zero Calorie Product
Splenda uses a number of misleading tactics to sell their product. For starters, it is actually not a "zero calorie" sweetener.
Sucralose is about 600 times sweeter than sugar, so if it was sold by itself, they wouldn't be able to package it—each packet would contain just a couple of grains, which would be more than plenty to sweeten a cup of coffee. Hence they have to add a bulking agent, such as maltodextrin—which is a sugar!
So, about 99 percent of that packet of Splenda is a type of sugar, and only about one percent is actually sucralose. Each packet has four calories, but because the amount of sugar is less than one gram, they get away with saying it has "no calories" due to a loophole in the labeling law.
However, there's yet another reason why they can make this claim.
Sucralose is a synthetic chemical created in a laboratory. In the five-step patented process of making sucralose, three chlorine molecules are added to one sucrose (sugar) molecule.
Some will argue that natural foods also contain chloride, which is true. However, in natural foods, the chloride is connected with ionic bonds that easily dissociate.. But in Splenda, they're in a covalent bond that does not dissociate. In fact, there are NO covalent chloride bonds to organic compounds in nature—they only exist in synthetic, man-made form. Aside from Splenda, other examples of synthetic covalently bound chloride compounds include:
DDT
PCB's
Agent orange
Now, your body has no enzymes to break down this covalently bound chloride. Why would it? It never existed in nature, so the human body never had a reason to address it. And since it's not broken down and metabolized by your body, they can claim it to be non-caloric—essentially, it's supposed to pass right through you.
However, the research (which is primarily extrapolated from animal studies) indicates that about 15 percent of sucralose IS in fact absorbed into your digestive system, and ultimately stored in your body. This is a significant concern. One 2009 study found unmistakable evidence that Splenda is absorbed by fat, contrary to previous claims. They also discovered other disturbing health problems...
Splenda May Destroy Intestinal Flora
The animal study, published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, found that Splenda:
reduced the amount of good intestinal bacteria by 50 percent
increased the intestinal pH level, and
affected a glycoprotein that can have crucial health effects, particularly if you're on certain medications
James Turner, the chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health, expressed shock and outrage after reading the findings, stating that:
"The report makes it clear that the artificial sweetener Splenda and its key component sucralose pose a threat to the people who consume the product. Hundreds of consumers have complained to us about side effects from using Splenda and this study ... confirms that the chemicals in the little yellow package should carry a big red warning label."
I agree, because anytime you destroy healthy intestinal bacteria you open yourself up to unfriendly micro-organisms that can cause health problems. Your immune system, which is imperative for general health is dependent on healthy gut flora, so the idea that this artificial sweetener may destroy up to half of all your healthy gut bacteria is disconcerting to say the least.
Many people are already deficient in healthy bacteria due to choosing highly processed foods. This is why a high quality probiotic is one of the very few supplements I highly recommend for nearly everyone.
How Diabetics May Be Mislead
Artificial sweeteners like Splenda are commonly recommended for diabetics, since sucralose will not influence your blood sugar levels. However, what they fail to realize is that Splenda is not all sucralose… Remember, most of that packet is actually sugar—only about one percent is sucralose!
This may still not seem like a big deal, considering how little is in those packets. But many diabetics will use upwards of 10 packets or more a day, in various drinks and foods, and in high quantities it can have a significant impact in type 1 diabetics.
Safety Studies Sorely Lacking
Splenda is promoted as being a safe, well-researched product, but is it really?
If you look through the research literature, you'll find about 200 studies on Splenda/sucralose, and only about 10 percent of those have anything to do with safety. When I wrote Sweet Deception, there were only 15 studies relating to safety, and 13 of them were funded by the company that makes Splenda, leaving enormous room for conflict of interest!
In 1996, Dr. Ralph G. Walton, a professor of Clinical Psychiatry, reviewed 165 studies on aspartame, and discovered a remarkable discrepancy between study results and their source of funding. Of the 165 studies, 74 had industry related funding and 91 were independently funded.
Of those:
100 percent of the industry funded studies supported aspartame's safety, while
92 percent of the independently funded studies identified at least one potential health concern
However, Dr. Walton also pointed out that of the seven remaining non-industry funded studies, which supported aspartame's safety, six were done by the FDA, and the seventh was a literature review of mostly industry sponsored research. Considering the long-standing revolving door between various industries (especially Monsanto, which acquired G.D. Searle in 1985) and the FDA, it's questionable as to whether an FDA study can be considered truly "independent," even though they were counted as independent in Walton's review. If you give that concern any merit, you'd more or less be looking at 100 percent of industry related studies claiming aspartame to be safe, and 100 percent of independent studies flagging some sort of health concern...
This is truly powerful documentation of the influence of corporately sponsored trials on safety or any other potential complication that can occur! This type of funding bias is a fatal flaw in the system, because in order to receive FDA approval, the product is not required to undergo any kind of independent study.
So what happens?
Well, we now know that in the drug industry, studies that do not support the drug are simply dismissed or thrown away, and only those reaching a favorable conclusion are presented. And there's nothing to indicate that the same tactics aren't also going on in the food industry.
Another troublesome issue is the fact that there are no long-term studies to evaluate the health effects of chronic exposure to sucralose. When I wrote my book, the longest safety study ever performed had lasted FOUR DAYS, and it looked at sucralose in relation to tooth decay, not human tolerance!
Potential Side Effects of Splenda
Going back to those 15 published safety studies on Splenda, only seven were done on humans. Two of these were published in respected peer-reviewed neurology journals, and they both showed a clear and strong association between the use of Splenda and migraine headaches. Animal studies have also revealed a number of problems, such as:
Decreased red blood cells -- sign of anemia -- at levels above 1,500 mg/kg/day
Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
Enlarged and calcified kidneys (McNeil stated this is often seen with poorly absorbed substances and was of no toxicological significance. The FDA Final Rule agreed that these are findings that are common in aged female rats and are not significant.)
Spontaneous abortions in nearly half the rabbit population given sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group
A 23 percent death rate in rabbits, compared to a 6 percent death rate in the control group
With so few studies available, it may be safer to listen to consumer feedback…I've compiled a page on my web site, The Potential Dangers of Sucralose, where you can share your own experiences and side effects, as many others already have. In fact, the first-hand testimonies on this page already outnumber the amount of people included in all of Splenda's safety studies!
The symptoms are so numerous I can't include them all, but the following are common symptoms, usually noticed within a 24-hour period following consumption of a Splenda product:
Skin -- Redness, itching, swelling, blistering, weeping, crusting, rash, eruptions, or hives (itchy bumps or welts Lungs -- Wheezing, tightness, cough, or shortness of breath Head -- Swelling of the face, eyelids, lips, tongue, or throat; headaches and migraines (severe headaches)
Nose -- Stuffy nose, runny nose (clear, thin discharge), sneezing Eyes -- Red (bloodshot), itchy, swollen, or watery Stomach -- Bloating, gas, pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or bloody diarrhea
Heart -- Palpitations or fluttering Joints -- Joint pains or aches Neurological -- Anxiety, dizziness, spaced-out sensation, depression
How Dangerous is Splenda?
If you only use it on rare occasions, in all likelihood it is not going to harm you. It's only likely to become an issue if you're using large amounts on a regular basis. Remember, no one knows exactly what the long-term human health ramifications are, as the longest study conducted lasted a mere four days!
This means that you and your family are the guinea pigs when it comes to evaluating long-term safety… And for this reason, I strongly recommend applying the precautionary principle, especially for your children.
The most important principle I want to emphasize here is not so much the specifics of why Splenda is potentially toxic or harmful, but rather I want you to recognize the tactics employed by these companies to manipulate and deceive you. Once you understand the basics of how they manipulate you and distort science to prove their point, then you will know when to exert caution, and when to be skeptical about new products.
Just like the drug industry, many of the sales strategies used in the food industry aim to give you some magic bullet solution that veers from time-honored principles that our ancestors used to stay healthy. Once you know what those principles are, and you're aware of the sales tactics employed, you're in a position to make solid, informed decisions.
Health is really a simple process. By replicating the patterns of our ancestors, we can optimize our health. It's important to realize that our genes do not adapt very quickly to changes in our environment, and the human body simply is not designed to thrive on modern "food-like" substances made of synthetic chemicals not found in nature.
Your body is designed to maintain health, but when you expose it to toxic influences, and deprive it of nutritional support and the basic building blocks it needs to thrive, then you'll begin losing your vitality and veer toward disease and chronic, long-term health complications…
How to Kick the Artificial Sweetener Habit
Your body typically craves sweets when you're denying it the fuel it needs. Sugar (and grain carbs) is very quick fuel and can give your body a boost when it's running low. And contrary to popular belief, using artificial sweeteners does not trick your body into thinking it has had its fill; rather it wants more sweets because it didn't get the energy boost with that sweet taste!
A powerful solution to help curb your cravings is to determine your nutritional type, which will tell you which foods you need to eat to feel full and satisfied. It may sound hard to believe right now, but once you start eating right for your nutritional type, your sweet cravings will disappear. To help you turn your health around, I now offer the full nutritional typing program online for free, so please take advantage of this opportunity to dramatically change your health for the better.
Interestingly, nutrition- and fitness expert Ori Hofmekler recently shared a fascinating benefit of caffeine that can be helpful here. If you like coffee, drinking organic black coffee (meaning without sugar or milk) can help eliminate sugar cravings because the caffeine is an opioid receptor antagonist.
As you may know, sugar binds to the same opioid receptors as cocaine and other addictive substances. But once an opioid receptor antagonist occupies that receptor, it prohibits you from becoming addicted to something else. Therefore, caffeine may attenuate the addictive impact of sugar. There are a few caveats to using this strategy however, including:
Only drink organic coffee (as it's one of the most pesticide-heavy crops there are)
Drink it black, sans sugar/artificial sweeteners or milk
Only drink coffee in the morning, prior to exercise
Limit your consumption to one or two cups
In addition to eating right for your nutritional type, I highly recommend addressing the emotional component of your food cravings, using a tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). It's one of the most profoundly effective tools I've ever used or researched to help overcome food cravings and reach dietary success. Turbo Tapping is particularly useful if you're addicted to soda. It's an extremely effective and simple tool to get rid of your addiction in a short period of time.
Related Links:
The 'Other' Sweetener That's Made from Sugar, but is Closer to DDT
The Potential Dangers of Sucralose (Splenda)
New Study of Splenda Reveals Shocking Information About Potential Harmful Effects
The Caloric Mistake that DOUBLES Your Risk of Gaining Pounds
Splenda.com
Green Med Info
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh at the absurd methods employed by the food industry to deceive and manipulate you. Take Splenda, for example. Their website now touts three new "improved" versions:
Splenda with:
B vitamins
Antioxidants
Fiber
Of course, they claim these are "three smart new ways to sweeten" your food and drink. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it's sheer unmitigated nonsense! Splenda (sucralose), which is an artificial sweetener like aspartame, is likely to push your health in the wrong direction, and there's nothing smart about that…
Consuming artificial sweeteners can cause distortions in your biochemistry, and if you drink diet soda in an attempt to lose weight, they won't help you. Instead, most studies looking at this show very clearly that diet soft drinks actually double your obesity risk by stimulating your appetite, increasing carbohydrate cravings, and stimulating fat storage!
Several years ago, I wrote a book called Sweet Deception, in which I expose the many concerns related to the consumption of artificial sweeteners. It's an extremely well-researched book, and it's as valid today as it was when I first wrote it. I spent over three years and had five health care professionals work on it with me, as the maker of Splenda, Johnson & Johnson, had their legal firm write me a 20-page letter threatening to sue me if I published the book. Needless to say, the book was published and they did not sue me as the information was all true.
Spenda is Not a Zero Calorie Product
Splenda uses a number of misleading tactics to sell their product. For starters, it is actually not a "zero calorie" sweetener.
Sucralose is about 600 times sweeter than sugar, so if it was sold by itself, they wouldn't be able to package it—each packet would contain just a couple of grains, which would be more than plenty to sweeten a cup of coffee. Hence they have to add a bulking agent, such as maltodextrin—which is a sugar!
So, about 99 percent of that packet of Splenda is a type of sugar, and only about one percent is actually sucralose. Each packet has four calories, but because the amount of sugar is less than one gram, they get away with saying it has "no calories" due to a loophole in the labeling law.
However, there's yet another reason why they can make this claim.
Sucralose is a synthetic chemical created in a laboratory. In the five-step patented process of making sucralose, three chlorine molecules are added to one sucrose (sugar) molecule.
Some will argue that natural foods also contain chloride, which is true. However, in natural foods, the chloride is connected with ionic bonds that easily dissociate.. But in Splenda, they're in a covalent bond that does not dissociate. In fact, there are NO covalent chloride bonds to organic compounds in nature—they only exist in synthetic, man-made form. Aside from Splenda, other examples of synthetic covalently bound chloride compounds include:
DDT
PCB's
Agent orange
Now, your body has no enzymes to break down this covalently bound chloride. Why would it? It never existed in nature, so the human body never had a reason to address it. And since it's not broken down and metabolized by your body, they can claim it to be non-caloric—essentially, it's supposed to pass right through you.
However, the research (which is primarily extrapolated from animal studies) indicates that about 15 percent of sucralose IS in fact absorbed into your digestive system, and ultimately stored in your body. This is a significant concern. One 2009 study found unmistakable evidence that Splenda is absorbed by fat, contrary to previous claims. They also discovered other disturbing health problems...
Splenda May Destroy Intestinal Flora
The animal study, published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, found that Splenda:
reduced the amount of good intestinal bacteria by 50 percent
increased the intestinal pH level, and
affected a glycoprotein that can have crucial health effects, particularly if you're on certain medications
James Turner, the chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health, expressed shock and outrage after reading the findings, stating that:
"The report makes it clear that the artificial sweetener Splenda and its key component sucralose pose a threat to the people who consume the product. Hundreds of consumers have complained to us about side effects from using Splenda and this study ... confirms that the chemicals in the little yellow package should carry a big red warning label."
I agree, because anytime you destroy healthy intestinal bacteria you open yourself up to unfriendly micro-organisms that can cause health problems. Your immune system, which is imperative for general health is dependent on healthy gut flora, so the idea that this artificial sweetener may destroy up to half of all your healthy gut bacteria is disconcerting to say the least.
Many people are already deficient in healthy bacteria due to choosing highly processed foods. This is why a high quality probiotic is one of the very few supplements I highly recommend for nearly everyone.
How Diabetics May Be Mislead
Artificial sweeteners like Splenda are commonly recommended for diabetics, since sucralose will not influence your blood sugar levels. However, what they fail to realize is that Splenda is not all sucralose… Remember, most of that packet is actually sugar—only about one percent is sucralose!
This may still not seem like a big deal, considering how little is in those packets. But many diabetics will use upwards of 10 packets or more a day, in various drinks and foods, and in high quantities it can have a significant impact in type 1 diabetics.
Safety Studies Sorely Lacking
Splenda is promoted as being a safe, well-researched product, but is it really?
If you look through the research literature, you'll find about 200 studies on Splenda/sucralose, and only about 10 percent of those have anything to do with safety. When I wrote Sweet Deception, there were only 15 studies relating to safety, and 13 of them were funded by the company that makes Splenda, leaving enormous room for conflict of interest!
In 1996, Dr. Ralph G. Walton, a professor of Clinical Psychiatry, reviewed 165 studies on aspartame, and discovered a remarkable discrepancy between study results and their source of funding. Of the 165 studies, 74 had industry related funding and 91 were independently funded.
Of those:
100 percent of the industry funded studies supported aspartame's safety, while
92 percent of the independently funded studies identified at least one potential health concern
However, Dr. Walton also pointed out that of the seven remaining non-industry funded studies, which supported aspartame's safety, six were done by the FDA, and the seventh was a literature review of mostly industry sponsored research. Considering the long-standing revolving door between various industries (especially Monsanto, which acquired G.D. Searle in 1985) and the FDA, it's questionable as to whether an FDA study can be considered truly "independent," even though they were counted as independent in Walton's review. If you give that concern any merit, you'd more or less be looking at 100 percent of industry related studies claiming aspartame to be safe, and 100 percent of independent studies flagging some sort of health concern...
This is truly powerful documentation of the influence of corporately sponsored trials on safety or any other potential complication that can occur! This type of funding bias is a fatal flaw in the system, because in order to receive FDA approval, the product is not required to undergo any kind of independent study.
So what happens?
Well, we now know that in the drug industry, studies that do not support the drug are simply dismissed or thrown away, and only those reaching a favorable conclusion are presented. And there's nothing to indicate that the same tactics aren't also going on in the food industry.
Another troublesome issue is the fact that there are no long-term studies to evaluate the health effects of chronic exposure to sucralose. When I wrote my book, the longest safety study ever performed had lasted FOUR DAYS, and it looked at sucralose in relation to tooth decay, not human tolerance!
Potential Side Effects of Splenda
Going back to those 15 published safety studies on Splenda, only seven were done on humans. Two of these were published in respected peer-reviewed neurology journals, and they both showed a clear and strong association between the use of Splenda and migraine headaches. Animal studies have also revealed a number of problems, such as:
Decreased red blood cells -- sign of anemia -- at levels above 1,500 mg/kg/day
Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
Enlarged and calcified kidneys (McNeil stated this is often seen with poorly absorbed substances and was of no toxicological significance. The FDA Final Rule agreed that these are findings that are common in aged female rats and are not significant.)
Spontaneous abortions in nearly half the rabbit population given sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group
A 23 percent death rate in rabbits, compared to a 6 percent death rate in the control group
With so few studies available, it may be safer to listen to consumer feedback…I've compiled a page on my web site, The Potential Dangers of Sucralose, where you can share your own experiences and side effects, as many others already have. In fact, the first-hand testimonies on this page already outnumber the amount of people included in all of Splenda's safety studies!
The symptoms are so numerous I can't include them all, but the following are common symptoms, usually noticed within a 24-hour period following consumption of a Splenda product:
Skin -- Redness, itching, swelling, blistering, weeping, crusting, rash, eruptions, or hives (itchy bumps or welts Lungs -- Wheezing, tightness, cough, or shortness of breath Head -- Swelling of the face, eyelids, lips, tongue, or throat; headaches and migraines (severe headaches)
Nose -- Stuffy nose, runny nose (clear, thin discharge), sneezing Eyes -- Red (bloodshot), itchy, swollen, or watery Stomach -- Bloating, gas, pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or bloody diarrhea
Heart -- Palpitations or fluttering Joints -- Joint pains or aches Neurological -- Anxiety, dizziness, spaced-out sensation, depression
How Dangerous is Splenda?
If you only use it on rare occasions, in all likelihood it is not going to harm you. It's only likely to become an issue if you're using large amounts on a regular basis. Remember, no one knows exactly what the long-term human health ramifications are, as the longest study conducted lasted a mere four days!
This means that you and your family are the guinea pigs when it comes to evaluating long-term safety… And for this reason, I strongly recommend applying the precautionary principle, especially for your children.
The most important principle I want to emphasize here is not so much the specifics of why Splenda is potentially toxic or harmful, but rather I want you to recognize the tactics employed by these companies to manipulate and deceive you. Once you understand the basics of how they manipulate you and distort science to prove their point, then you will know when to exert caution, and when to be skeptical about new products.
Just like the drug industry, many of the sales strategies used in the food industry aim to give you some magic bullet solution that veers from time-honored principles that our ancestors used to stay healthy. Once you know what those principles are, and you're aware of the sales tactics employed, you're in a position to make solid, informed decisions.
Health is really a simple process. By replicating the patterns of our ancestors, we can optimize our health. It's important to realize that our genes do not adapt very quickly to changes in our environment, and the human body simply is not designed to thrive on modern "food-like" substances made of synthetic chemicals not found in nature.
Your body is designed to maintain health, but when you expose it to toxic influences, and deprive it of nutritional support and the basic building blocks it needs to thrive, then you'll begin losing your vitality and veer toward disease and chronic, long-term health complications…
How to Kick the Artificial Sweetener Habit
Your body typically craves sweets when you're denying it the fuel it needs. Sugar (and grain carbs) is very quick fuel and can give your body a boost when it's running low. And contrary to popular belief, using artificial sweeteners does not trick your body into thinking it has had its fill; rather it wants more sweets because it didn't get the energy boost with that sweet taste!
A powerful solution to help curb your cravings is to determine your nutritional type, which will tell you which foods you need to eat to feel full and satisfied. It may sound hard to believe right now, but once you start eating right for your nutritional type, your sweet cravings will disappear. To help you turn your health around, I now offer the full nutritional typing program online for free, so please take advantage of this opportunity to dramatically change your health for the better.
Interestingly, nutrition- and fitness expert Ori Hofmekler recently shared a fascinating benefit of caffeine that can be helpful here. If you like coffee, drinking organic black coffee (meaning without sugar or milk) can help eliminate sugar cravings because the caffeine is an opioid receptor antagonist.
As you may know, sugar binds to the same opioid receptors as cocaine and other addictive substances. But once an opioid receptor antagonist occupies that receptor, it prohibits you from becoming addicted to something else. Therefore, caffeine may attenuate the addictive impact of sugar. There are a few caveats to using this strategy however, including:
Only drink organic coffee (as it's one of the most pesticide-heavy crops there are)
Drink it black, sans sugar/artificial sweeteners or milk
Only drink coffee in the morning, prior to exercise
Limit your consumption to one or two cups
In addition to eating right for your nutritional type, I highly recommend addressing the emotional component of your food cravings, using a tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). It's one of the most profoundly effective tools I've ever used or researched to help overcome food cravings and reach dietary success. Turbo Tapping is particularly useful if you're addicted to soda. It's an extremely effective and simple tool to get rid of your addiction in a short period of time.
Related Links:
The 'Other' Sweetener That's Made from Sugar, but is Closer to DDT
The Potential Dangers of Sucralose (Splenda)
New Study of Splenda Reveals Shocking Information About Potential Harmful Effects
Friday, June 17, 2011
Great article on Exercise and Whey protein.
Visit the Mercola Video Library
Ori Hofmekler is the author of The Warrior Diet, The Anti-Estrogenic Diet, Maximum Muscle Minimum Fat, and the upcoming book Unlock Your Muscle Gene. In this interview, he discusses how to build muscle and improve your health through nutrition.
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Follow Dr. Mercola on Twitter Follow Dr. Mercola on Facebook
Ori Hofmekler is an expert on how to use food to build muscle and improve your health. This topic is also the focus of his latest book, Unlock Your Muscle Gene, and I've learned a lot from him personally on how to optimize nutrition to enhance exercise performance.
Like Ori, I too believe that, as a species, humans are not designed to be overweight and unfit; we're actually genetically programmed to be lean and muscular, with potential for extreme longevity. Unfortunately, most people are not fulfilling this genetic promise due to inactivity and poor diet. Even those who exercise regularly have trouble reaching the lofty goals Ori talks about.
But why?
Part of the problem is choosing ineffective forms of exercise.
Ever since I learned about the benefits of high-intensity interval training, which I termed "Peak 8," my physique has changed dramatically—despite the fact that I've been exercising regularly for over 40 years. I used to run, so I wasn't exercising my super-fast, white muscle fibers. Once I started, the metamorphosis was quite dramatic.
I believe the excessive focus on cardio may be part of the reason why so many are not seeing very dramatic improvements in their physique. Ori agrees, saying:
"I believe that most cardiovascular exercise is "junk exercise." It's like, they eat junk food, and they do junk exercise. People feel they are moving but they don't really progress."
I've already written extensively about the how-to's and health benefits of Peak 8-type exercises, so here we will focus on the nutrition required for optimal muscle building, fitness, and health.
Nutrition for Fitness
The common belief is that if you want to build muscle, you need to eat lots of protein and carbohydrates because carbohydrates fuel your muscles. However, the evidence that has emerged over the past several years shows us it's not that simple.
Ori describes one amazing finding in particular—that your body has a mechanism that allows it to build muscle even when deprived of food.
As it turns out, amino acids and protein serve not just as building blocks for tissues and muscle. Certain amino acids can also signal genes in your muscle to grow and to build protein, and they do that even during times of food deprivation as long as these amino acids are circulating through your blood stream.
Moreover, scientists have found that the ratio between protein and carbohydrates is critically important, especially as you age. Research shows that high-carbohydrate diets fail to build muscle even in younger people. Again and again, it's the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that proves the most effective both for muscle building and weight loss.
So, there are two primary factors involved in effective fitness nutrition:
A high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet
Your diet must contain certain amino acids, the most notable of which is leucine
Leucine—A Powerful Muscle Builder
Leucine is part of branched-chain amino acid found in certain foods. It serves multiple functions in your body, one of which is signaling the mTOR (Mammalian Target of Rapamycin) mechanism, which causes protein to be created and builds your muscle. However, according to Ori, you need far more than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of leucine in order to reap the optimal effect.
"You really need massive amounts of this amino acid," Ori says.
The highest concentrations of leucine and other branched chain amino acids (BCAA) are found in dairy products; particularly quality cheese and whey protein.
However, even though leucine is relatively abundant in our food supply, it is often wasted as an energy substrate or used as a building block rather than an anabolic agent. This means that to establish the right anabolic environment, you should try to increase leucine consumption beyond maintenance requirements. This is why Ori states you need "massive amounts" of it.
But beware that only FOOD BASED leucine can benefit your muscles without side effects. Using leucine as a free form amino acid can be highly counterproductive.
Intravenous administration of free form amino acids including leucine has shown to cause severe hyperglycemic reactions and insulin resistance. Apparently, when free form amino acids are artificially administrated, they rapidly enter your circulation while disrupting insulin function, and impairing your body's glycemic control.
This proves again that we're programmed to benefit from whole food nutrition only.
So how much leucine in the form of foods, NOT supplements, do you need to consume to get results?
Based on nitrogen-balance measurements, the requirement for leucine to maintain body protein is 1-3 grams daily. And to optimize its anabolic pathway, it has been estimated that leucine requirement should be about 8g - 16g daily. The following chart presents leucine content in common foods:
Leucine Content in food / per 100g
Whey Protein Concentrate 8.0g
Raw Cheddar Cheese 3.6g
Lean Beef 1.7g
Salmon 1.6g
Almonds 1.5g
Chicken 1.4g
Chick Peas 1.4g
Raw Eggs 1.0g
Egg Yolk 1.4g
Sheep Milk 0.6g
Pork 0.4g
Cow Milk 0.3g
This means that to get the minimum 8 gram leucine requirement for anabolic purposes, you need the following amounts of food:
a pound and a half of chicken
three pounds of pork
over a pound of almonds (over 3000 calories)
over a pound and a half of raw eggs (16 eggs)
half a pound of raw cheddar cheese
and remarkably, only 3oz of high-quality whey.
As you can see, whey protein supplementation can effectively allow you to get the minimum leucine you need to build muscle without consuming excessive amounts of food and calories.
Not All Carbs are Created Equal
You also need to pay attention to the quality and type of carbohydrates. You can get your carbs from high fructose corn syrup, or from breads and pasta, or from vegetables. The source makes a major difference.
"The reason why carbohydrates often fail is the glycemic index," Ori explains. "If carbohydrates are simple, they spike your insulin. Many still don't understand that after just one high-glycemic meal your insulin receptors are already becoming less sensitive. So when you have your second high-carb meal, you don't utilize the carbohydrates as well."
So low-glycemic fibrous carbohydrates are best. Nuts and seeds like almonds and chia seeds also contain carbohydrates, but they're low on the glycemic index, and they also contain good protein.
Both Ori and I agree that grains are rarely an ideal sources of carbs—even though there are lower glycemic grains such as oats and barley.
Fructose is clearly at the bottom of the list, for a wide range of reasons. For those of you who may protest, saying that fructose is low on the glycemic index, it's important to realize that fructose adversely affects insulin (and leptin) signaling, and that is a major, if not THE most important, factor determining whether a food is good for you or not.
Insulin is a critical element in your body. Your liver detects insulin activity, which helps your body determine how to metabolize your food.
"So when you eat carbohydrates that spike your insulin, your liver knows exactly how to regulate your sugar metabolism," Ori explains. "But when you eat fructose, you fool the liver because in nature, fructose hardly ever appears alone in food. When we isolate fructose… your liver can utilize only so much and then, since insulin is not spiked, there is accumulation of by-products from the sugar metabolism in your liver—to the point that it causes insulin resistance in the liver itself.
So, your liver starts to throw out by-products and your body shifts into a state of insulin resistance. Worse, your body converts these by-products to triglycerides… So now you got insulin resistance, high lipids, and hypertension. The correlation between fructose, diabetes, and obesity is clear and proven."
You can add heart disease to that list of likely inevitabilities too, because fructose raises triglycerides and lowers HDL ("good" cholesterol), and the triglycerides to HDL ratio is one of the most potent predictors of cardiovascular disease we know of.
Insulin Resistance Leads to Muscle Wasting
Insulin performs multiple functions in your body. It helps mobilize or signal a certain kind of protein to mobilize glucose from outside your cells, and it's a satiety hormone that affects your hunger. It's also closely inter-connected with another hunger-regulating hormone: leptin.
In addition, it's part of the mechanism mentioned earlier called mTOR, which is part of the insulin pathway. The mechanism that builds protein in your muscles is part of the insulin cascade pathway as well. It cannot be bypassed.
"Anything, in order to build protein in the muscle and grow muscle, must activate the mTOR mechanism, which activates what's called the "eukaryotic initiation factor" that…signals the muscle to build protein. If your insulin receptors are insensitive, like with type 2 diabetes, muscle wasting is inevitable. So you must keep your insulin receptors sensitive."
Other hormones can also activate the mTOR mechanism, such as testosterone (the anabolic effect of IGF-1) and, indirectly, human growth hormone (HGH) as it relates to IGF-1.
The Correlation Between Human Growth Hormone and Hunger
Human growth hormone is an anabolic hormone that also plays a role in hunger, along with the other hunger-regulating hormones, insulin and leptin.
"Let's say you are on a vegan diet, you eat a lot of whole grains, some pea protein, and some nuts," Ori says. "I can tell you now, your chances to build muscle are very slim. In fact, your chances to burn fat are also very slim. This is a serious problem.
I'm not against veganism. If it's done in a smart way it could be effective. In fact, I highly recommend the lacto-vegetarian diet. If you don't want to eat meat because of humane reason, I respect that. But the lacto-vegetarian diet has proven to be the most effective…
There is more science about the anabolic effect and the health benefit of milk protein than any other protein group in the world, more than meat, fish, and eggs. It's important to eat a high protein diet to build muscle along with low-glycemic carbohydrates."
It's worth remembering here that your ancestors didn't eat pasta or refined carbs. They ate animal products, dairy, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. So why would you suddenly need those types of carbs to grow muscle today?
"The question is, how did our ancestors manage to be so physically active while resisting hunger and sometimes lack of food, yet be in such great shape? We evolved to compensate for that," Ori says.
"One of the interesting things that happened is a process in your liver that converts amino acid to glucose. It's called the glucose-alanine cycle. It's one of the most efficient, primitive, and strong mechanisms in the human body.
Your body is so efficient in converting amino acid to glucose for energy that it… releases to your blood exactly the amount of glucose you need during times of lack of food or physical activity."… [W]hen you exercise on an empty stomach, your body will use amino acids for breakage of tissue."
However, your muscles are not the primary or only source, despite the fact that they are reservoirs of protein, so you don't need to worry that you're breaking down muscle.
"In fact, other peripheral tissue will try to break mostly the inactive muscle," Ori explains. "In the active muscle, there's a preservation mechanism—a very interesting phenomenon of "muscle shifting." If you know how to eat and when to eat… your body becomes very efficient in redesigning itself. The active muscle will build. The less active part will be recycled.
Protein will be recycled.
But, interestingly—going back to glucose—during that condition of semi-fasting and exercising, or if you just eat protein before exercising, your body will be extremely efficient in using exactly the amount of glucose that you need and no more. It's perfect efficiency.
Every time you eat a carbohydrate meal you shut down this mechanism; it doesn't exist anymore. Most people eat carbohydrate meals before exercise and then they hit the wall."
The Importance of INTENSE Exercise
Unfortunately, most people engage in the least effective type of exercise. Jogging and endurance training typically does not involve sufficient intensity to effectively shed excess fat and build muscle. You'll burn calories, yes, but you're not developing your body and regular aerobic training can even cause your testosterone levels to decrease; sometimes dramatically, according to Ori's research.
This is just as important for women as it is for men.
"The human female, unlike other females in the animal kingdom, is ready to mate all year round. When you look at the human size, there's not a big difference between men and women, as you see with other animals. Take the male gorilla versus the female gorilla, for example; the difference is huge. Same with the chimpanzees, tigers and wolves. But with humans, the females are sometimes as big as the male, or not that far away.
She has high testosterone, which is a potency or libido hormone for women too.
… So we are a testosterone driven species. We cannot allow losing this hormone. Yet we live in an environment that femininizes us with chemicals, with the wrong foods, and with the wrong exercise.
Exercise is not always beneficial. Sometimes it can be counter-effective. If exercise uses your testosterone; if it creates bad body composition, meaning wasting of muscle and building of fat; if it exhausts you, then it's not good for you.
As you age, you really need to be smart with the way you exercise. You can't just waste energy… You really need to know what to do, how to exercise, how to eat and what to eat."
Summary of Carb Rules
To sum up the subject of carbohydrates, Ori says:
"There is nothing wrong with eating carbohydrates if you just want to enjoy them, as a certain kind of a fuel that is very efficient for glycogen reserve. But it's not a necessary food to build muscle, and it could become problematic when it's overused in ratio to protein.
Carbohydrate foods are mostly grains, potatoes, starchy food, the endosperm of the grain and stuff like that. That is a carbohydrate food. Beans and peas are arguable whether they are really carbohydrates. They are more protein food in my opinion. The carbs are very complex and whole.
… [E]ven seed like chia seeds, which I really like by the way… have very good composition. At the end of the day, this is a protein food."
Chia seeds also have the highest omega-3 to omega-6 ratio of any of the seeds out there and could easily be called a super-food. As for protein, one of the best sources of high-quality protein is whole whey made from grass-fed cows. As discussed above, it's also a marvelous source of leucine, which you need in abundance if you want to boost muscle growth.
For more information, please see my previous interview with Ori where we discuss the health benefits of whey protein specifically.
Related Links:
The Major Exercise Mistake I Made for Over 30 Years...
What Has Better Protein than Meat, Fish, or Eggs?
The Popular Exercise That Tears Down Your Muscles Rather Than Building Them Up
Ori Hofmekler is the author of The Warrior Diet, The Anti-Estrogenic Diet, Maximum Muscle Minimum Fat, and the upcoming book Unlock Your Muscle Gene. In this interview, he discusses how to build muscle and improve your health through nutrition.
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Follow Dr. Mercola on Twitter Follow Dr. Mercola on Facebook
Ori Hofmekler is an expert on how to use food to build muscle and improve your health. This topic is also the focus of his latest book, Unlock Your Muscle Gene, and I've learned a lot from him personally on how to optimize nutrition to enhance exercise performance.
Like Ori, I too believe that, as a species, humans are not designed to be overweight and unfit; we're actually genetically programmed to be lean and muscular, with potential for extreme longevity. Unfortunately, most people are not fulfilling this genetic promise due to inactivity and poor diet. Even those who exercise regularly have trouble reaching the lofty goals Ori talks about.
But why?
Part of the problem is choosing ineffective forms of exercise.
Ever since I learned about the benefits of high-intensity interval training, which I termed "Peak 8," my physique has changed dramatically—despite the fact that I've been exercising regularly for over 40 years. I used to run, so I wasn't exercising my super-fast, white muscle fibers. Once I started, the metamorphosis was quite dramatic.
I believe the excessive focus on cardio may be part of the reason why so many are not seeing very dramatic improvements in their physique. Ori agrees, saying:
"I believe that most cardiovascular exercise is "junk exercise." It's like, they eat junk food, and they do junk exercise. People feel they are moving but they don't really progress."
I've already written extensively about the how-to's and health benefits of Peak 8-type exercises, so here we will focus on the nutrition required for optimal muscle building, fitness, and health.
Nutrition for Fitness
The common belief is that if you want to build muscle, you need to eat lots of protein and carbohydrates because carbohydrates fuel your muscles. However, the evidence that has emerged over the past several years shows us it's not that simple.
Ori describes one amazing finding in particular—that your body has a mechanism that allows it to build muscle even when deprived of food.
As it turns out, amino acids and protein serve not just as building blocks for tissues and muscle. Certain amino acids can also signal genes in your muscle to grow and to build protein, and they do that even during times of food deprivation as long as these amino acids are circulating through your blood stream.
Moreover, scientists have found that the ratio between protein and carbohydrates is critically important, especially as you age. Research shows that high-carbohydrate diets fail to build muscle even in younger people. Again and again, it's the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that proves the most effective both for muscle building and weight loss.
So, there are two primary factors involved in effective fitness nutrition:
A high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet
Your diet must contain certain amino acids, the most notable of which is leucine
Leucine—A Powerful Muscle Builder
Leucine is part of branched-chain amino acid found in certain foods. It serves multiple functions in your body, one of which is signaling the mTOR (Mammalian Target of Rapamycin) mechanism, which causes protein to be created and builds your muscle. However, according to Ori, you need far more than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of leucine in order to reap the optimal effect.
"You really need massive amounts of this amino acid," Ori says.
The highest concentrations of leucine and other branched chain amino acids (BCAA) are found in dairy products; particularly quality cheese and whey protein.
However, even though leucine is relatively abundant in our food supply, it is often wasted as an energy substrate or used as a building block rather than an anabolic agent. This means that to establish the right anabolic environment, you should try to increase leucine consumption beyond maintenance requirements. This is why Ori states you need "massive amounts" of it.
But beware that only FOOD BASED leucine can benefit your muscles without side effects. Using leucine as a free form amino acid can be highly counterproductive.
Intravenous administration of free form amino acids including leucine has shown to cause severe hyperglycemic reactions and insulin resistance. Apparently, when free form amino acids are artificially administrated, they rapidly enter your circulation while disrupting insulin function, and impairing your body's glycemic control.
This proves again that we're programmed to benefit from whole food nutrition only.
So how much leucine in the form of foods, NOT supplements, do you need to consume to get results?
Based on nitrogen-balance measurements, the requirement for leucine to maintain body protein is 1-3 grams daily. And to optimize its anabolic pathway, it has been estimated that leucine requirement should be about 8g - 16g daily. The following chart presents leucine content in common foods:
Leucine Content in food / per 100g
Whey Protein Concentrate 8.0g
Raw Cheddar Cheese 3.6g
Lean Beef 1.7g
Salmon 1.6g
Almonds 1.5g
Chicken 1.4g
Chick Peas 1.4g
Raw Eggs 1.0g
Egg Yolk 1.4g
Sheep Milk 0.6g
Pork 0.4g
Cow Milk 0.3g
This means that to get the minimum 8 gram leucine requirement for anabolic purposes, you need the following amounts of food:
a pound and a half of chicken
three pounds of pork
over a pound of almonds (over 3000 calories)
over a pound and a half of raw eggs (16 eggs)
half a pound of raw cheddar cheese
and remarkably, only 3oz of high-quality whey.
As you can see, whey protein supplementation can effectively allow you to get the minimum leucine you need to build muscle without consuming excessive amounts of food and calories.
Not All Carbs are Created Equal
You also need to pay attention to the quality and type of carbohydrates. You can get your carbs from high fructose corn syrup, or from breads and pasta, or from vegetables. The source makes a major difference.
"The reason why carbohydrates often fail is the glycemic index," Ori explains. "If carbohydrates are simple, they spike your insulin. Many still don't understand that after just one high-glycemic meal your insulin receptors are already becoming less sensitive. So when you have your second high-carb meal, you don't utilize the carbohydrates as well."
So low-glycemic fibrous carbohydrates are best. Nuts and seeds like almonds and chia seeds also contain carbohydrates, but they're low on the glycemic index, and they also contain good protein.
Both Ori and I agree that grains are rarely an ideal sources of carbs—even though there are lower glycemic grains such as oats and barley.
Fructose is clearly at the bottom of the list, for a wide range of reasons. For those of you who may protest, saying that fructose is low on the glycemic index, it's important to realize that fructose adversely affects insulin (and leptin) signaling, and that is a major, if not THE most important, factor determining whether a food is good for you or not.
Insulin is a critical element in your body. Your liver detects insulin activity, which helps your body determine how to metabolize your food.
"So when you eat carbohydrates that spike your insulin, your liver knows exactly how to regulate your sugar metabolism," Ori explains. "But when you eat fructose, you fool the liver because in nature, fructose hardly ever appears alone in food. When we isolate fructose… your liver can utilize only so much and then, since insulin is not spiked, there is accumulation of by-products from the sugar metabolism in your liver—to the point that it causes insulin resistance in the liver itself.
So, your liver starts to throw out by-products and your body shifts into a state of insulin resistance. Worse, your body converts these by-products to triglycerides… So now you got insulin resistance, high lipids, and hypertension. The correlation between fructose, diabetes, and obesity is clear and proven."
You can add heart disease to that list of likely inevitabilities too, because fructose raises triglycerides and lowers HDL ("good" cholesterol), and the triglycerides to HDL ratio is one of the most potent predictors of cardiovascular disease we know of.
Insulin Resistance Leads to Muscle Wasting
Insulin performs multiple functions in your body. It helps mobilize or signal a certain kind of protein to mobilize glucose from outside your cells, and it's a satiety hormone that affects your hunger. It's also closely inter-connected with another hunger-regulating hormone: leptin.
In addition, it's part of the mechanism mentioned earlier called mTOR, which is part of the insulin pathway. The mechanism that builds protein in your muscles is part of the insulin cascade pathway as well. It cannot be bypassed.
"Anything, in order to build protein in the muscle and grow muscle, must activate the mTOR mechanism, which activates what's called the "eukaryotic initiation factor" that…signals the muscle to build protein. If your insulin receptors are insensitive, like with type 2 diabetes, muscle wasting is inevitable. So you must keep your insulin receptors sensitive."
Other hormones can also activate the mTOR mechanism, such as testosterone (the anabolic effect of IGF-1) and, indirectly, human growth hormone (HGH) as it relates to IGF-1.
The Correlation Between Human Growth Hormone and Hunger
Human growth hormone is an anabolic hormone that also plays a role in hunger, along with the other hunger-regulating hormones, insulin and leptin.
"Let's say you are on a vegan diet, you eat a lot of whole grains, some pea protein, and some nuts," Ori says. "I can tell you now, your chances to build muscle are very slim. In fact, your chances to burn fat are also very slim. This is a serious problem.
I'm not against veganism. If it's done in a smart way it could be effective. In fact, I highly recommend the lacto-vegetarian diet. If you don't want to eat meat because of humane reason, I respect that. But the lacto-vegetarian diet has proven to be the most effective…
There is more science about the anabolic effect and the health benefit of milk protein than any other protein group in the world, more than meat, fish, and eggs. It's important to eat a high protein diet to build muscle along with low-glycemic carbohydrates."
It's worth remembering here that your ancestors didn't eat pasta or refined carbs. They ate animal products, dairy, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. So why would you suddenly need those types of carbs to grow muscle today?
"The question is, how did our ancestors manage to be so physically active while resisting hunger and sometimes lack of food, yet be in such great shape? We evolved to compensate for that," Ori says.
"One of the interesting things that happened is a process in your liver that converts amino acid to glucose. It's called the glucose-alanine cycle. It's one of the most efficient, primitive, and strong mechanisms in the human body.
Your body is so efficient in converting amino acid to glucose for energy that it… releases to your blood exactly the amount of glucose you need during times of lack of food or physical activity."… [W]hen you exercise on an empty stomach, your body will use amino acids for breakage of tissue."
However, your muscles are not the primary or only source, despite the fact that they are reservoirs of protein, so you don't need to worry that you're breaking down muscle.
"In fact, other peripheral tissue will try to break mostly the inactive muscle," Ori explains. "In the active muscle, there's a preservation mechanism—a very interesting phenomenon of "muscle shifting." If you know how to eat and when to eat… your body becomes very efficient in redesigning itself. The active muscle will build. The less active part will be recycled.
Protein will be recycled.
But, interestingly—going back to glucose—during that condition of semi-fasting and exercising, or if you just eat protein before exercising, your body will be extremely efficient in using exactly the amount of glucose that you need and no more. It's perfect efficiency.
Every time you eat a carbohydrate meal you shut down this mechanism; it doesn't exist anymore. Most people eat carbohydrate meals before exercise and then they hit the wall."
The Importance of INTENSE Exercise
Unfortunately, most people engage in the least effective type of exercise. Jogging and endurance training typically does not involve sufficient intensity to effectively shed excess fat and build muscle. You'll burn calories, yes, but you're not developing your body and regular aerobic training can even cause your testosterone levels to decrease; sometimes dramatically, according to Ori's research.
This is just as important for women as it is for men.
"The human female, unlike other females in the animal kingdom, is ready to mate all year round. When you look at the human size, there's not a big difference between men and women, as you see with other animals. Take the male gorilla versus the female gorilla, for example; the difference is huge. Same with the chimpanzees, tigers and wolves. But with humans, the females are sometimes as big as the male, or not that far away.
She has high testosterone, which is a potency or libido hormone for women too.
… So we are a testosterone driven species. We cannot allow losing this hormone. Yet we live in an environment that femininizes us with chemicals, with the wrong foods, and with the wrong exercise.
Exercise is not always beneficial. Sometimes it can be counter-effective. If exercise uses your testosterone; if it creates bad body composition, meaning wasting of muscle and building of fat; if it exhausts you, then it's not good for you.
As you age, you really need to be smart with the way you exercise. You can't just waste energy… You really need to know what to do, how to exercise, how to eat and what to eat."
Summary of Carb Rules
To sum up the subject of carbohydrates, Ori says:
"There is nothing wrong with eating carbohydrates if you just want to enjoy them, as a certain kind of a fuel that is very efficient for glycogen reserve. But it's not a necessary food to build muscle, and it could become problematic when it's overused in ratio to protein.
Carbohydrate foods are mostly grains, potatoes, starchy food, the endosperm of the grain and stuff like that. That is a carbohydrate food. Beans and peas are arguable whether they are really carbohydrates. They are more protein food in my opinion. The carbs are very complex and whole.
… [E]ven seed like chia seeds, which I really like by the way… have very good composition. At the end of the day, this is a protein food."
Chia seeds also have the highest omega-3 to omega-6 ratio of any of the seeds out there and could easily be called a super-food. As for protein, one of the best sources of high-quality protein is whole whey made from grass-fed cows. As discussed above, it's also a marvelous source of leucine, which you need in abundance if you want to boost muscle growth.
For more information, please see my previous interview with Ori where we discuss the health benefits of whey protein specifically.
Related Links:
The Major Exercise Mistake I Made for Over 30 Years...
What Has Better Protein than Meat, Fish, or Eggs?
The Popular Exercise That Tears Down Your Muscles Rather Than Building Them Up
Monday, June 13, 2011
Great article on Curcumin & Cancer
I have a great source of Tumeric from Medi-Herb, not to mention all the other support listed at the bottom of the article.
Posted By Dr. Mercola | June 13 2011 | 119,272 views
Curcumin Turmeric, Not long ago, researchers at the world-renowned University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center published a groundbreaking scientific review of their favorite anti-cancer nutrient -- curcumin. Curcumin, along with several other nutrients, is remarkable in that it can actually tell the difference between a healthy cell and a cancer cell.
According to Wellness Resources, here is how the researchers explained their interest in curcumin:
“’ ... Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) ... is one of the most powerful and promising chemopreventive and anticancer agents ... How curcumin exerts its powerful anticancer activities has been thoroughly investigated, and several mechanisms of action have been discovered ... curcumin exerts its biological activities through epigenetic modulation.’”
In other words, curcumin changes the regulation of DNA to help kill cancer. In fact, curcumin not only influences epigenetic settings, it also manages the downstream consequences, helping to guide multiple steps in the way gene orders are implemented.
Sources:
Wellness Resources May 12, 2011
Genes and Nutrition May 2011; 6(2):93-108
GreenMedInfo.com Curcumin Studies
GreenMedInfo.com Turmeric Studies
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Follow Dr. Mercola on Twitter Follow Dr. Mercola on Facebook
The role of epigenetics in health and disease is becoming ever clearer, and I firmly believe this field of study will eventually supplant the current medical paradigm. The conventional belief has been that genes controlled their own expression and were therefore the direct cause of certain diseases. This laid the groundwork for the idea that your genes predetermined your health.
But genes are in fact NOT self-regulating.
Having "bad genes," does not at all mean you're doomed to suffer some inevitable fate. Genes are merely blueprints, and these blueprints are activated and controlled by something else entirely, namely their environment. This environmental information—which includes diet, toxic exposures, as well as thoughts and emotions, and more—can create more than 30,000 different variations from each blueprint, allowing for an astounding amount of leeway in modifying the expression or "read-out" of each gene!
The Power of Food as Medicine
As a result of these findings, we're now finally seeing science alter its course to investigate the power of optimal nutrition to improve health and prevent chronic disease from occurring in the first place. To anyone who is well-versed in alternative medicine, this is simply common sense. But many are still in denial about the power each individual wields over their own health, and that preventing disease and even treating disease can be as simple as modifying your diet and lifestyle—essentially, altering the environment of your body, to provide the best, most health promoting growth medium possible for all your cells.
Part of the explanation for why food can have such a powerful influence on serious diseases such as cancer is due to its influence on a biological process called angiogenesis-- the process your body uses to build blood vessels. Cancerous cells, like all other cells in your body, cannot thrive without the oxygen and nutrients supplied by your capillaries.
Excessive angiogenesis (too many blood vessels) promote diseases such as cancer.
Most of us actually carry around microscopic cancer cell clusters in our bodies all the time. The reason why we all don't develop cancer is because as long as your body has the ability to balance angiogenesis properly, it will prevent blood vessels from forming to feed these microscopic tumors. Trouble will only arise if, and when, the cancer cells manage to get their own blood supply, at which point they can transform from harmless to deadly.
As our ancestors intuitively understood, Nature has laced a large number of foods and herbs with naturally occurring inhibitors of angiogenesis, rendering them natural "anti-cancer medicines." Simply by consuming these anti-angiogenetic foods you can naturally boost your body's defense system and prevent blood vessels from forming and feeding the microscopic tumors that exist in your body at any given time.
I've previously written about a number of different foods found to have particularly powerful epigenetic influence, such as broccoli and resveratrol, but many researchers consider the curcumin in turmeric to have the greatest potential in combating cancer.
Curcumin—One of the Most Powerful Cancer Gene Regulators
It's now becoming more widely accepted that cancer is not pre-programmed into your genes, but rather it's the environment of your body that regulates your genetic expression that can trigger cancer to occur. Adverse epigenetic influences that can damage or mutate DNA and alter genetic expression, allowing cancer to proliferate, include:
Nutritional deficiencies and hormonal imbalances Toxins and pollution Chronic infections Infectious toxic byproducts
Chronic stress Chronic inflammation Free radical damage Thoughts and emotional conflicts
Curcumin currently has the most evidence-based literature supporting its use against cancer than any other nutrient. Interestingly this also includes the metabolite of curcumin and its derivatives, which are also anti-cancerous. Best of all, curcumin appears to be safe in the treatment of all cancers.
Researchers have found that curcumin can affect more than 100 different pathways, once it gets into the cell. More specifically, curcumin has been found to:
Inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells Decrease inflammation
Inhibit the transformation of cells from normal to tumor Inhibit the synthesis of a protein thought to be instrumental in tumor formation
Help your body destroy mutated cancer cells so they cannot spread throughout your body Help prevent the development of additional blood supply necessary for cancer cell growth (angiogenesis)
However, much of curcumin's power seems to lie in its ability to modulate genetic activity and expression—both by destroying cancer cells, and by promoting healthy cell function. It also promotes anti-angiogenesis, i.e. it helps prevent the development of additional blood supply necessary for cancer cell growth as discussed above.
For example, a 2005 study in Biochemical Pharmacology found that curcumin can help slow the spread of breast cancer cells to the lungs in mice.
"Curcumin acts against transcription factors, which are like a master switch," said lead researcher, Bharat Aggarwal. "Transcription factors regulate all the genes needed for tumors to form. When we turn them off, we shut down some genes that are involved in the growth and invasion of cancer cells."
Another study in Biochemical Pharmacology also found that curcumin inhibits the activation of NF-kappaB, a regulatory molecule that signals genes to produce a slew of inflammatory molecules (including TNF, COX-2 and IL-6) that promote cancer cell growth.
Other Health Benefits of Curcumin
The growing interest in curcumin over the past 50 years is understandable when you consider the many health benefits researchers have found when studying this herb. According to studies, curcumin may help:
Reduce cholesterol levels Prevent low-density lipoprotein oxidation Inhibit platelet aggregation
Suppress thrombosis and myocardial infarction Suppress symptoms associated with type 2 diabetes Suppress symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
Suppress symptoms of multiple sclerosis Suppress symptoms of Alzheimer's disease Inhibit HIV replication
Suppress tumor formation Enhance wound healing Protect against liver damage
Increase bile secretion Protect against cataracts Protect against pulmonary toxicity and fibrosis
How to Use Curcumin
To get the full benefits curcumin has to offer, look for a turmeric extract that contains 100 percent certified organic ingredients, with at least 95 percent curcuminoids. The formula should be free of fillers, additives and excipients (a substance added to the supplement as a processing or stability aid), and the manufacturer should use safe production practices at all stages: planting, cultivation, selective harvesting, and then producing and packaging the final product.
Unfortunately, at the present time there really are no formulations available for the use against cancer. This is because relatively high doses are required and curcumin is not absorbed that well.
According to Dr. William LaValley, one of the leading medicine cancer physicians I personally know, typical anticancer doses are up to three grams of good bioavailable curcumin extract, three to four times daily. One work-around is to use the curcumin powder and make a microemulsion of it by combining a tablespoon of the powder and mixing it into 1-2 egg yolks and a teaspoon or two of melted coconut oil.Then use a high speed hand blender to emulsify the powder.
Another strategy that can help increase absorption is to put one tablespoon of the curcumin powder into a quart of boiling water. It must be boiling when you add the powder as it will not work as well if you put it in room temperature water and heat the water and curcumin. After boiling it for ten minutes you will have created a 12 percent solution that you can drink once it has cooled down. It will have a woody taste.
The curcumin will gradually fall out of solution however. In about six hours it will be a 6 percent solution, so it's best to drink the water within four hours.
Be aware that curcumin is a very potent yellow pigment and can permanently discolor surfaces if you aren't careful.
Please Remember the Cancer Treatment BASICS
It is encouraging to see cancer research on herbs such as turmeric. However, it's virtually impossible to discuss cancer prevention and treatment without touching on one of the absolute best cancer prevention nutrients ever discovered, namely vitamin D.
Despite its name, vitamin D is actually a powerful neuro-regulatory steroid, and it's likely more potent than curcumin, as its epigenetic influence covers more than 2,000 genes in your body—or about 10 percent of all genes! There are also more than 830 peer reviewed scientific studies showing vitamin D's effectiveness in the treatment of cancer.
Personally, I believe it is virtually malpractice to not optimize vitamin D levels when treating someone with cancer. In this case, your vitamin D levels should be around 70-100 ng/ml. For more information about optimizing your vitamin D levels, please see my previous article Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency.
Cancer Treatments: Chemo or Natural?
Contrary to 'conventional wisdom,' chemotherapy is rarely the best option for cancer treatment as it usually typically doesn't cure cancer or extend life, and it rarely improves the quality of life. Dr. Ralph Moss, who is the author of eight books on cancer treatment, has reviewed thousands of studies as part of the research for his books -- and he has not found one single good study showing that chemo cures cancer or extends life.
What chemo does do, however, is expose your body to toxins that kill all cells that multiply and divide rapidly. This includes not only cancer cells, but also other rapidly multiplying and dividing cells, such as bone marrow, reproductive system cells and hair follicles.
These are powerful drugs that present an assault on your system -- one that your body must then overcome along with the cancer. And the effects do not end right after the treatment. One UCLA study found that chemotherapy can actually change the blood flow and metabolism of your brain in ways that can linger for 10 years or more after treatment.
For Additional Curcumin Studies
GreenMedInfo.com has a listing of 1,456 curcumin studies, hundreds of which relate specifically to curcumin's effect on different types of cancer.
Natural (and Epigenetic) Cancer Prevention Strategies
I believe you can virtually eliminate your risk of cancer and other chronic disease, and radically improve your chances of recovering from cancer if you currently have it, by following some relatively simple risk reduction strategies—all of which help promote a healthful biological environment in which your cells can thrive and combat disease naturally.
You don't read or hear much about these strategies because they have not been formally "proven" yet by conservative researchers. However, did you know that 85 percent of therapies currently recommended by conventional medicine have never been formally proven effective either?!
My top 12 cancer prevention strategies include:
Reduce or eliminate your processed food, fructose and grain carbohydrate intake.
Normalize your vitamin D levels by getting plenty of sunlight exposure and consider careful supplementation when this is not possible. If you take oral vitamin D and have cancer, it would be prudent to monitor your vitamin D blood levels regularly.
Control your fasting insulin and leptin levels. (Improved insulin and leptin control is the natural outcome of reducing or eliminating fructose, grains, and processed foods from your diet.)
Normalize your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats by taking a high-quality krill oil or fish oil and reducing your intake of most processed vegetable oils.
Get regular exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks. If you have limited time Peak 8 is your best bet but ideally you should have a good strength training program
Get regular, good sleep.
Eat according to your nutritional type. The potent anti-cancer effects of this principle are sorely underappreciated. However, some cancer specialists are now using nutritional typing as an integral part of their cancer treatments.
Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.
Limit your exposure and provide protection for yourself from EMF produced by cell phone towers, base stations, cell phones and WiFi stations. On May 31, 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared that cell phones are "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
Avoid frying or charbroiling your food. Boil, poach or steam your foods instead.
Have a tool to permanently reprogram the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. Energy psychology seems to be one of the best approaches and my particular favorite tool, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique. German New Medicine is another powerful tool.
Eat at least one-third of your food raw.
Related Links:
How Broccoli Fights Cancer
Black Raspberries Slow Cancer by Altering Hundreds of Genes
Cancer Breakthrough: 50-60% Success Rate, Cures the Incurable
Posted By Dr. Mercola | June 13 2011 | 119,272 views
Curcumin Turmeric, Not long ago, researchers at the world-renowned University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center published a groundbreaking scientific review of their favorite anti-cancer nutrient -- curcumin. Curcumin, along with several other nutrients, is remarkable in that it can actually tell the difference between a healthy cell and a cancer cell.
According to Wellness Resources, here is how the researchers explained their interest in curcumin:
“’ ... Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) ... is one of the most powerful and promising chemopreventive and anticancer agents ... How curcumin exerts its powerful anticancer activities has been thoroughly investigated, and several mechanisms of action have been discovered ... curcumin exerts its biological activities through epigenetic modulation.’”
In other words, curcumin changes the regulation of DNA to help kill cancer. In fact, curcumin not only influences epigenetic settings, it also manages the downstream consequences, helping to guide multiple steps in the way gene orders are implemented.
Sources:
Wellness Resources May 12, 2011
Genes and Nutrition May 2011; 6(2):93-108
GreenMedInfo.com Curcumin Studies
GreenMedInfo.com Turmeric Studies
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Follow Dr. Mercola on Twitter Follow Dr. Mercola on Facebook
The role of epigenetics in health and disease is becoming ever clearer, and I firmly believe this field of study will eventually supplant the current medical paradigm. The conventional belief has been that genes controlled their own expression and were therefore the direct cause of certain diseases. This laid the groundwork for the idea that your genes predetermined your health.
But genes are in fact NOT self-regulating.
Having "bad genes," does not at all mean you're doomed to suffer some inevitable fate. Genes are merely blueprints, and these blueprints are activated and controlled by something else entirely, namely their environment. This environmental information—which includes diet, toxic exposures, as well as thoughts and emotions, and more—can create more than 30,000 different variations from each blueprint, allowing for an astounding amount of leeway in modifying the expression or "read-out" of each gene!
The Power of Food as Medicine
As a result of these findings, we're now finally seeing science alter its course to investigate the power of optimal nutrition to improve health and prevent chronic disease from occurring in the first place. To anyone who is well-versed in alternative medicine, this is simply common sense. But many are still in denial about the power each individual wields over their own health, and that preventing disease and even treating disease can be as simple as modifying your diet and lifestyle—essentially, altering the environment of your body, to provide the best, most health promoting growth medium possible for all your cells.
Part of the explanation for why food can have such a powerful influence on serious diseases such as cancer is due to its influence on a biological process called angiogenesis-- the process your body uses to build blood vessels. Cancerous cells, like all other cells in your body, cannot thrive without the oxygen and nutrients supplied by your capillaries.
Excessive angiogenesis (too many blood vessels) promote diseases such as cancer.
Most of us actually carry around microscopic cancer cell clusters in our bodies all the time. The reason why we all don't develop cancer is because as long as your body has the ability to balance angiogenesis properly, it will prevent blood vessels from forming to feed these microscopic tumors. Trouble will only arise if, and when, the cancer cells manage to get their own blood supply, at which point they can transform from harmless to deadly.
As our ancestors intuitively understood, Nature has laced a large number of foods and herbs with naturally occurring inhibitors of angiogenesis, rendering them natural "anti-cancer medicines." Simply by consuming these anti-angiogenetic foods you can naturally boost your body's defense system and prevent blood vessels from forming and feeding the microscopic tumors that exist in your body at any given time.
I've previously written about a number of different foods found to have particularly powerful epigenetic influence, such as broccoli and resveratrol, but many researchers consider the curcumin in turmeric to have the greatest potential in combating cancer.
Curcumin—One of the Most Powerful Cancer Gene Regulators
It's now becoming more widely accepted that cancer is not pre-programmed into your genes, but rather it's the environment of your body that regulates your genetic expression that can trigger cancer to occur. Adverse epigenetic influences that can damage or mutate DNA and alter genetic expression, allowing cancer to proliferate, include:
Nutritional deficiencies and hormonal imbalances Toxins and pollution Chronic infections Infectious toxic byproducts
Chronic stress Chronic inflammation Free radical damage Thoughts and emotional conflicts
Curcumin currently has the most evidence-based literature supporting its use against cancer than any other nutrient. Interestingly this also includes the metabolite of curcumin and its derivatives, which are also anti-cancerous. Best of all, curcumin appears to be safe in the treatment of all cancers.
Researchers have found that curcumin can affect more than 100 different pathways, once it gets into the cell. More specifically, curcumin has been found to:
Inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells Decrease inflammation
Inhibit the transformation of cells from normal to tumor Inhibit the synthesis of a protein thought to be instrumental in tumor formation
Help your body destroy mutated cancer cells so they cannot spread throughout your body Help prevent the development of additional blood supply necessary for cancer cell growth (angiogenesis)
However, much of curcumin's power seems to lie in its ability to modulate genetic activity and expression—both by destroying cancer cells, and by promoting healthy cell function. It also promotes anti-angiogenesis, i.e. it helps prevent the development of additional blood supply necessary for cancer cell growth as discussed above.
For example, a 2005 study in Biochemical Pharmacology found that curcumin can help slow the spread of breast cancer cells to the lungs in mice.
"Curcumin acts against transcription factors, which are like a master switch," said lead researcher, Bharat Aggarwal. "Transcription factors regulate all the genes needed for tumors to form. When we turn them off, we shut down some genes that are involved in the growth and invasion of cancer cells."
Another study in Biochemical Pharmacology also found that curcumin inhibits the activation of NF-kappaB, a regulatory molecule that signals genes to produce a slew of inflammatory molecules (including TNF, COX-2 and IL-6) that promote cancer cell growth.
Other Health Benefits of Curcumin
The growing interest in curcumin over the past 50 years is understandable when you consider the many health benefits researchers have found when studying this herb. According to studies, curcumin may help:
Reduce cholesterol levels Prevent low-density lipoprotein oxidation Inhibit platelet aggregation
Suppress thrombosis and myocardial infarction Suppress symptoms associated with type 2 diabetes Suppress symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
Suppress symptoms of multiple sclerosis Suppress symptoms of Alzheimer's disease Inhibit HIV replication
Suppress tumor formation Enhance wound healing Protect against liver damage
Increase bile secretion Protect against cataracts Protect against pulmonary toxicity and fibrosis
How to Use Curcumin
To get the full benefits curcumin has to offer, look for a turmeric extract that contains 100 percent certified organic ingredients, with at least 95 percent curcuminoids. The formula should be free of fillers, additives and excipients (a substance added to the supplement as a processing or stability aid), and the manufacturer should use safe production practices at all stages: planting, cultivation, selective harvesting, and then producing and packaging the final product.
Unfortunately, at the present time there really are no formulations available for the use against cancer. This is because relatively high doses are required and curcumin is not absorbed that well.
According to Dr. William LaValley, one of the leading medicine cancer physicians I personally know, typical anticancer doses are up to three grams of good bioavailable curcumin extract, three to four times daily. One work-around is to use the curcumin powder and make a microemulsion of it by combining a tablespoon of the powder and mixing it into 1-2 egg yolks and a teaspoon or two of melted coconut oil.Then use a high speed hand blender to emulsify the powder.
Another strategy that can help increase absorption is to put one tablespoon of the curcumin powder into a quart of boiling water. It must be boiling when you add the powder as it will not work as well if you put it in room temperature water and heat the water and curcumin. After boiling it for ten minutes you will have created a 12 percent solution that you can drink once it has cooled down. It will have a woody taste.
The curcumin will gradually fall out of solution however. In about six hours it will be a 6 percent solution, so it's best to drink the water within four hours.
Be aware that curcumin is a very potent yellow pigment and can permanently discolor surfaces if you aren't careful.
Please Remember the Cancer Treatment BASICS
It is encouraging to see cancer research on herbs such as turmeric. However, it's virtually impossible to discuss cancer prevention and treatment without touching on one of the absolute best cancer prevention nutrients ever discovered, namely vitamin D.
Despite its name, vitamin D is actually a powerful neuro-regulatory steroid, and it's likely more potent than curcumin, as its epigenetic influence covers more than 2,000 genes in your body—or about 10 percent of all genes! There are also more than 830 peer reviewed scientific studies showing vitamin D's effectiveness in the treatment of cancer.
Personally, I believe it is virtually malpractice to not optimize vitamin D levels when treating someone with cancer. In this case, your vitamin D levels should be around 70-100 ng/ml. For more information about optimizing your vitamin D levels, please see my previous article Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency.
Cancer Treatments: Chemo or Natural?
Contrary to 'conventional wisdom,' chemotherapy is rarely the best option for cancer treatment as it usually typically doesn't cure cancer or extend life, and it rarely improves the quality of life. Dr. Ralph Moss, who is the author of eight books on cancer treatment, has reviewed thousands of studies as part of the research for his books -- and he has not found one single good study showing that chemo cures cancer or extends life.
What chemo does do, however, is expose your body to toxins that kill all cells that multiply and divide rapidly. This includes not only cancer cells, but also other rapidly multiplying and dividing cells, such as bone marrow, reproductive system cells and hair follicles.
These are powerful drugs that present an assault on your system -- one that your body must then overcome along with the cancer. And the effects do not end right after the treatment. One UCLA study found that chemotherapy can actually change the blood flow and metabolism of your brain in ways that can linger for 10 years or more after treatment.
For Additional Curcumin Studies
GreenMedInfo.com has a listing of 1,456 curcumin studies, hundreds of which relate specifically to curcumin's effect on different types of cancer.
Natural (and Epigenetic) Cancer Prevention Strategies
I believe you can virtually eliminate your risk of cancer and other chronic disease, and radically improve your chances of recovering from cancer if you currently have it, by following some relatively simple risk reduction strategies—all of which help promote a healthful biological environment in which your cells can thrive and combat disease naturally.
You don't read or hear much about these strategies because they have not been formally "proven" yet by conservative researchers. However, did you know that 85 percent of therapies currently recommended by conventional medicine have never been formally proven effective either?!
My top 12 cancer prevention strategies include:
Reduce or eliminate your processed food, fructose and grain carbohydrate intake.
Normalize your vitamin D levels by getting plenty of sunlight exposure and consider careful supplementation when this is not possible. If you take oral vitamin D and have cancer, it would be prudent to monitor your vitamin D blood levels regularly.
Control your fasting insulin and leptin levels. (Improved insulin and leptin control is the natural outcome of reducing or eliminating fructose, grains, and processed foods from your diet.)
Normalize your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats by taking a high-quality krill oil or fish oil and reducing your intake of most processed vegetable oils.
Get regular exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks. If you have limited time Peak 8 is your best bet but ideally you should have a good strength training program
Get regular, good sleep.
Eat according to your nutritional type. The potent anti-cancer effects of this principle are sorely underappreciated. However, some cancer specialists are now using nutritional typing as an integral part of their cancer treatments.
Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.
Limit your exposure and provide protection for yourself from EMF produced by cell phone towers, base stations, cell phones and WiFi stations. On May 31, 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared that cell phones are "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
Avoid frying or charbroiling your food. Boil, poach or steam your foods instead.
Have a tool to permanently reprogram the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. Energy psychology seems to be one of the best approaches and my particular favorite tool, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique. German New Medicine is another powerful tool.
Eat at least one-third of your food raw.
Related Links:
How Broccoli Fights Cancer
Black Raspberries Slow Cancer by Altering Hundreds of Genes
Cancer Breakthrough: 50-60% Success Rate, Cures the Incurable
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
WOW the link between Mansanto, GMA and Aspartame
Be Aware: this "Food" Radically Increases Your Risk of Cancer...
Posted By Dr. Mercola |
Tom Philpott got much more of a reaction to his February 10, 2011, aspartame article than he expected. He reports, "I guess in the back of my mind, I was thinking, people still drink that stuff?"
Well, they do—by the bucketful. Overall, U.S. soda consumption is declining slowly, but Americans still drink more soda than anyone else on the planet, by a wide margin. According to one reckoning, the average American drinks 736 "eight-ounce servings" each year.
Adam Ozimek of the Modeled Behavior blog quickly mounted a vigorous defense of aspartame, the artificial sweetener of choice for the soda industry, claiming, "the unnecessary stress caused by worrying about the aspartame in your diet soda is far more dangerous for you than the aspartame in your soda."
Ozimek also compared warnings about aspartame's danger to 9/11 conspiracy theories, claiming the FDA "adequately followed its food additive approval process in approving aspartame."
Philpott goes on to point out recent studies that shed new light on aspartame's dangers to your health (including risk of cancer, stroke, and type 2 diabetes), as well as discussing the pro-business and regulatory-shy Obama administration that has failed to recognize "public health is being harmed by agency practices that defer to business interests."
Sources:
Grist February 14, 2011
Modeled Behavior February 10, 2011
American Journal of Industrial Medicine July 2010
Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history, and its approval for use in food was one of the most hotly contested in FDA history. The artificial sweetener was approved, not on scientific grounds, but because of strong political and financial pressures.
With all the research now available on aspartame and its various ingredients, it's hard to believe such a chemical would be allowed into the food supply, but it is, and it's been silently wreaking havoc with people's health for the past 30 years.
Just to refresh your memory, aspartame has been linked to the following health concerns:
Lymphomas, leukemias, and brain cancer Asthma
Neurological symptoms including headaches, depressed and anxious mood, seizures, memory loss, hallucinations, and dizziness Visual changes
Weakness and fatigue Joint pain
Sleep disorders Weight gain and diabetes
Abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea Rashes and hives
The truth is, aspartame should never have been released into the market, and allowing it to remain on the market is really a serious public health issue—no matter how many times it gets rebranded with splashy new names, like Neotame and AminoSweet.
Aspartame has been the subject of a great deal of research over the past several decades. But much of this research has been seriously flawed due to major conflict of interest—funded by those interested in promoting aspartame at any cost.
The Most Compelling Evidence Linking Aspartame to Cancer
As Tom Philpott pointed out, aspartame studies have been extremely biased, depending on the organization providing the funding. Studies funded by the sweetener industry tend to conclude aspartame is safe, whereas studies funded independently show all manner of adverse health effects.
In the early 2000s, Italian cancer researcher Dr. Morando Soffritti, head of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, conducted aspartame safety studies on rats in an effort to find some answers. His studies were different from earlier ones in that he studied a much larger population of rats (1,900 of the little rodents) and observed them over the course of their entire natural lifetimes (about 3 years).
A very important fact to consider here is that the Ramazzini foundation is a well respected, independent, non-profit institution that has been dedicated to cancer prevention for more than 35 years.
Dr. Soffritti believed the studies done by Searle in the 1970s involved insufficient numbers of rats, and did not allow them to live long enough to develop cancer. The rats in the Searle studies were euthanized after two years, arguably before many cancers would have developed.
Soffritti explained:
"Since 80 percent of cancer is diagnosed in humans over the age of 55, it is of paramount importance to observe how an agent affects laboratory animals in the last third of their lives."
What did he find? The first study found, after being fed the "human equivalent" of four to five bottles of diet soda per day, the rats developed high rates of lymphomas, leukemias and other cancers. At the highest dose, 25 percent of the female rats developed lymphomas and leukemias, compared with just 8.7 percent of the control group. Dr. Soffritti attributed the cancer to the methanol produced as a byproduct of aspartame metabolism. As with rats, when your body breaks down methanol, the result is formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
The researchers determined aspartame's carcinogenic effect was observed at levels as low as 400 parts per million (ppm), concluding the following:
"The results of this mega-experiment indicate that APM [aspartame] is a multipotential carcinogenic agent, even at a daily dose of 20 mg/kg body weight, much less than the current acceptable daily intake. On the basis of these results, a reevaluation of the present guidelines on the use and consumption of APM is urgent and cannot be delayed."
Not surprisingly, the results drew massive criticism from the industry and vociferous attempts to discredit the Ramazzini Foundation and its research.
But the foundation refused to back down.
In 2007, they published a follow-up study—again finding cancer linked with aspartame use. But this time, their findings included a troubling discovery that when exposure begins in the womb, aspartame's carcinogenic effect is amplified. Sadly, no American regulatory agency has acted on Dr. Soffritti's findings, and the FDA stubbornly clings to its position that aspartame is safe.
Watering the Seeds of Deception
The Obama administration has made sure Monsanto will enjoy even more control over what you eat. The appointment of Tom Vilsack to Secretary of Agriculture was a foreshadowing of things to come. As former Iowa Governor, Vilsack was a staunch advocate for Monsanto, genetic engineering, and factory farming. And many other USDA officials have similar ties.
After a five-year battle with the industry, the USDA just gave its stamp of approval for genetically engineered alfalfa and sugar beets. Farmers will be allowed to plant GMO alfalfa and beet seeds anywhere—even abutting organic farms.
This decision poses dire possibilities for our entire food supply as these GM seeds drift hither and to neighboring farms, invited or not. Sugar beets are wind-pollinated crops whose pollen can be carried up to six miles, depending on the winds. Is this really what Michelle Obama wants in her organic White House garden? Beets and alfalfa are one thing—but what do GMOs have to do with aspartame? As it turns out, quite a lot.
The Connection Between Aspartame and GMOs
Aspartame is made with genetically modified bacteria—E. coli, to be specific. Monsanto uses GM bacteria in the process of making aspartame in their American factories—and insists it is completely safe.
According to an article in The Independent:
"Aspartame is made by combining phenylalanine, which is naturally produced by bacteria, with another amino acid. Monsanto has genetically engineered the bacteria to make them produce more phenylalanine. Scientists fear that other unknown compounds, which may end up in food, are produced by the genetic engineering process."
Aspartame is composed of two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. All products containing aspartame must be labeled with the information "contains phenylalanine" (which is dangerous if you suffer from the metabolic illness phenylketonuria). But additives that are manufactured with the aid of GMOs do NOT require labeling as such, provided the additive contains no actual microorganisms.
So, two of the greatest health hazards of modern times—artificial sweeteners and GMOs—originate behind the doors of Monsanto, the most powerful biotech company in the world.
"GMO-free" products have outpaced even "gluten-free" products as the fastest growing section of your grocery store aisle. Surveys show that up to 90 percent of U.S. consumers are in favor of mandatory GMO labeling. But the government isn't listening to you.
Jay Feldman, director of Beyond Pesticides, puts it well:
"The Secretary of Agriculture should have picked up on the transparency advocacy that the President and this administration has put forth. It really is hypocritical of an administration that advocates transparency to support a technology that is secret to the consumer and to people who would like to make an informed choice."
If GMOs are used in making aspartame, of which few people are aware, how many other products contain GMOs that we don't know about?
What You Can Do
Only a fraction of all adverse reactions to drugs and vaccines are ever reported—estimates are between 1 and 4 percent. Chances are, adverse reactions from other FDA-regulated products, like aspartame, are probably even lower.This is a problem that only youcan correct. Your best strategy is to vote with your pocketbook and avoid purchasing any aspartame products. You can carefully read the list of ingredients and see if aspartame is there and avoid it. Additionally you can avoid the branded labels of aspartame such as:
NutraSweet Equal
AminoSweet Canderel
Natra Taste Neotame
Spoonful
It would also be helpful to alert the FDA to a problem with a product they've approved, they must be notified by as many people as possible who are experiencing the problem. So I urge you, if you experience side effects from aspartame, report it to the FDA without delay.
It's easy to make a report—just go to the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator page, find the phone number for your state, and make a call reporting your reaction.
There's no telling just how many reports they might need to receive before taking another look at aspartame's safety and reconsidering their stance. But I CAN tell you, the more reports they get, the more likely that is to happen. So if you suspect you have experienced an adverse reaction from aspartame (or any other drug or food additive), please take a moment to make this important call.
Related Links:
Why This Toxic Sweetener is FAR Worse than High Fructose Corn Syrup...
How Does Aspartame Damage Your Brain?
One More Reason to Ban Artificial Sweeteners from Your Diet
Posted By Dr. Mercola |
Tom Philpott got much more of a reaction to his February 10, 2011, aspartame article than he expected. He reports, "I guess in the back of my mind, I was thinking, people still drink that stuff?"
Well, they do—by the bucketful. Overall, U.S. soda consumption is declining slowly, but Americans still drink more soda than anyone else on the planet, by a wide margin. According to one reckoning, the average American drinks 736 "eight-ounce servings" each year.
Adam Ozimek of the Modeled Behavior blog quickly mounted a vigorous defense of aspartame, the artificial sweetener of choice for the soda industry, claiming, "the unnecessary stress caused by worrying about the aspartame in your diet soda is far more dangerous for you than the aspartame in your soda."
Ozimek also compared warnings about aspartame's danger to 9/11 conspiracy theories, claiming the FDA "adequately followed its food additive approval process in approving aspartame."
Philpott goes on to point out recent studies that shed new light on aspartame's dangers to your health (including risk of cancer, stroke, and type 2 diabetes), as well as discussing the pro-business and regulatory-shy Obama administration that has failed to recognize "public health is being harmed by agency practices that defer to business interests."
Sources:
Grist February 14, 2011
Modeled Behavior February 10, 2011
American Journal of Industrial Medicine July 2010
Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history, and its approval for use in food was one of the most hotly contested in FDA history. The artificial sweetener was approved, not on scientific grounds, but because of strong political and financial pressures.
With all the research now available on aspartame and its various ingredients, it's hard to believe such a chemical would be allowed into the food supply, but it is, and it's been silently wreaking havoc with people's health for the past 30 years.
Just to refresh your memory, aspartame has been linked to the following health concerns:
Lymphomas, leukemias, and brain cancer Asthma
Neurological symptoms including headaches, depressed and anxious mood, seizures, memory loss, hallucinations, and dizziness Visual changes
Weakness and fatigue Joint pain
Sleep disorders Weight gain and diabetes
Abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea Rashes and hives
The truth is, aspartame should never have been released into the market, and allowing it to remain on the market is really a serious public health issue—no matter how many times it gets rebranded with splashy new names, like Neotame and AminoSweet.
Aspartame has been the subject of a great deal of research over the past several decades. But much of this research has been seriously flawed due to major conflict of interest—funded by those interested in promoting aspartame at any cost.
The Most Compelling Evidence Linking Aspartame to Cancer
As Tom Philpott pointed out, aspartame studies have been extremely biased, depending on the organization providing the funding. Studies funded by the sweetener industry tend to conclude aspartame is safe, whereas studies funded independently show all manner of adverse health effects.
In the early 2000s, Italian cancer researcher Dr. Morando Soffritti, head of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, conducted aspartame safety studies on rats in an effort to find some answers. His studies were different from earlier ones in that he studied a much larger population of rats (1,900 of the little rodents) and observed them over the course of their entire natural lifetimes (about 3 years).
A very important fact to consider here is that the Ramazzini foundation is a well respected, independent, non-profit institution that has been dedicated to cancer prevention for more than 35 years.
Dr. Soffritti believed the studies done by Searle in the 1970s involved insufficient numbers of rats, and did not allow them to live long enough to develop cancer. The rats in the Searle studies were euthanized after two years, arguably before many cancers would have developed.
Soffritti explained:
"Since 80 percent of cancer is diagnosed in humans over the age of 55, it is of paramount importance to observe how an agent affects laboratory animals in the last third of their lives."
What did he find? The first study found, after being fed the "human equivalent" of four to five bottles of diet soda per day, the rats developed high rates of lymphomas, leukemias and other cancers. At the highest dose, 25 percent of the female rats developed lymphomas and leukemias, compared with just 8.7 percent of the control group. Dr. Soffritti attributed the cancer to the methanol produced as a byproduct of aspartame metabolism. As with rats, when your body breaks down methanol, the result is formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
The researchers determined aspartame's carcinogenic effect was observed at levels as low as 400 parts per million (ppm), concluding the following:
"The results of this mega-experiment indicate that APM [aspartame] is a multipotential carcinogenic agent, even at a daily dose of 20 mg/kg body weight, much less than the current acceptable daily intake. On the basis of these results, a reevaluation of the present guidelines on the use and consumption of APM is urgent and cannot be delayed."
Not surprisingly, the results drew massive criticism from the industry and vociferous attempts to discredit the Ramazzini Foundation and its research.
But the foundation refused to back down.
In 2007, they published a follow-up study—again finding cancer linked with aspartame use. But this time, their findings included a troubling discovery that when exposure begins in the womb, aspartame's carcinogenic effect is amplified. Sadly, no American regulatory agency has acted on Dr. Soffritti's findings, and the FDA stubbornly clings to its position that aspartame is safe.
Watering the Seeds of Deception
The Obama administration has made sure Monsanto will enjoy even more control over what you eat. The appointment of Tom Vilsack to Secretary of Agriculture was a foreshadowing of things to come. As former Iowa Governor, Vilsack was a staunch advocate for Monsanto, genetic engineering, and factory farming. And many other USDA officials have similar ties.
After a five-year battle with the industry, the USDA just gave its stamp of approval for genetically engineered alfalfa and sugar beets. Farmers will be allowed to plant GMO alfalfa and beet seeds anywhere—even abutting organic farms.
This decision poses dire possibilities for our entire food supply as these GM seeds drift hither and to neighboring farms, invited or not. Sugar beets are wind-pollinated crops whose pollen can be carried up to six miles, depending on the winds. Is this really what Michelle Obama wants in her organic White House garden? Beets and alfalfa are one thing—but what do GMOs have to do with aspartame? As it turns out, quite a lot.
The Connection Between Aspartame and GMOs
Aspartame is made with genetically modified bacteria—E. coli, to be specific. Monsanto uses GM bacteria in the process of making aspartame in their American factories—and insists it is completely safe.
According to an article in The Independent:
"Aspartame is made by combining phenylalanine, which is naturally produced by bacteria, with another amino acid. Monsanto has genetically engineered the bacteria to make them produce more phenylalanine. Scientists fear that other unknown compounds, which may end up in food, are produced by the genetic engineering process."
Aspartame is composed of two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. All products containing aspartame must be labeled with the information "contains phenylalanine" (which is dangerous if you suffer from the metabolic illness phenylketonuria). But additives that are manufactured with the aid of GMOs do NOT require labeling as such, provided the additive contains no actual microorganisms.
So, two of the greatest health hazards of modern times—artificial sweeteners and GMOs—originate behind the doors of Monsanto, the most powerful biotech company in the world.
"GMO-free" products have outpaced even "gluten-free" products as the fastest growing section of your grocery store aisle. Surveys show that up to 90 percent of U.S. consumers are in favor of mandatory GMO labeling. But the government isn't listening to you.
Jay Feldman, director of Beyond Pesticides, puts it well:
"The Secretary of Agriculture should have picked up on the transparency advocacy that the President and this administration has put forth. It really is hypocritical of an administration that advocates transparency to support a technology that is secret to the consumer and to people who would like to make an informed choice."
If GMOs are used in making aspartame, of which few people are aware, how many other products contain GMOs that we don't know about?
What You Can Do
Only a fraction of all adverse reactions to drugs and vaccines are ever reported—estimates are between 1 and 4 percent. Chances are, adverse reactions from other FDA-regulated products, like aspartame, are probably even lower.This is a problem that only youcan correct. Your best strategy is to vote with your pocketbook and avoid purchasing any aspartame products. You can carefully read the list of ingredients and see if aspartame is there and avoid it. Additionally you can avoid the branded labels of aspartame such as:
NutraSweet Equal
AminoSweet Canderel
Natra Taste Neotame
Spoonful
It would also be helpful to alert the FDA to a problem with a product they've approved, they must be notified by as many people as possible who are experiencing the problem. So I urge you, if you experience side effects from aspartame, report it to the FDA without delay.
It's easy to make a report—just go to the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator page, find the phone number for your state, and make a call reporting your reaction.
There's no telling just how many reports they might need to receive before taking another look at aspartame's safety and reconsidering their stance. But I CAN tell you, the more reports they get, the more likely that is to happen. So if you suspect you have experienced an adverse reaction from aspartame (or any other drug or food additive), please take a moment to make this important call.
Related Links:
Why This Toxic Sweetener is FAR Worse than High Fructose Corn Syrup...
How Does Aspartame Damage Your Brain?
One More Reason to Ban Artificial Sweeteners from Your Diet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
