Dramatic Health Recoveries Reported By Patients Who Took Their Doctor’s Advice and Stopped Using GMO Foods
by Jeffrey M. Smith RSS
executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology and author of "Seeds of Deception"
Are genetically modified (GM) foods making you sick – I mean really
sick? Up until recently, all that we could say was thank goodness you’re
not a lab rat; GM feed messes them up big time. GMOs (genetically
modified organisms) appear to trigger the immune systems of both mice
and rats as if they were under attack. In addition, the gastrointestinal
system is adversely affected, animals age more quickly, and vital
organs are damaged. When fed GM foods, lab animals can also become
infertile, have smaller or sterile offspring, increased infant
mortality, and even hair growing in their mouths. Have I got your
attention?
Biotechnology corporations such as Monsanto try to
distort or deny the evidence, sometimes pointing to their own studies
that supposedly show no reactions. But when scientists such as French
toxicologist G.E. Seralini re-analyzed Monsanto’s raw data, it actually
showed that the rats fed GM corn suffered from clear signs of toxicity –
evidence that industry scientists skillfully overlooked.
Doctors Prescribe Non-GMO Diets; Remarkable Recoveries Result
Although there have been no human clinical trials, experts conclude
that there is sufficient evidence from animal feeding studies to remove
GMOs altogether. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM)
called for a moratorium in 2009 based on their review of the research.
According to their former president, Dr. Robin Bernhoft, the Academy
“recommends that all physicians should prescribe non-genetically
modified food for all patients, and that we should educate all of our
patients on the potential health dangers, and known health dangers of
GMO food.”
Today, thousands of physicians and nutritionists do
just that, and they report that a wide variety of health conditions
improve after people make the change. Here’s some recent examples:
1) Trial consultant LaDonna Carlton, had to take two pills, three times
a day to suppress the painful cramps and constant diarrhea associated
with her irritable bowel syndrome. “My doctor told me I would be on this
forever,” says LaDonna. But then she met a new doctor, internist Emily
Lindner, MD. “The first thing she did,” says LaDonna, “was take me off
GMOs,” including soy, corn, canola oil, and sugar. “Within two months,”
she says, “I didn’t need the medication any longer.”
Since
LaDonna stopped preparing foods with GMOs, her husband Fred was swept
along with the new diet. And he’s glad he was. “I feel 10 times better,”
he says. At 73, Fred plays full court basketball, even with two
artificial knees. The new diet, he says, “made me feel much younger... I
feel like I’m 50.”
2) Interior designer, Carol Salb, also
recovered from irritable bowel syndrome, as well as cold hands and feet,
thinning hair, allergies, and daily congestion. “I felt better in two
and half weeks [after going GMO-free],” she says. That was six years ago
and she’s still going strong.
3) We interviewed former school
teacher Theresa Haerle on her 25th day on a GMO-free diet, and she had
already shed more than 10 pounds. Even more remarkable was her recovery
from 30 years of colitis – by the third day of her diet. In addition,
her skin problems started to clear, she had more energy than she’d had
in years, and it no longer hurt to get out of bed in the morning.
4) Kids are also recovering. One middle schooler changed his diet and
no longer suffers from incapacitating migraines and asthma. Another
recovered from horrible pain in his gut.
Although these patient
interviews had been set up by physicians, at the Institute for
Responsible Technology we’ve heard similar stories for a long time.
Laurie lost 35 pounds in one year. Paul’s restless leg syndrome is gone –
unless he accidentally eats a GMO. Many say their symptoms go away when
visiting Europe, where food companies removed GMOs long ago due to
consumer rejection.
Dr. Lindner says, “I tell my patients to
avoid genetically modified foods because in my experience, with those
foods there is more allergies and asthma,” as well as digestive issues
such as gas, bloating, irritable bowel, colitis, and leaky gut. “And
what emanates from that,” she says, “is everything. Lots of arthritis
problems, autoimmune diseases, anxiety... neurological problems;
anything that comes from an inspired immune system response.”
The speed of recovery varies, usually depending on the symptom. “When I
change people from a GMO diet to a GMO-free diet,” she says, “I see
results instantaneously in people who have foggy thinking and people who
have gut symptoms like bloating, gas, irritation. In terms of
allergies, it might take two to five days. In terms of depression, it
starts to lift almost instantaneously. It takes from a day, to certainly
within two weeks.” Full results usually take about four to six weeks.
Dr. Lindner doesn’t just eliminate GMOs in her dietary regimen, but
that, she says, is the most critical component.
People who
switch to non-GMO diets often do so by buying organic foods – which are
not allowed to use GMOs. This raises a critical point in the analysis.
Were the health recoveries stemming from eliminating GMOs or from other
co-factors such as the reduction in chemicals and increased nutrition
found in organics? Similarly, since most GMOs in our diet are found in
processed foods, some people reduced GMOs by cooking from scratch. So
they simultaneously eliminate additives that may contribute to
disorders. And for others, they may also eliminate food categories, such
as gluten or dairy, based on a diagnosis. So what’s really causing
these dramatic recoveries?
Similar Livestock Stories – Without The Co-factors
Fortunately, the experience of numerous veterinarians and farmers
around the world gives us insight. When they take livestock off GMO soy
or corn and substitute the non-GMO equivalent, they don’t have these
pesky co-factors. The animals are not eating organic, there’s no change
in nutrients or additives, and yet the results are still impressive.
When a Danish pig farmer switched to non-GMO soy in April 2011 for his
450 sows and their offspring, within two days the animals’ serious
diarrhea problems virtually disappeared. During the following year,
death from ulcers and bloat, which had claimed 36 pigs over the previous
two years, vanished. Conception rate was up, litter size was up,
diseases were down, and birth defects were eliminated.
An Iowa
farmer saw immediate changes in his 3,000 pig nursery after switching to
non-GMO corn last December. Not only is there a lower rate of disease
and medical bills, he says, “Our pigs are happier and more playful.”
A feedlot operator with 5,000 head of cattle also switched to non-GMO
corn and reported, “We’ve had a lot less pneumonia and health issues
since that time.” Like the pig farmer, the behaviour changed noticeably.
His “cattle have been a lot calmer.” Many farmers who were struggling
with high rates of infertility and miscarriages in their livestock say
they turned the situation around after switching to non-GMO feed.
Renowned veterinarian and author Michael W. Fox, whose syndicated
column has reached tens of millions, says that when GMOs were introduced
to the marketplace, cats and dogs started suffering from much higher
rates of allergies, itching, and gastrointestinal problems. He now has a
file drawer full of letters from happy pet owners confirming that his
advice to switch the pets to non-GMO and organic feed cleared up the
problem.
Repeating Symptoms: From Lab Rats to Consumers
What is striking about all these reports is the similarity of
experiences. Many of the same categories of disorders identified in
animal feeding studies by the American Academy of Environmental
Medicine, (e.g. gastrointestinal, immune, and reproductive), also clear
up in humans and livestock when they switch to a non-GMO diet. Moreover,
these same problems are on the rise in the U.S. population since GMOs
were introduced in 1996. Inflammatory bowel disease is up 40 percent.
Multiple chronic illnesses nearly doubled in nine years. Food allergies,
infertility, asthma, autoimmune diseases, etc., have accelerated among
U.S. consumers, nearly all of whom eat GMOs without even knowing it.
Even autism rates may be impacted. When an autism specialist heard a
scientist lecture about the behavioural, neurological, and physiological
changes in mice, rats, and livestock fed GMOs, he told the speaker
afterwards: “That’s exactly what we are finding in our autistic
children.” Many parents report significant improvements in behaviour and
gastrointestinal disorders in their autistic children, after they
remove GMOs from the diet. (See resource list.)
How Could GMOs Be So Bad?
To understand how genetically engineered crops might contribute to so
many serious disorders, it is helpful to understand a few details of the
technology. GM crops have foreign genes inserted into their DNA, which
is followed by cloning of those cells into plants.
1)
Irrespective of which foreign gene is used, the very process of
insertion and cloning causes massive collateral damage to the plants’
natural DNA. This has resulted, for example, in a new allergen in
Monsanto’s GM corn and a huge allergen increase in their GM soy. Most of
these types of unexpected side effects, which can add toxins or
carcinogens to our meals, are never even screened for.
2) The
GM crops on the market contain added genetic material from bacteria and
viruses. These pieces of DNA, as well as the RNA and proteins they
produce, have never before been part of the human diet; that can be a
problem for the immune system. According to Martha Grout, MD,
“Genetically modified foods create inflammation in the system.”
Inflammation, in turn, can lead to a wide variety of diseases, including
allergies, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, and heart disease. Dr. Emily
Lindner likewise interprets the impact of GMOs as “an immune or
inflammatory response” and treats it accordingly.
3) The gene
inserted into certain GM corn and cotton varieties is designed to
provoke a response – in insects that is. The gene produces a poison
called Bt-toxin that kills certain bugs by breaking holes in their
digestive tracts. In spite of assurances by the biotech industry to the
contrary, a study published this year confirmed that the toxin also
breaks holes in human cells. A Canadian study in 2011 found Bt-toxin
from Monsanto’s corn circulating in the blood of 93 percent of the
pregnant women tested, as well as in 80 percent of their unborn fetuses.
Bt corn might therefore not only provoke an inflamed, leaky digestive
tract, it might wreak havoc in our bloodstream, and in the delicate
brains of infants whose blood brain barriers are not developed.
4) Three minor GM crops, papaya (grown in Hawaii and China
exclusively), zucchini, and yellow crookneck squash, contain inserted
virus genes designed to fend off disease. Eating these, however, may
have the exact opposite effect on us. Viral genes can produce viral
proteins, which as a class are well-known to suppress the body’s
defences against viral infection. They can also be toxic.
5)
The most widely used GMOs are called “herbicide tolerant,” including
soy, corn, cotton, canola, sugar beets, and alfalfa. This trait allows
farmers to spray Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup, for example, on their
Roundup Ready crops without killing them. The genes inserted into these
plants produce proteins with allergenic properties. Perhaps of greater
concern is that the sprayed toxins are concentrated into the food
portion of the plant and end up in our diet. Roundup is linked to
cancer, Parkinson’s, birth defects, and endocrine disruption.
6) And now the bad news. The only human feeding study confirmed that
part of the gene inserted into Roundup Ready soybeans can transfer into
DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines. If the transferred genes
continue to produce proteins (and there is evidence suggesting it does),
then we may have allergens, viral proteins, or even Bt-toxin
continuously manufactured within our own digestive tracts.
OK, The Good News
Fortunately, as people learn about the health dangers of GMOs, feel
better from non-GMO diets, and tell others, the non-GMO movement grows.
There are now millions who seek healthier non-GMO foods. Since GMOs
offer no consumer benefits; and since the major food companies in North
America have already removed GMOs from their European brands due to
consumer rejection, any measurable drop in sales that is linked with
growing anti-GMO sentiment here will likely trigger a rapid race to
non-GMO status.
The tipping point threshold is likely to require only about five percent of consumers.
A critical vote in California this November may accelerate the non-GMO
revolution. A measure requiring mandatory labeling of GMOs is on the
ballot. If passed, we think food companies would rather avoid GMOs than
admit they use them. Especially since 53 percent of Americans say they
would choose the non-GMO brands once labels give them a clear choice.
I’ll bet that after learning about the evidence of health dangers, that percentage is likely to grow. http://vitalitymagazine.com/article/dramatic-health-recoveries-reported/
