Guest guest Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 The Case of The Missing Nutrients JoAnn Guest Feb 04, 2004 10:59 PST The nutrient content of foods, especially regarding minerals, fluctuates widely, depending on growing conditions. Our soils are depleted of selenium and often has only marginal levels of zinc. magnesium, calcium and other trace minerals. Evidence shows that the food tables that supposedly tell us the nutrient content of the foods we eat vastly overstate nutritional value. Without mineral-rich soils, it is impossible for fruits and vegetables to contain a rich supply of nutrients! Fruits and vegetables begin to lose nutrients from the moment they are picked! Green vegetables lose almost all their vitamin C after a few days of being stored at room temperature. Today, there are an unprecedented number of chemicals all around us--- in our food, water, and the very air we breathe! The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that 60,000 chemicals have been buried or dumped throughout the United States and are now penetrating our water supply! Automobiles and industry spew millions of pounds of pollutants into the atmosphere each year. Our food has become a chemical feast that is sprayed with pesticides, injected with hormones, fed with antibiotics, and adulterated with over 3,000 chemicals in the form of artificial colors, flavors, textures, and preservatives! Living and working with smokers can be equivalent to smoking several cigarettes a day. Many of the chemicals now in or environment have been proven to pose hazards to human health! Others may be potentially hazardous. Xenoestrogens are " foreign " estrogens that are found in pesticides, herbicides, plastics, salad dressings, margarines, etc. Due to these harmful estrogens many women are producing 50% of the progesterone that their mothers did! The 'free radicals' in these harmful estrogens contribute to estrogen dominance, damage the developing follicles of the fetus and cause breast cancer,osteoporosis and infertility! Xenoestrogens, like DDT and dioxin, can bond with estrogen " receptors " and never leave your body!! As might be expected, our meats, which come from animals raised on some of the same nutrient-depleted foods that are available to us, are also lower in vitamins and minerals than indicated in food tables. The nutrient levels in our factory-farm livestock, which are fed artiificial diets, also differ from those of animals that enjoy a more natural existence! And, of course, cooking robs meat of even more nutrients---up to half of its thiamin, B6, and pantothenic acid. Perhaps one of the greatest injustices inflicted upon foods occurs during the milling of grains. When wheat is processed into white flour, up to 40% of the Vitamin C, from 65 to 85% of the B vitamins, 59% of the magnesium and 72% of the zinc are lost! Also lost are significant amounts of other vitamins, proteins, and fiber. The food industry puts back a few cents worth of iron, calcium, niacin, thiamin and riboflavin and calls it " enriched " !! Dozens of toxins in the form of chemical cancer stimulants found in pesticides, unfiltered water, and nonorganic processed foods accumulate in the body's fatty tissues. These toxins play a part in breast and prostate cancer, particularly in *hormone*-sensitive tissues. Whether these chemicals deplete nutrients or increase your requirements, it is wise to SUPERFORTIFY appropriately in order to obtain the necessary antioxidants to help your body withstand these CHEMICAL INSULTS!! Fortunately, it has been found that certain vitamins and minerals are productive against some of these toxic substances. For example, vitamin C and E have been shown to be protective against nitrosamine, a carcinogen your body forms from the nitrates and nitrites found in processed meats such as hotdogs, bacon, ham, and bologna. These same carcinogens form from pollutants in the air and in cigarette smoke. In addition to being cancer-causing agents, toxic chemicals have become a prime suspect in male infertility. Sperm counts all over the world are half what they were in the late 1930's, and of low quality. But sperm counts of men who eat Organically Grown foods are twice as high as average. Vitamin C and Glutathione have been shown to increase the percentage of normal sperm and sperm mobility and sperm viability as well. _________________ Dr. Don's Research Updates- Organic foods show higher rates of natural anti-oxidants By Don Lotter, Ph.D. --- Yet another research study has found that the levels of *polyphenolics*, which are anti-oxidant and cancer-fighting compounds, are higher in organically grown fruits and in unsprayed conventionally grown foods than in conventionally grown fruits sprayed with pesticides (Mitchell et al., Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Feb 26, 2003). This study corroborates the study I discussed in my October 14 column, (in archives at http://www.newfarm.org/archive/news.shtml) which showed a 70 percent reduction in levels of resveratrol in grapes sprayed with fungicides. Resveratrol is an anti-oxidant that helps to reduce heart disease, and it is produced in the plant as a defense against attack by fungal pathogens. When the plant is sprayed with a fungicide, apparently the triggering mechanism in the plant for producing defense compounds is eliminated. The recent study, out of the University of California at Davis, showed that fruit grown organically and fruit grown using chemical fertilizers but no pesticides had significantly higher levels of polyphenolics than fruit grown using chemical fertilizers and pesticide sprays. In organic marionberries, the polyphenols were 58 percent higher. This corroborates the results of the study I reported on sprayed vs. unsprayed grapes, which were fertilized identically. Polyphenolic defense compounds are induced in plants by low to moderate levels of pathogen or insect attack, conditions often found in organic crop systems that depend on natural forms of pest management. These defense compounds are part of an immune-like system in plants, called " systemic acquired resistance, " or SAR. If salicylic acid is higher in organically grown vegetables, then a number of subsequent, more complex products in the plant are likely higher -- products such as polyphenols that may be important in human health. The results of the above studies do not show it, but the soil can have affects on plant SAR. Other resources: " Nutritional Quality of Organic Versus Conventional Fruits, Vegetables and Grains " by Virginia Worthington, published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2001 (pp. 161-173), available at: www.foodisyourbestmedicine.com/organic.pdf. http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/sect/D.html --- Irradiation Basics ---- Food is irradiated using radioactive gamma sources, usually cobalt 60 or cesium 137, or high energy electron beams. The gamma rays break up the molecular structure of the food,forming positively and negatively charged particles called *free radicals*. The free radicals react with the food to create new chemical substances called " radiolytic products. " Those unique to the irradiation process are known as " unique radiolytic products " (URPs). These radiolytic products, such as formaldehyde, benzene, formic acid, and quinones are harmful to human health. Benzene, for example, is a known carcinogen. In one experiment, seven times more benzene was found in cooked, irradiated beef than in cooked, non-irradiated beef. Some URPs are completely new chemicals that have not even been identified, let alone tested for toxicity. In addition, irradiation destroys essential vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, thiamine, B2, B3, B6, B12, folic acid, C, E, and K; amino acid and essential polyunsaturated fatty acid content may also be affected. A 20 to 80 percent loss of any of these is not uncommon. Irradiation, because of its intense energy, breaks molecules and increases the amount of " free radicals " in food. --- What Is Dioxin? --- Dioxin is the name generally given to a class of super-toxic chemicals, the chlorinated dioxins and furans, formed as a by-product of the manufacture, molding, or burning of chemicals and plastics that contain chlorine. It is the nastiest, most toxic man-made organic chemical; its toxicity is second only to radioactive waste. Dioxin made headlines several years ago at places such as Love Canal, where hundreds of families needed to abandon their homesdue to dioxin contamination, and Times Beach, Missouri, a town that was abandoned as a result of dioxin. Dioxin - An Unprecedented Threat We now know that dioxin exhibits serious health effects when it reaches as little as a few parts per trillion in your body fat. Dioxin is a powerful hormone disrupting chemical. By binding to a cell's hormone receptor, it literally modifies the functioning and genetic mechanism of the cell, causing a wide range of effects, from cancer to reduced immunity to nervous system disorders to miscarriages and birth deformity. Because it literally changes the functioning of your cells, the effects can be very obvious or very subtle. Because it changes gene functions, it can cause so-called genetic diseases to appear, and can interfere with child development. There is no " threshold " dose - the tiniest amount can cause damage, and our bodies have no *defense* against it. Unfortunately, according to the EPA, much of the population of the U.S. is at the dose at which there can be serious health effects. How did this happen? For about 40 years we have seen a dramatic increase in the manufacture and use of chlorinated organic chemicals and plastics. For chemicals, it was insecticides and herbicides (weed killers). For plastics, it was primarily polyvinyl chloride. we are literally surrounded by PVC. When these chemicals and plastics are manufactured or burned, dioxin is produced as an unwanted (but inevitable) by-product. Just in the last 20 years we have begun to burn household and industrial trash and medical waste in mass-burn incinerators. The result - given that we have disposable vinyl plastic all around us - has been a dramatic increase in dioxin contamination everywhere in the U.S. Dioxin, formed during burning,is carried for hundreds of miles on tiny specks of fly-ash from the incinerators. It settles on crops, which then get eaten by cows, steers, pigs, and chickens. It contaminates lakes, streams, and the ocean. Like the pesticides such as DDT, dioxin accumulates in the fat cells of the animals, and re-appears in meat and milk. Dioxin is virtually indestructible in most environments, and is excreted by the body extremely slowly. How To Avoid Dioxin: Do not eat beef or pork, which have some of the largest concentrations of dioxin of all food sources. Chicken has the lowest dioxin content of all meats, but is still significant. Vegetarian meat substitutes such as organic tofu, beans, and rice have essentially no contamination. If your family drinks milk, drink only organic skim milk, since dioxin is carried in the butterfat. To lessen your risks avoid all full-fat dairy products, such as butter, cheese and ice cream. _________________ JoAnn Guest mrsjoguest DietaryTipsForHBP http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest The complete " Whole Body " Health line consists of the " AIM GARDEN TRIO " Ask About Health Professional Support Series: AIM Barleygreen " Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future " http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/AIM.html PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER We have made every effort to ensure that the information included in these pages is accurate. However, we make no guarantees nor can we assume any responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process discussed. SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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