Guest guest Posted December 26, 2004 Report Share Posted December 26, 2004 The Root of Flavor! JoAnn Guest Dec 25, 2004 23:49 PST ====================================================================== The Root of Flavor! Adding flavor and health to food often comes from our powerful root vegetable friends. Potatoes are one of these universally loved vegetables loaded with vitamins C and B-6, potassium and fiber. A potato contains natural starch. Starches are sugar molecules bonded together. Starches turn into sugars when enzymes break their bonds. Starches are the main form of carbohydrate 'storage' in plants. Starches are polysaccharides, which means strings of more than two carbohydrate " molecules " . These polysaccharides are whole foods containing much more than just " isolated " carbohydrates. Potatoes grown in good soil contain vitamins,minerals and enzymes. Potatoes are called “complex” carbohydrates, meaning that they are ‘complete’ foods. Because of the harmful effects of carbohydrates of blood sugar control, some popular diets have led people to believe that the best way to eat is to avoid carbohydrates almost entirely. I don't agree with this approach. In fact, based upon results from short-term clinical trials as well as large population-based based studies, diets that have a higher intake of quality carbohydrates are consistently associated with lower risk for diabetes, obesity, cancer and heart disease. In natural foods the primary nutrients come prepacked with a variety of vitamins and minerals, which enhance the maximal utilization of these foods. Whole foods also contain fibres which influence the rate at which food passes through the intestine, and also control the rate at which the digestive products are absorbed. Moreover, the vitamins and minerals found in whole foods play an essential role in metabolizing the nutrients we eat. The slower absorbing less refined complex carbohydrates like potatoes contain minerals, enzymes and vitamins. These nutrients help convert complex carbohydrates to fuel, slowing down conversion to sugar, allowing the body to spend its fuel at the same rate it is being produced. The Standard American Diet (SAD) clogs our arteries, damages our joints, slows down our nervous systems, decreases our mental alertness, produces stones in our kidneys and gallbladder, and very often leads either to chronic disease or early death. Pure whole foods, in the correct combinations, will eliminate many of these problems. Potassium is found in a rather wide range of foods. Cold-water fish, unprocessed beans, lentils, legumes, fruits, vegetables,and organic whole grains are all respectable sources. Unfortunately,however much of the potassium in potatoes may be lost in cooking. A boiled potato may lose up to 50 percent of its original potassium content. A steamed or baked potato, 3 to 6 percent. Potatoes in their whole natural organic state, are a beneficial source of nutrients, however as we shall see, this healthy food, along with so many of the others in our food supply are undergoing major changes. Potaotes are listed as one of the vegetables which are genetically modified. (Atlantic, Russett Burbank, Russet Norkatah, and Shepody are all genetically engineered! varieties, and with many more in the planning stages . Processed food products that may contain GE potatoes or derivatives include: unspecified, restaurant potato products (fries, mashed, baked, mixes with potato flour, etc.), chips, Passover products, breads,baked goods, refined vegetable oil,pies, soups, stews, etc. GE foods create new toxins, antibiotic resistance, allergic reactions, and other dietary risks for consumers and therefore are not " generally recognized as safe. " This was recently highlighted in an article in “The Lancet”, a British medical journal which published a study documenting that genetically modified potatoes fed to rats caused significant health problems. The most dramatic and high-profile allegations about retaliation against GE researchers involve Arpad Pusztai, a native of Hungary who was, until August 1998, the senior scientist at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland. He made the mistake of publishing a study on potatoes transgenically modified to make them more pest-resistant without first consulting his institute. He fed the potatoes to rodents and discovered that there were dramatically negative effects on the animals' stomach linings, as well as immunological damage. This was one of the few studies ever done to assess the risks of such food on humans or animals. The study was published in the leading United Kingdom medical journal, The Lancet. Shortly thereafter, Pusztai's home was burglarized, his files detailing the research were stolen, and he was fired from his job of 30 years at Rowett. Pusztai says he has undergone a slanderous international campaign to discredit him. He now spends much of his time traveling to interested universities and groups telling his story. " I grew up under Nazis and Communists, " Pusztai said during a panel discussion on the difficulties faced by researchers studying genetically modified organisms held at UC Berkeley in December. " But only in the U.K. for seven months was I not allowed to defend myself. How many other papers should have been -- but have not been -- published? " In a well-funded and carefully-designed experiment carried out by Dr. Arpad Pusztai in 1995-99, rats fed lectin-spliced potatoes (Bt is a member of the lectin family) suffered significant damage to their gut, immune system, and other vital organs. Pusztai later warned--after he was abruptly fired and his lab was shut down--that all gene-spliced lectins, including Bt crops, should be carefully investigated for possible adverse human health impacts. This study conducted by Dr. Alpad Pusztai has shown that genetically-manipulated foods can, when fed to animals in reasonable amounts, cause very gradual “organ damage” and “immune system” damage. The story begins in October 1995 when the Scottish Office commissioned a research project from the Aberdeen-based Rowett Research Institute into the effect of GM crops on animal nutrition and the environment. This included, for the first time, feeding GM potatoes to rats to see if they had any harmful effects on their guts, bodies, metabolism and health. A former senior Scottish Office official involved in commissioning the project told the Guardian there was " little regard " at the time for research into the human nutritional and environmental consequences of GM foods. Dr Arpad Pusztai, a senior research scientist at the Rowett, beat off 28 other tenders to coordinate the project. He has always kept an open mind about GM foods and conditionally supported their release as long as there were rigorous and independent trials. The other members of the project were the Dundee-based Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) and Durham University biology department who grew the GM potato used in the feeding trials. All three bodies had links with the biotech industry through the pursuit of commercial research contracts. There was no reason to believe that the research project would produce the controversial findings that could threaten the scientific foundations of the biotech industry they sought to embrace. A Scottish Office immunologist was called in as well. She approved the methodology used by Dr Pusztai's team. The preliminary results of Dr Pusztai's work had begun to show unexpected and worrying changes in the size and weight of the rats' bodily organs. The team found liver and heart sizes were decreasing worse still, the brain was getting smaller. There were also indications of a weakening of the immune system. With so many unanswered questions, far more public money would be needed, Dr Pusztai concluded. But the Guardian understands that the Scottish Office and the Rowett Institute declined his funding requests. For Dr Pusztai, the funding crisis and the prospect of his unexpected results not being published led him to reconsider his attitude to the media. In January he appeared, with the Rowett Institute's permission, on BBC2's Newsnight and voiced his concerns in measured terms about weakening of the immune system in the rats fed GM potatoes. In April, Granada TV's World in Action approached Dr Pusztai and again with the institute's consent he gave an interview which was broadcast in the documentary that August. Dr Pusztai told ITV viewers that he would not eat GM food. He found it " very, very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs. We have to find [them] in the laboratory, " he insisted. Two days later Dr Pusztai was summarily suspended and forced to retire by the Rowett Institute's director, Professor Philip James, who had personally cleared the interview with Granada and put his name to official press releases supporting the programme. Dr Pusztai was denied access to his research data and an internal investigation by the Rowett's senior management was launched after unsourced allegations of scientific fraud against Dr Pusztai appeared in a scientific journal. Six months later, the truth about what happened in those two days is still shrouded in mystery. The Pusztai camp claim there was industry and political pressure on the institute to silence him but a press release at he time stated that Dr Pusztai had presented provisional data in public without peer review. The food used in the experiment was genetically-manipulated potatoes. Two sets of potatoes were grown in the same pot and greenhouse: 1) a genetically-manipulated variety altered to produce a non-toxic " GNA lectin " , and 2) a normal variety of potato. The normal potato was fed to animals with no adverse effects. The genetically-manipulated potato caused gradual “organ damage”and ”immune system”damage. A separate followup experiment conducted by Dr. S.W.B. Ewen, a Senior Pathologist at the University of Aberdeen, has confirmed that it was not the " GNA lectin, " but toxic or infectious by-products of the " genetic manipulation " process that led to the immune system damage and organ damage in the animals fed genetically-manipulated potatoes. Because it was not the lectin in the potatoes, but the”genetic manipulation”process itself which led to toxicity, similar results might be seen in animals or humans fed genetically-manipulated soy, canola, and corn over a long period of time (i.e., years or decades). There were initial reports of flaws in the research when government agencies audited the Dr. Pusztai's preliminary notes. But since that time, over 20 top scientists around the world have peer-reviewed the Final Report and stated that the conclusions are justified. Parts of these experiments conducted by Dr. Pusztai and Dr. Ewen were recently published in the scientific journal, The Lancet. Most of The Lancet reviewers deemed it acceptable research for publication. A couple of reviewers and other scientists and organizations receiving biotech money have been critical of the research. They have made the following statements (paraphrased below): " Raw potatos should not have been fed to the animals in the experiment. " However, the animals eating non-genetically manipulated raw potatos did fine. It was only the genetically manipulated food which caused 'health' problems. " Too few animals were used. " Initial objections of The Lancet's statistician reviewer were satisfied. Enough animals were used to show a statistically significant difference between the test group and control group. " There was an inadequate control group. " This is a non-specific criticism. The experiment wasn't perfect. But the only difference between the two groups of animals was that one group ate genetically manipulated foods and the other didn't. " One cannot take the results of this experiment and apply it to all genetically manipulated foods. " The only difference was the genetic manipulation of the potatos. The same hazards may be found in genetically manipulated soy, canola, corn, etc. It is prudent to assume that all genetically manipulated ingredients have the same slow toxic effects until long-term, independent research can be conducted on each genetically manipulated crop. On ocasion, news reports of flaws in the research are mistakenly repeated, but all independent scientists who have seen the Final Report of Dr. Pusztai's research and are aware of the results of Dr. Ewen's research agree that the 'conclusions " are justified. From a newsletter called Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly: Monsanto has patented a genetically engineered (GE) potato called New Leaf Superior (a thin-skinned white potato). It includes a gene for a bacteria(Bt) that kills the Colorado potato beetle. The potato is a registered”pesticide”with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is believed by EPA that this potato is reasonable safe for humans to eat. ???????????????????? As the New York Times article stated, " Some genetists believe..inserting foreign genes into plants may cause subtle changes that are difficult to recognize. " It is expected that insects will develop a resistance to this Bt now continually in use in the potato crop itself. The mechanism of resistance is well documented since over 500 insects have become resistant to one pesticide or another since 1945. Bt has been used by organic farmers to fight beetles. It is used as a last resort and sparingly. It is possible that this development by Monsanto may affect the integrity of organic farming of potatoes. Europe and Canada have resisted buying food produced by GE/GM methods. In the U.S. this genetically engineered food is already be in your supermarket. Ask the manager. Ask for organic foods in your local supermarket. Dr. Arpad Pusztai's explosive research found that that GE potatoes are poisonous to mammals. These potatoes were spliced with DNA from the snowdrop plant and a commonly used viral promoter, the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMv). GE snowdrop potatoes were found to be significantly different in chemical composition from regular potatoes, and when fed to lab rats, damaged their vital organs and immune systems. The damage to the rats' stomach linings apparently was a severe viral infection caused by the " CaMv viral promoter " apparently giving the rats a severe viral infection. Most alarming of all, the CaMv viral promoter is spliced into nearly all GE foods and crops. Dr. Pusztai's path breaking research work unfortunately remains incomplete. Government funding was cut off and he was fired after he spoke to the media. More and more scientists around the world are warning that genetic manipulation can increase the levels of natural plant toxins or allergens in foods (or create entirely new toxins) in unexpected ways by switching on genes that produce poisons. Since regulatory agencies do not currently require the kind of thorough chemical and feeding tests that Dr. Pusztai was conducting, consumers have now become involuntary guinea pigs in a vast genetic experiment. Dr. Pusztai warns, " Think of William Tell shooting an arrow at a target. Now put a blind-fold on the man doing the shooting and that's the reality of the genetic engineer doing a " gene insertion " . Bioscience Warfare - Big Biotech silences scientists working on risks http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3664 " They've been going after scientists in a systematic, organized way that I haven't seen in my memory, " says Chuck Benbrook, a food policy expert and former executive director of the Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences. " Let's face it, [big biotech has] silenced the vast majority of scientists who are interested in doing research on risks. " Because most biotech products have been created only recently, their comprehensive effects on world ecology are, in many cases, unknown. And sometimes, corporations try to control the research they fund. Sometimes, information and research that are intended to benefit the public are intentionally kept from the public. Sometimes, a lack of attention to critical research on risk assessment -- or to research on risk of any kind -- undermines the ends of scientific research itself. Sometimes also, the facts and data are drowned in spin, and scientists who bear " bad " news are buried in “pseudoscience " and innuendo. And as biotech companies continue to forge partnerships with universities, augmenting their dwindling research budgets, scientists at some of the world's most prestigious institutions -- including Cornell University, the University of California at Berkeley, the Swiss Federal Research Station for Agro-Ecology, and the Rowett Research Institute in Scotland -- complain that large multinational biotech companies have attempted to suppress studies that suggest highly profitable products may have adverse effects on health or the environment. _________ JoAnn Guest mrsjo- DietaryTi- www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes AIM Barleygreen " Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future " http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets.html Read only the mail you want - Mail SpamGuard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.