Are GMOs Good Or Bad For Us?

10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

Unzipping Our Food’s Genes

In yesterday’s newsletter, we asked you for your (health-related) views on GMOs.

But what does the science say?

First, a note on terms

Technically, we (humans) have been (g)enetically (m)odifying (o)rganisms for thousands of years.

If you eat a banana, you are enjoying the product of many generations of artificial selection, to change its genes to produce a fruit that is soft, sweet, high in nutrients, and digestible without cooking. The original banana plant would be barely recognizable to many people now (and also, barely edible). We’ve done similarly with countless other food products.

So in this article, we’re going to be talking exclusively about modern genetic modification of organisms, using exciting new (ish, new as in “in the last century”) techniques to modify the genes directly, in a copy-paste fashion.

For more details on the different kinds of genetic modification of organisms, and how they’re each done (including the modern kinds), check out this great article from Sciencing, who explain it in more words than we have room for here:

Sciencing | How Are GMOs Made?

(the above also offers tl;dr section summaries, which are great too)

GMOS are outright dangerous (cancer risks, unknown risks, etc): True or False?

False, so far as we know, in any direct* fashion. Obviously “unknown risks” is quite a factor, since those are, well, unknown. But GMOs on the market undergo a lot of safety testing, and have invariably passed happily.

*However! Glyphosate (the herbicide), on the other hand, has a terrible safety profile and is internationally banned in very many countries for this reason.

Why is this important? Because…

  • in the US (and two out of ten Canadian provinces), glyphosate is not banned
  • In the US (and we may hypothesize, those two Canadian provinces) one of the major uses of genetic modification of foodstuffs is to make it resistant to glyphosate
  • Consequently, GMO foodstuffs grown in those places have generally been liberally doused in glyphosate

So… It’s not that the genetic modification itself makes the food dangerous and potentially carcinogenic (it doesn’t), but it is that the genetic modification makes it possible to use a lot more glyphosate without losing crops to glyphosate’s highly destructive properties.

Which results in the end-consumer eating glyphosate. Which is not good. For example:

❝Following the landmark case against Monsanto, which saw them being found liable for a former groundskeeper, 46 year old Dewayne Johnson’s cancer, 32 countries have to date banned the use of Glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer. The court awarded Johnson R4.2 billion in damages finding Monsanto “acted with malice or oppression”.❞

Source: see below!

You can read more about where glyphosate is and isn’t banned, here:

33 countries ban the use of Glyphosate—the key ingredient in Roundup

For the science of this (and especially the GMO → glyphosate use → cancer pipeline), see:

Use of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)-Containing Food Products in Children

GMOs are extra healthy because of the modifications (they were designed for that, right?): True or False?

True or False depending on who made them and why! As we’ve seen above, not all companies seem to have the best interests of consumer health in mind.

However, they can be! Here are a couple of great examples:

❝Recently, two genome-edited crops targeted for nutritional improvement, high GABA tomatoes and high oleic acid soybeans, have been released to the market.

Nutritional improvement in cultivated crops has been a major target of conventional genetic modification technologies as well as classical breeding methods❞

Source: Drs. Nagamine & Ezura

Read in full: Genome Editing for Improving Crop Nutrition

(note, they draw a distinction of meaning between genome editing and genetic modification, according to which of two techniques is used, but for the purposes of our article today, this is under the same umbrella)

Want to know more?

If you’d like to read more about this than we have room for here, here’s a great review in the Journal of Food Science & Nutrition:

Should we still worry about the safety of GMO foods? Why and why not? A review

Take care!

Don’t Forget…

Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

Recommended

  • Breakfasting For Health?
  • Brave – by Dr. Margie Warrell
    Boost your life with Brave, a book that shows how bravery can be developed and applied in all aspects of life.

Learn to Age Gracefully

Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Sun-dried Tomatoes vs Black Olives – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing sun-dried tomatoes to black olives, we picked the sun-dried tomatoes.

    Why?

    These common snack-salad items may seem similar in consistency, but their macros are very different: the tomatoes, being dried, have proportionally a lot more protein, carbs, and fiber. The olives, meanwhile, have more fat (and/but yes, a very healthy blend of fats). Note that these comments are true for the things themselves; be aware that sun-dried tomatoes are often sold in vegetable oil, which would obviously change the macros considerably and be much less healthy. So, for the sake of statistics, we’re assuming you got sun-dried tomatoes that aren’t soaked in oil. All in all, we’re calling this category a win for the tomatoes, but those fats from the olives are very good too.

    In terms of vitamins, the sun-dried tomatoes being dried again means that the loss of water weight means the vitamin content is proportionally much higher; the tomatoes are higher in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, and K, while olives are higher only in vitamin E (but in their defence, olives have 165x more vitamin E than sun-dried tomatoes). Still, a win for sun-dried tomatoes here.

    When it comes to minerals, it’s a similar story for the same reason; the loss of water weight in the sun-dried tomatoes makes them much more nutritionally dense; they are higher in calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while the olives are higher only in sodium. Note, we’re looking at black olives today; green olives would be even higher in sodium than black ones, as they are “cured” for longer.

    Lastly, in terms of polyphenols, they both have a lot of great things to bring, but sun-dried tomatoes are pretty much the richest natural source of lycopene, which itself a very powerful polyphenol even my general polyphenol standards, so we’d call this one a win for the sun-dried tomatoes too.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Lycopene’s Benefits For The Gut, Heart, Brain, & More

    Take care!

    Share This Post

  • Pinto Beans vs Fava Beans – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing pinto beans to fava beans, we picked the pinto beans.

    Why?

    It wasn’t close!

    In terms of macros, pinto beans have more protein and carbs, and much more fiber, resulting in a much lower glycemic index. We mention this, because while often the GI of two similar foods is similar, in this case pinto beans have a GI of 39 (low), while fava beans have a GI of 79 (high). In other words, not at all close, and pinto beans are the clear winner.

    When it comes to vitamins, pinto beans have more of vitamins B1, B5, B6, B7, B9, C, E, K, and choline, while fava beans have more of vitamins B2 and B3. Once again, not close, and that’s before we take into account the margins of difference for those vitamins; the margins of difference are much greater on the pinto beans’ side of the scale, for example pinto beans having 47x more vitamin E, while fava beans have only 43% more vitamin B2. So, orders of magnitude less. A clear win for pinto beans in all respects.

    In the category of minerals, pinto beans have more calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, while fava beans have more copper and zinc. This time, the margins of difference were quite moderate across the board, and/but pinto beans win on clear strength of numbers.

    All in all, three clear wins for pinto beans add up to one big clear win for pinto beans.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    What Matters Most For Your Heart? Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure

    Take care!

    Share This Post

  • Can We Do Fat Redistribution?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The famous answer: no

    The truthful answer: yes, and we are doing it all the time whether we want to or not, so we might as well know what things affect our fat distribution in various body parts.

    There’s a kernel of truth in the “no”, though, and where that comes from is that we cannot exclusively put fat on in a certain area only, and nor can we do “spot reduction”, i.e., intentionally lose fat from only one place.

    How, then, do we do fat redistribution?

    Your body is a living organism, not a statue

    It’s easy to think “I’ve been carrying this fat in this place for 20 years”, but during that time the fat has been replaced several times and moved often; in fact, the cells containing the fat have even been replaced. Because: fat can seem like a substance that’s alien to your body because it doesn’t respond like muscles, isn’t controllable like muscles, doesn’t have the same sensibility as muscles, etc. But, every bit of fat stored in your body is stored inside a fat cell; it’s not one big unit of fat; it’s lots of tiny ones.

    In reality, any given bit of fat on your body has probably been there for 18–24 months at most:

    Fat turnover in obese slower than average

    …and there are assorted factors that can modify the rate at which our body deals with fat storage:

    Human white adipose tissue: A highly dynamic metabolic organ

    So, how do I get rid of this tummy?

    There are plenty of stories of people who try to lose weight from one part of their body, and lose it from somewhere else instead. Say, a person wants to lose weight from her hips, and with careful diet and exercise, she loses weight—by dropping a couple of bra cup sizes while keeping the hips.

    So, we must figure out: why is fat stored in certain places? And the main driving factors are:

    • hormones
    • metabolic health
    • stress

    Hormones affect fat distribution insofar as estrogen and progesterone will favor the hips, thighs, butt, breasts, and testosterone will favor a more central (but still subcutaneous, not visceral) distribution. Additionally, estrogen and progesterone will favor a higher body fat percentage, while testosterone will favor a lower one.

    This is particularly relevant later in life, when suddenly the hormone(s) you’ve been relying on to keep your shape, are now declining, meaning your shape does too. This goes for everyone regardless of sex.

    See:

    Metabolic health affects fat distribution insofar as poor metabolic health will result in more fat being stored in the viscera, rather than in the usual subcutaneous places. This is a serious health risk.

    See: Visceral Belly Fat & How To Lose It

    Stress affects fat distribution insofar as chronically elevated cortisol levels see more fat sent to the stomach, face, and neck. This fat redistribution isn’t dangerous itself, but it can be indicative of the chronic stress, which does pose more of a general threat to health.

    See: Lower Your Cortisol! (Here’s Why & How)

    What this means in practical terms

    Assuming that you would like the fat distribution that says “this is a healthy woman” or “this is a healthy man”, respectively, then you might want to:

    • Check your sex hormone levels and get them adjusted if appropriate
    • Improve your overall metabolic health—without necessarily trying to lose weight, just, take care of your blood sugars for example, and they will take care of you in terms of fat storage.
    • Manage your stress (which includes any stress you are experiencing about your body not being how you’d like it to be).

    If you are doing these things, and you don’t have any major untreated medical abnormalities that affect these things, then your fat will go to the places generally considered healthiest.

    Can we speed it up?

    Yes, we can! Firstly, we can speed up our overall metabolism:

    Let’s Burn! Metabolic Tweaks And Hacks

    Secondly, we can encourage our body to “move” fat by intentionally “yo-yoing”, something usually considered bad in dieting when people just want to lose weight and instead are going up and down, but: if you lose weight healthily, it comes off everywhere evenly, and if you gain weight healthily, it goes mostly to the places where it should be.

    So, a sequence of lose-gain-lose-gain might look like “lose a bit from everywhere, put it back in the good place, lose a bit more from everywhere, put it back in the good place”, etc.

    So, you might want to gently cycle these a few months apart, for example:

    How To Lose Fat (Healthily!) | How To Gain Fat (Healthily!)

    You can also cheat a little, if it suits your purpose! By this we mean: if you’d like a little extra where you already have a little fat, then you can put muscle on underneath it, it will pad it up, and (because of the layer of actual fat on top) nobody will know the difference unless you flex it with their hand on it.

    Let’s put it this way: people doing squats for a bubble-butt aren’t doing it to put on fat; they’re putting muscle on under the fat they have.

    So, check out: How To Gain Muscle (Healthily!)

    And finally, for all your body-sculpting needs, we present these excellent books:

    Women’s Strength Training Anatomy Workouts – by Frédéric Delavier

    Strength Training Anatomy (For Men) – by Frédéric Delavier

    Enjoy!

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Breakfasting For Health?
  • Strawberries vs Cherries – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing strawberries to cherries, we picked the cherries.

    Why?

    Both are great, and an argument could be made for either! But here’s our rationale:

    In terms of macros, as with most fruits they are both mostly water, and have similar carbs and fiber. Nominally, cherries have the lower glycemic index, so we could call this category nominally a win for cherries, but honestly, they’re both low-GI foods and nobody is getting metabolic disease from eating strawberries, so it’s fairer to consider this category a tie.

    Looking at the vitamins, strawberries have more of vitamins C, B9, E, and K, while cherries have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, and choline. Thus, a modest win for cherries here.

    When it comes to minerals, strawberries see their day: strawberries have more iron, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus, while cherries have more calcium, copper, and potassium. By the numbers, a win for strawberries.

    So far, so tied!

    What swings it into cherries’ favor is cherries’ slew of specific phytochemical benefits, including cherry-specific anti-inflammatory properties, sleep-improving abilities, and post-exercise recovery boosts, as well as anti-diabetic benefits above and beyond the normal “this is a fruit” level.

    In short, both are very respectable fruits, but cherries have some extra qualities that are just special.

    Of course, as ever, enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Cherries’ Health Benefits Simply Pop

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Terminal lucidity: why do loved ones with dementia sometimes ‘come back’ before death?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Dementia is often described as “the long goodbye”. Although the person is still alive, dementia slowly and irreversibly chips away at their memories and the qualities that make someone “them”.

    Dementia eventually takes away the person’s ability to communicate, eat and drink on their own, understand where they are, and recognise family members.

    Since as early as the 19th century, stories from loved ones, caregivers and health-care workers have described some people with dementia suddenly becoming lucid. They have described the person engaging in meaningful conversation, sharing memories that were assumed to have been lost, making jokes, and even requesting meals.

    It is estimated 43% of people who experience this brief lucidity die within 24 hours, and 84% within a week.

    Why does this happen?

    Terminal lucidity or paradoxical lucidity?

    In 2009, researchers Michael Nahm and Bruce Greyson coined the term “terminal lucidity”, since these lucid episodes often occurred shortly before death.

    But not all lucid episodes indicate death is imminent. One study found many people with advanced dementia will show brief glimmers of their old selves more than six months before death.

    Lucidity has also been reported in other conditions that affect the brain or thinking skills, such as meningitis, schizophrenia, and in people with brain tumours or who have sustained a brain injury.

    Moments of lucidity that do not necessarily indicate death are sometimes called paradoxical lucidity. It is considered paradoxical as it defies the expected course of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.

    But it’s important to note these episodes of lucidity are temporary and sadly do not represent a reversal of neurodegenerative disease.

    Man in hospital bed
    Sadly, these episodes of lucidity are only temporary. Pexels/Kampus Production

    Why does terminal lucidity happen?

    Scientists have struggled to explain why terminal lucidity happens. Some episodes of lucidity have been reported to occur in the presence of loved ones. Others have reported that music can sometimes improve lucidity. But many episodes of lucidity do not have a distinct trigger.

    A research team from New York University speculated that changes in brain activity before death may cause terminal lucidity. But this doesn’t fully explain why people suddenly recover abilities that were assumed to be lost.

    Paradoxical and terminal lucidity are also very difficult to study. Not everyone with advanced dementia will experience episodes of lucidity before death. Lucid episodes are also unpredictable and typically occur without a particular trigger.

    And as terminal lucidity can be a joyous time for those who witness the episode, it would be unethical for scientists to use that time to conduct their research. At the time of death, it’s also difficult for scientists to interview caregivers about any lucid moments that may have occurred.

    Explanations for terminal lucidity extend beyond science. These moments of mental clarity may be a way for the dying person to say final goodbyes, gain closure before death, and reconnect with family and friends. Some believe episodes of terminal lucidity are representative of the person connecting with an afterlife.

    Why is it important to know about terminal lucidity?

    People can have a variety of reactions to seeing terminal lucidity in a person with advanced dementia. While some will experience it as being peaceful and bittersweet, others may find it deeply confusing and upsetting. There may also be an urge to modify care plans and request lifesaving measures for the dying person.

    Being aware of terminal lucidity can help loved ones understand it is part of the dying process, acknowledge the person with dementia will not recover, and allow them to make the most of the time they have with the lucid person.

    For those who witness it, terminal lucidity can be a final, precious opportunity to reconnect with the person that existed before dementia took hold and the “long goodbye” began.

    Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University and Diny Thomson, PhD (Clinical Neuropsychology) Candidate and Provisional Psychologist, Monash University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • How To Boost Your Memory Immediately (Without Supplements)

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    How To Boost Your Memory (Without Supplements)

    While we do recommend having a good diet and taking advantage of various supplements that have been found to help memory, that only gets so much mileage. With that in mind…

    First, how good is your memory? Take This 2-Minute Online Test

    Now, that was a test of short term memory, which tends to be the most impactful in our everyday life.

    It’s the difference between “I remember the address of the house where I grew up” (long-term memory) and “what did I come to this room to do?” (short-term memory / working memory)

    First tip:

    When you want to remember something, take a moment to notice the details. You can’t have a madeleine moment years later if you wolfed down the madeleines so urgently they barely touched the sides.

    This goes for more than just food, of course. And when facing the prospect of age-related memory loss in particular, people tend to be afraid not of forgetting their PIN code, but their cherished memories of loved ones. So… Cherish them, now! You’ll struggle to cherish them later if you don’t cherish them now. Notice the little details as though you were a painter looking at a scene for painting. Involve more senses than just sight, too!

    If it’s important, relive it. Relive it now, relive it tomorrow. Rehearsal is important to memory, and each time you relive a memory, the deeper it gets written into your long-term memory until it becomes indelible to all but literal brain damage.

    Second tip:

    Tell the story of it to someone else. Or imagine telling it to someone else! (You brain can’t tell the difference)

    And you know how it goes… Once you’ve told a story a few times, you’ll never forget it later. Isn’t your life a story worth telling?

    Many people approach memory like they’re studying for a test. Don’t. Approach it like you’re preparing to tell a story, or give a performance. We are storytelling creatures at heart, whether or not we realize it.

    What do you do when you find yourself in a room and wonder why you went there? (We’ve all been there!) You might look around for clues, but if that doesn’t immediately serve, your fallback will be retracing your steps. Literally, physically, if needs be, but at least mentally. The story of how you got there is easier to remember than the smallest bit of pure information.

    What about when there’s no real story to tell, but we still need to remember something?

    Make up a story. Did you ever play the game “My granny went to market” as a child?

    If not, it’s a collaborative memory game in which players take turns adding items to a list, “My granny went to market and bought eggs”, My granny went to market and bought eggs and milk”, “my granny went to market and bought eggs and milk and flour” (is she making a cake?), “my granny went to market and bought eggs and milk and flour and shoe polish” (what image came to mind? Use that) “my granny went to market and bought eggs and milk and flour and shoe polish and tea” (continue building the story in your head), and so on.

    When we actually go shopping, if we don’t have a written list we may rely on the simple story of “what I’m going to cook for dinner” and walking ourselves through that story to ensure we get the things we need.

    This is because our memory thrives (and depends!) on connections. Literal synapse connections in the brain, and conceptual contextual connections in your mind. The more connections, the better the memory.

    Now imagine a story: “I went to Stonehenge, but in the background was a twin-peaked mountain blue. I packed a red suitcase, placing a conch shell inside it, when suddenly I heard a trombone, and…” Ring any bells? These are example items from the memory test earlier, though of course you may have seen different things in a different order.

    So next time you want to remember things, don’t study as though for a test. Prepare to tell a story!

    Try going through the test again, but this time, ignore their instructions because we’re going to use the test differently than intended (we’re rebels like that). Don’t rush, and don’t worry about the score this time (or even whether or not you saw a given image previously), but instead, build a story as you go. We’re willing to bet that after it, you can probably recite most of the images you saw in their correct order with fair confidence.

    Here’s the link again: Take The Same Test, But This Time Make It Story-Worthy!

    Again, ignore what it says about your score this time, because we weren’t doing that this time around. Instead, list the things you saw.

    What you were just able to list was the result of you doing story-telling with random zero-context images while under time pressure.

    Imagine what you can do with actual meaningful memories of your ongoing life, people you meet, conversations you have!

    Just… Take the time to smell the roses, then rehearse the story you’ll tell about them. That memory will swiftly become as strong as any memory can be, and quickly get worked into your long-term memory for the rest of your days.

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails: