Grains

The Awful Truth About Eating Grains
By Dr. Del Thiessen and sent by Barbara Kravets

At the University of Minnesota, epidemiologist David R. Jacobs has found that those who ate whole-grain products daily had about a 15 percent to 25 percent reduction in death from all causes, including heart disease and cancer (The Washington Post: 8-4-99). This finding is in keeping with guidelines by the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, who would all like to see an increased consumption of whole-grain foods to at least three servings per day.

Current dietary guidelines recommend that consumers eat six to 11 servings of grain products daily, including at least three whole-grain foods. A draft of health goals published by the Department of Health and Human Services calls for 75 percent of Americans to meet this intake by the year 2010. The fact is that most Americans fall short of those goals, with only 7 percent eating three or more whole-grain foods daily, according to the latest U.S. department of Agriculture consumption figures. Whole-grain foods contain higher amounts of fiber. But research suggests that it's the whole-grain that delivers abundant amounts of antioxidant vitamins and phytochemicals that appear to act together to provide protective effects.

Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing whole-grain products to carry a new health claim that touts their potential to help reduce the risk of heart disease and some types of cancer. Under the new claim, foods that contain 51 percent or more of whole-grain ingredients by weight may say on their labels "Diets rich in whole-grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers." Whole Grain Total and Wheaties are just two cereals that fall in this category. Look for more of this type of advertising on whole-grain products.

The Other Side Of The Story
Very few people know that there are strong arguments against eating a lot of whole-grain products, and that researchers don't agree on their value. Those interested in a natural "Darwinian" diet may be in the minority, still, the arguments are strong that whole-grain products may have their health costs.

One individual who has researched this problem extensively is Dr. Loren Cordain, Professor of Exercise Physiology at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado, 80523.Dr. Cordain is a well-known expert in the area of Paleolithic nutrition. This newsletter features some of his work on grain and grain products. Readers are referred to a recent interview of Dr. Cordain in Life Service Supplement News of July 26, 1999 (www.lifeservices.com/cordain.htm) and an exhaustive recent chapter, Cereal Grains: Humanity's Double-Edged Sword, A.P. Simopoulos (Ed.), (1999), Evolutionary aspects of nutrition and health: Diet, exercise, genetics and chronic disease. Basel: Karger, pp 19-73. Unfortunately this remarkable book chapter will likely be buried along with the book, which costs about $187 with tax.

Building The Evidence
Approximately 17 plants species provides 90 percent of the world's food supply. The top 10 are: wheat, maize, rice, barley, soybean, cane sugar, sorghum, potato, oats, and cassava. Without these plants there is no way that the world could support the existing 6 billion people and the anticipated 12 to 15 billion people expected during the next century. If agriculture gave us anything, it was an easily grown mass diet that was calorically dense that could be stored, shipped, and processed in hundreds of different ways.

Around 20,000 to 10,000 years ago there was a mass extinction of large mammals throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. The environment was exploited until other forms of hunting and gathering was demanded. Birds and waterfowl appeared more frequently in the fossil record, and for the first time grindstones and crude mortars appeared in the archaeological record in the near east. This was the beginning of humanity's use of cereal grains for food.

Hunters and gatherers derived most of their calories from about 100-200 different species of wild animal fruits and vegetables. But with the advent of agriculture man became dependent upon a few staple cereal foods, 3-5 domesticated meat species, and 15-20 other plant foods. Many populations got up to 80 percent of their calories from a single cereal staple.

This was the turning point in human evolution. We abandoned the typical hunter-gatherer lifestyle, with its dependence on wild meat, fruits, vegetables, and nuts and took up dietary and activity patterns that were entirely new to us. We had evolved to adapt to the life of hunters and gatherers and now accepted a life that was incompatible with our adaptive qualities. The consequences were evident in a reduction in body size, from which we have only recently recovered, and in the appearance of diseases of sedentary and agricultural populations, such as cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, high blood pressure, and bone diseases.

Many of our current problems can be blamed on our current nutritional and activity differences from our early hunter-gatherer existence. Agriculture may have launched civilizations, with all their advantages, but it also led to disease, wars, and a restructuring of social organizations. This is why Dr. Cordain refers to the development of agriculture as a two-edge sword.

So What's The Problem With Cereal Grains?
All grains have nutritional deficiencies. Moreover, as we eat more and more grain products we tend to eliminate other nutritional meats, fruits, and vegetables. In half the world, bread provides more than 50 percent of the total caloric intake, and in a few countries of Southern Asia, Central America and the Far East and Africa cereal products comprise up to 80 percent or more of the total caloric intake.

Think about your own intake of grain products. In a month's time, most of us will have eaten several slices of bread, several bowls of cereal with milk, pasta, rice, bagels, rolls, muffins, crackers, cookies, pastries, corn or other forms of chips, and tortillas. Most of these are refined and lack many important nutrients. Cereal grains contain undetectable amounts of vitamin C, B12, carotenoids, and other vitamins and minerals, and they tend to displace foods rich in these substances that are associated with a decreased risk of heart disease and many forms of common cancers. Moreover, cereal grains may actually inhibit the metabolism of these nutrients and cause autoimmune reactions.

Where Have The Vitamins And Minerals Gone?
Diets based primarily on plant foods tend to be low or deficient in vitamin B12. This nutrient is found exclusively in animal products. Vitamin B12 deficiency is related to megaloblastic anemia that results in cognitive dysfunction, and it increases the risk for arterial vascular disease and thrombosis. Obviously a diet based primarily on grains will be deficient in vitamin B12, including strict vegetarian diets. We were not evolved to eat plants exclusively.

Not only are cereal grains deficient in vitamins but many contain substances that decrease the intestinal absorption of many other important nutrients. Both wheat and sorghum are not only low in biotin but seem to have elements within them that elicit a depression of biotin metabolism. Vitamin D utilization by the body can be inhibited by an excessive consumption of cereal grains.

Cereal grains are good sources of phosphorous, potassium, and magnesium, but are poor sources of sodium and calcium. The high phytate content of whole grain cereals forms insoluble complexes with calcium, so that the net effect is a low Ca/P ratio. Phytate is a salt or ester of phytic acid that is capable of forming insoluble complexes with calcium, zinc, iron, and other nutrients and interfering with their absorption by the body. Thus a high phytate content frequently induces bone mineral pathologies in populations dependent upon cereal grains as a primary food source.

Iron metabolism is affected negatively by a diet high in phytate and fiber. Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional problem in the world today. An iron deficiency has been associated with an irreversible impairment of a child's learning capabilities. The bioavailability of zinc, copper, and magnesium in cereal grains is generally low. The absorption of manganese, chromium, and selenium does not seem impaired. Zinc deficiency can result in hypogonadal dwarfism in which there is arrested growth. In countries with high cereal grain intake and hence low zinc absorption, hypogonadal dwarfism is nearly 3 percent and skeletal growth may be limited. The bioavailability of zinc from meat is four times higher than that from cereals.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFA)
Increased consumption of n-3 fatty acids (omega-3 acids), particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) decreases triglycerides, decreases thrombotic tendencies, and reduces symptoms of many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases including arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, n-3 fatty acids are associated with reduced mortality from coronary heart disease. N-3 fatty acids are found in meat and especially oily fish.

Cereal grains are low in fats, including the omega-3 fatty acids, including EPA and docasahexaenoic acid (DHA). Vegetarian diets based primarily upon cereals, legumes, and plant products have a high n-6 (omega-6) to n-3 ratio. Infants deprived of DHA show both visual and neural cortical abnormalities. In pregnant women with low DHA levels, duration of gestation is about 5.6 days shorter than for meat-eating controls. In these women emergency cesarean section were more common, and birth weight, head circumference, and body length were lower in the infants born to the vegetarian women.

Dr. Cordain concludes from these studies that, "Human dietary lipid requirements were shaped eons ago, long before the agricultural revolution, and long before humanity's adoption of cereal grains as staple foods. Hence, the lipid composition of diets based upon cereal grains, legumes, vegetable oils and other plant products is vastly at odds with that found in wild game meat and organs, the primary, evolutionary source of lipids to which the human genetic constitution is optimally adapted." (p 36)

Protein Loss In Grain Diets
Cereal diets lead to inadequate growth because of a reduction of protein and amino acids, compared to meat-supplemented diets. The fossil record shows a characteristic reduction in stature with the adoption of cereal-based diets. Further, vegan and vegetarian children often fail to grow as well as their omnivorous cohorts. The associated deficiencies include energy, protein, zinc, iron, copper, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and vitamin A. Just looking at protein content, the content of protein in cereal grains is about 12 percent, whereas in lean beef it is about 22 percent. Inadequate protein intake in serials depending on cereal grains, and especially in the elderly who have difficulties with plant-only diets, is probably quite common.

Antinutrients In Cereal Grains
Plants produce chemicals to defend against predators, such as insects and birds. These secondary metabolites may protect the plants but they can have negative effects on human metabolism. Without naming all of these chemicals, it is clear that some can cause slower growth in mammals either by depressing growth directly or by depressing appetite. Some of these plant chemicals can act as allergens. Alpha-amylase inhibitor proteins are responsible for bakers' allergenic reaction to cereal flours, and can result in hypersensitivity reactions following wheat ingestion in children.

Lectins, which are proteins that are widespread in the plant kingdom, are recognized as major antinutrients of food. Cereal grain lectins are wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). It can interfere with digestive/absorptive activities and can shift the balance in bacterial flora shown to cause problems with normal gut metabolism. The potential to disrupt human health is high.

Autoimmune Diseases And Cereal Grain Consumption
Autoimmune diseases occur when the body loses the ability to distinguish invading proteins from self-proteins that make up the body. The loss results in destruction of self-tissues by the immune system. These diseases are thought to result from a combined influence of environmental and genetic influences.

Dietary cereal grains are noted to be causative agents for celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis, both autoimmune diseases. While the incidence of celiac disease is only about 2 percent of the population exposed to cereal grains the consequences can be severe. There are a number of diseases that may occur simultaneously with celiac disease, including Addison's disease, asthma, autoimmune thyroid disease, dental enamel defects, epilepsy, liver disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Withdrawal of gluten-containing cereals from the diet can ameliorate symptoms of celiac disease and herpetiformis.

The form of protein believed to be associated with celiac disease in gliadin, but since at least 40 different protein components occur in a single variety of wheat it is unlikely that a single gliadin protein causes the disease. Other autoimmune diseases may be related to a high intake of cereal grains, including insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), rheumatoid arthritis, nephropathy, aphthous stomatitis (canker sores), and even multiple sclerosis. A myelin basic protein (MBP) is a suspected target antigen in multiple sclerosis. There are epidemiological reports that link both wheat and milk consumption to the incidence of MS. And there are reports showing remission of MS on gluten-free diets.

Beyond this, many neurological complications may be associated with immune reactivity to antigens found in cereal grains. It is suspected that autoimmune processes are involved. Even autism and schizophrenia show susceptibilities to grain glutens that aggravate (or even cause) the conditions. There are clinical studies indicating that there is a rapid remission of schizophrenic symptoms by introducing gluten-free diets.

What All Of This Means For You
If you have digestive problems or suffer some of the classic autoimmune reactions (e.g. allergies) consider the possibilities that grains may be problematical. Look at your family members and your family history for clues about dietary problems. Adjust the ratio of cereal grains to meat, vegetables, and fruits and see if the adjustment has physiological and psychological effects. In my opinion one should supplement with vitamins, minerals, protein, and free fatty acids. Above all, eat a varied diet and not too much of one thing. And, finally, exercise regularly and with vigor. Put it all together and you have the "Darwinian" diet and exercise program.

Cow's Milk

Cow's Milk, Diabetes Connection Bolstered
By N. Seppa

Many studies have linked cows' milk consumed by babies to subsequent diabetes, but some researchers still doubt that it causes the disease. The association is based on animal experiments, they note, or indirect evidence such as studies in which parents of diabetic children try to recollect when their babies first started drinking milk-based formula. Now, Finnish researchers have avoided the vagaries of poor recall by studying children from birth. In so doing, they have added to the case against cows' milk.

 By monitoring babies in diabetes-prone families, the scientists find that infants getting formula that includes cows' milk are more likely later to develop the immune reactions associated with juvenile-onset, or type I, diabetes than are babies getting a substitute. The researchers tracked, until age 8 months, 173 newborns in Finland who had a close relative with type I diabetes. To augment their mothers' milk, half of these babies received milk-based formula and the rest got a formula in which the cows' milk proteins had been broken into fragments called peptides. The two formulas taste and smell the same, so parents and researchers didn't know which one a baby was drinking.

 Babies' immune systems largely ignore cows' milk proteins that have been chopped up. However, contact with one intact protein in cows' milk, bovine insulin, may set off a destructive process. The immune system would attack pancreas islet cells that make human insulin, which resembles bovine insulin, and would produce antibodies. At 2 years of age, 10 of 89 children getting cows' milk formula had formed antibodies associated with type I diabetes. However, only 3 of 84 babies receiving the treated milk showed these antibodies.

 These autoimmune antibodies, or autoantibodies, are made by immune B cells and appear to dispose of damaged pancreatic islet cells. The antibodies indicate that bovine insulin might be spurring an immune system T-cell reaction against the child's own islet cells, he says. Insulin regulates sugar metabolism in the body. Research had already determined that having one type of autoantibody to insulin indicates that a baby has roughly a 4 in 10 chance of contracting type I diabetes within the next decade. Having more types of these autoantibodies is a sign of greater risk; having three imparts an 80 to 90 percent likelihood of getting type I diabetes. In this study, 3 of the 10 children in the cows' milk group who had diabetes-related autoantibodies showed one type of such antibody, and the rest had two or more.

  The precise cause of diabetes remains unclear but the evidence against cows' milk is piling up. As an example, in Puerto Rico, fewer than 5 percent of mothers breast-feed their children. Instead, nearly all use formula made from cows' milk. Meanwhile, type I diabetes incidence in Puerto Rico is roughly 10 times the rate seen in Cuba, where breast-feeding is nearly universal. Such findings suggest that the problem may be cows' milk ingested in the first few months of life.

  COMMENT: It seems that the evidence is fairly overwhelming and compelling to link milk ingestion early in life to insulin dependent diabetes. This is a horrible disease as I am unaware of any natural therapy that one can use to treat it. One is forced to rely on imprecise regulation of self-administered insulin or face a certain death in a matter of days by going into a hyperglycemic coma. It is interesting to note that predigested milk products do not seem to stimulate this reaction. On a practical basis, that means that formulas like Good Start and Follow Up for older infants from Carnation would likely not cause a problem. Most of the milk protein in these products are hydrolyzed and broken down into smaller fragments that would not be as likely to stimulate antibodies to the pancreas.

References:

Akerblom, H.K., S.M. Virtanen . . . O. Vaarala, et al. 1999. Emergence of diabetes associated autoantibodies in the nutritional prevention of IDDM (RIGR) project. 59th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. June. San Diego.

Further Readings:

Cow's milk: New link to diabetes? Science News 150(Oct. 19):249. 1996.

Cow's milk for infants: No longer regarded as "nature's most perfect food." Health Facts 20(January):3. 1995

Harrison, L.C. 1996. Cow's milk and IDDM. Lancet 348(Oct. 5):905.

Sugar

Killer Sugar! Suicide with a Spoon
By Bill Misner, Ph.D.

Sugar, an aldehyde or ketone derivative of polyhydric alcohol, mostly shows up as either disaccarhides(C12H22O11), or monosaccharides(C6H12O6) found in foods such as candy, fruit, salt, peanut butter, canned vegetables, bouillon cubes, medicines, toothpaste, vitamins, and almost all processed "fat-free" products. The health dangers ingested sugar creates when habitually imposed upon human physiology are certain. Simple sugars have been observed to aggravate asthma, muster mental illness, move mood swings, provoke personality changes, nourish nervous disorders, hurry heart disease, deliver diabetes, grow gallstones, hasten hypertension, add arthritis, and on top of all of that...It will kill you!

Certain harmful refined dietary sugars (which are specifically discussed below) almost always turn directly into fat! Glucose, Fructose, Sucrose, Galactose, Maltose, and Lactose are digested and absorbed with such speed that the body must convert them into saturated fats. Saturated Fatty Acids are "sticky" by nature, and, when introduced into the vascular system, clog arteries, increase the chance of stroke, diabetes, and definitively decrease athletic performance.

High Sugar Intake Corrupts Muscle Performance And Impedes Strength Development Dramatically!

Muscle mitochondrial cells (internal energy cell units that produce muscle movement) breakdown 6-carbon glucose molecules for all muscle energy. One of the byproducts of the energy cycle is a 2-carbon acetate, vinegar. Acetates form the building blocks for cholesterol. If Acetates are produced faster than they can be burned, enzymatic reactions within our cells "Join" Acetates end-to-end to make excess cholesterol and saturated fat, which makes red blood cells sluggish, sticky, and inefficient, deposits excess saturated fatty acids around organs and in subcutaneous skinfolds, or, deposits clogs of cholesterol within the vascular system, impeding blood transport of vital nutrients and oxygen to peripheral muscle cells.

Unfortunately for those of us who enjoy the moment of sweet taste, this process tends to go one way, i.e. sugar transforms to fat; but fat tenaciously tends to remain as fat deposits, and only severe starvation or extreme caloric expenditures will mobilize it as a burnable fuel source. Most of our organs burn off fat for their fuel needs, which is why master's aged athletes store more fat around organs than do younger athletes, simply from the passing of time and the nature of human physiology.

The brain, as an organ, commands a pre-eminent role in the sugar equation. Human survival and efficient maximal performance depends upon this organ's need for specific fuels such as glucose, glutamic acid, or ketones to be constantly supplied. If glucose is absent, low from a dietary insufficiency, or perhaps from high caloric expenditure during intense muscular exercise, the body must harvest or convert it from two tissue stores: amino acids found in lean muscle mass, or chemistry from the adrenal glands (activity/secretion) initiates a conversion process which transforms liver and/or muscle glycogen stores into glucose.

A diet high in refined carbohydrates stimulates an abnormal pancreatic insulin response in order to moderate blood sugar levels, while high sugar intake may also increase adrenal cortisone and cholesterol levels fourfold. Constant high intake of simple dietary sugar over-stimulates or "burns out" normal, healthy pancreas and adrenal function. Sub-normal or lackluster performance of these two important endocrine glands leads directly to adult-onset diabetes, cardiovascular complications, hypoglycemia, and chronic fatigue. The direct result of high sugar intake is a significant increase in blood serum saturated fatty acids, which depresses the oxygen transport system dramatically during athletic performance. Red blood cells stick together and move slower, delaying delivery of much needed oxygen to muscle cells. Cellular hypoxia is the constant companion of numerous degenerative diseases previously mentioned.

Because refined dietary sugars lack vitamins and minerals, they must draw upon the body tissue micronutrient stores in order to be metabolized into the system. When these storehouses are depleted, metabolization of fatty acid and cholesterol are impeded, contributing to higher blood serum triglycerides, cholesterol, promoting obesity due to higher fatty acid storage around organs and in subcutaneous tissue folds. Increased obesity contributes to increased cholesterol levels by lowering resting metabolism. A lower resting metabolic rate has been implicated directly to feelings of fatigue or lack of energy, increased rate of aging, arthritis, and coronary heart disease. Athletes need a high metabolic rate for a minimal body fat percentage and explosive energy expenditure upon demand.

Little Sugar Can Cause All Of That?

Dietary sugars feed harmful intestinal yeasts, fungi, toxic organisms, and all forms of cellular cancer. Sugar and Vitamin C utilize the same transport system, but not at the same time! If Vitamin C is disabled from reaching tissue folds where it is needed to control or eradicate the virus, fungi, or cancerous organisms that feast on sugar, they will multiply exponentially. It is very important that the first four steps during the hydrolysis process of Vitamin C are allowed transportation in maximum dose for tissue antioxidation and restoration of cells damaged by intense workouts or accumulated daily stress.

Dietary sugars have been observed to cross-link proteins, which leads to increased skin fold wrinkles and general aging of our largest vital organ, the skin. Because sugar is devoid of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and has such a deteriorating effect on the endocrine system, major researchers and major health organizations (American Dietetic Association and American Diabetic Association) agree that sugar consumption in America is one of the three major causes of degenerative disease.

In the last 20 years, we have increased sugar consumption in the USA 26 pounds to 135 lbs. of sugar per person per year! Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year! Cardiovascular disease and cancer was virtually unknown in the early 1900's. When one compares the rates of degenerative diseases to the rates of total fat consumption, sugar consumption and altered fat consumption during the past 100 years, altered fat is #1, sugar is #2, and total fat is #3.

Where It Comes From And How Dangerous It Is There are 5 classes of simple sugars which are regarded by most nutritionists as "Harmful" to ideal health and optimal athletic performance when prolonged consumption in amounts above 15% of the carbohydrate calories are ingested. Sucrose, fructose, honey, and malts are the classes reviewed in order of the real and present dangers they impose on our health and therefore physical performance.

Sucrose Class: Public Enemy #1!

Sucrose is found in almost all processed foods such as plain table sugar, dextrose, raw natural sugar, blackstrap molasses, maple syrup, or sorghum molasses. Taken from sugar beets or sugar cane, this disaccharide is composed of glucose and fructose. Because it contains NO vitamins or minerals it must rob them from the body in which it is assimilated, (like a parasite leaching the "life" from its victim).

Dextrose, D-glucose monohydrate, is a monosaccharide known as glucose, and comes from the hydrolysis of cornstarch, and is found as a prime ingredient in many processed foods. Dextrose is mentioned in the Sucrose Class because it acts very much like the vitamin-mineral parasite, sucrose; in order to be assimilated after digestion, it must rob the body of its valuable micronutrient stores. Raw or Natural Sugar is a white sugar that is also mostly sucrose. While it costs more than sucrose, raw/natural sugar is 96% less-processed sucrose, as compared to the purified/bleached table sugar's 99% sucrose content. The empty calories from this so-called natural product perform exactly the same as sucrose.

Blackstrap Molasses is made from the "liquid leftovers" of processed table sugar (sucrose). It does contain small amounts of iron, calcium and B vitamins, but this token "good" is offset with 65% sucrose content.

An extraction process performed on sorghum stalks makes sorghum Molasses. Unless this molasses produce is enzyme treated and heated, it will ferment very rapidly. However, this process "kills" the small amount of vitamins and minerals which pass through the initial extraction process, allowing only a small amount of dietary iron and pesticide spray to as a companions to its "sweet" 65% sucrose solution. Maple Sugar or Syrup also contains 65% sucrose content. Several processing techniques cause lead contaminates: such as boiling the maple sap in lead buckets, which allows lead to leach into the syrup or sugar-finished product for market.

Formaldehyde pellets placed in the sap holes in maple trees to keep the sap flowing often leach into the sap and the final product. Other "nasties" found in maple syrup/sugar products are chemical anti-foaming agents, polishing chemicals, and animal fats. Add cooking the sap over oil fires in lead buckets and your final product becomes a delectable sweet-tasting yummy laced with poisons!

Fructose Class: A Not-So-Distant #2...

Fructose is "natural" only when found in fresh fruits that contain all the enzymes, vitamins, and minerals to effectively assimilate it as a rich nutrient for human consumption. About 20 times sweeter than table sugar, processed fructose is used as an additive to sweeten all sorts of packaged foods. Without enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, it, like the sucrose class, robs the body of its micronutrient treasures in order to assimilate itself for physiological use. As a sweetener additive, enzymes are added to corn syrup starch, which produces "High Fructose Corn Syrup"(always check ingredient lists on all labels).

Fructose does not raise blood sugars significantly, but does raise blood serum triglycerides significantly! As a left-handed sugar, fructose digestion is very low. For complete internal conversion of fructose into glucose and acetates, it must rob ATP energy stores from the liver. Processed, metabolized, and converted to small glycogen stores (by the liver for itself and the muscles) digestion is hindered, blood serum triglycerides are raised, body stores of vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and liver stores of ATP are scavenged from the body so that the "eater" my enjoy a moment of sweet taste.

Honey Class: A Surprise #3

Even "Natural Honey" May Only Befriend The Bees! It is no wonder that the honey bear is the only animal found in nature with a problem with tooth decay (Honey decays teeth faster than table sugar)! Honey has the highest calorie content of all sugars with 65 calories per tablespoon, compared to the 48 calories found in table sugar! The increased calories are bound to manifest increased blood serum fatty acids, and weight gain, on top of the likelihood of more cavities.

Pesticides (carcinogens) used on farm crops and residential flowers have been found in commercial honey. Honey can be fatal to an infant whose immature digestive tracts are unable to deal effectively with Botulinum Spore growth. What enzymes or nutrients raw honey contains are destroyed by manufacturers who heat it in order to give it a clear appearance for enhancing $ale$. Some beekeepers feed their bees sugar water for enhanced production and flavor, while others add sugar syrup to the product for the same ridiculous reason.

The Three "Tols": Xyli, Sorbi, & Manni, #4.

Xylitol is extracted from birch cellulose and is considered to be a carbohydrate alcohol. While it has the same amount of calories as sucrose, it metabolizes in a dissimilar manner and may be used safely for diabetics and hypoglycemics. Bacterial salivary organisms do not feed, grow or ferment on xylitol as they do on other simple aforementioned sugars. "Sugar-Free" chewing gum contains xylitol because it does not produce the bacterial support for increase of cavity causing acids. Studies show that prolonged use or large intake may produce the following side effects: weight gain similar to that associated with high/prolonged sucrose intake, diarrhea, tumor growth, and liver/kidney/brain dysfunction. Many manufacturers have withdrawn xylitol from their product formulation!

Sorbitol and Mannitol are industrial sweet alcohols made from hydrogen and commercial glucose, extracted from corn sugar. Slow absorption makes them attractive for use in "sugar-free" gums and candies. Both are known to nourish and increase the count of mouth bacteria, namely Streptococcus Mutans that tend to stick to the teeth. When other sugars are eaten, these bacteria proliferate, manifesting the perfect chemistry for increasing the rate of tooth decay beyond the normal rate. While research has not documented this conjecture, some believe that carcinogenic or mutagenic properties may be consistent with the behavior of this altered nutrient. Perhaps the stomach has already testified to this: gastric distress, diarrhea, or laxative effects, as each 1-2-3 will result with prolonged or high dietary intake.

Malt Syrup Class: Last And Least, #5.

Most Malt Syrups added for sweetening flavor do elevate blood sugar/triglycerides response. Many rice syrups, rice honey, and other malt sugars have significant amounts of glucose, maltose, and corn syrup ADDED to heighten their sweetness index. Unfortunately, such formulation creates a blood serum response similar to sucrose and "robs" vital enzymes, minerals, and vitamins from the body for digestive assimilation. Only 100% Barley Malt Syrup has a minimal effect on internal healthy physiology, but its expense may be prohibitive for most at just under $1.00 per ounce!

Simple sugars in reasonably lenient amounts are safe sugars IF they have enough fiber, enzymes, and vitamins/minerals to moderate their effect on absorption, blood chemistry, and viable assimilation into the energy cycle in order to support both health and dynamic muscular development.

Bill Misner, Ph.D. E-CAPS Inc. & Hammer Nutrition Ltd. 1-800-336-1977

Soy (Part 1)

Soy: Too Good to be True
By Brandon Finucan & Charlotte Gerson

While even in 1966 there was considerable research on the harmful substances within soybeans, you'll be hard pressed to find articles today that claim soy is anything short of a miracle-food. As soy gains more and more popularity through industry advertising, we are moved once again to raise our voice of concern.

The Soybean Industry in America

In 1924 soybean production in the U.S. was only at 1.8 million acres harvested, but by 1954, the harvested acres grew to 18.9 million. Today, the soybean is America's third largest crop (harvesting 72 million acres in 1998), supplying more than 50 percent of the world's soybean demand.

Most of these beans are made into animal feed and are manufactured into soy oil for use as vegetable oil, margarine and shortening. Of the traditional uses for soy as a food, only soy sauce enjoys widespread consumption in the American diet. Tofu, measuring 90 percent of Asia's use of the soybean, has gained more popularity in the U.S., but soy is still nowhere near a measurable component of the average American diet - or is it?

For more than 20 years now, the soy industry has concentrated on finding alternative uses and new markets for soybeans and soy byproducts. At your local supermarket, soy can now be found disguised as everything from soy cheese, milk, burgers and hot dogs, to ice cream, yogurt, vegetable oil, baby formula and flour (to name just a few). These are often marketed as low-fat, dairy-free, or as a high-protein, meat substitute for vegetarians. But soy isn’t always mentioned on the box cover. Today, an alarming 60% of the food on America's supermarket shelves contain soy derivatives (i.e. soy flour, textured vegetable protein, partially hydrogenated soy bean oil, soy protein isolate). When you look at the ingredients list, and really look at the contents of the "Average American Diet," from snack foods and fast foods to prepackaged frozen meals, soy plays a major role.

Where did soybeans go wrong?

Here at the Gerson Institute, we feel the positive aspects of the soybean are overshadowed by their potential for harm. Soybeans in fact contain a large number of dangerous substances. One among them is phytic acid, also called phytates. This organic acid is present in the bran or hulls of all seeds and legumes, but none have the high level of phytates that soybeans do. These acids block the body’s uptake of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and especially zinc. Adding to the high-phytate problem, soybeans are very resistant to phytate reducing techniques, such as long, slow cooking.

Soybeans also contain potent enzyme inhibitors. These inhibitors block uptake of trypsin and other enzymes that the body needs for protein digestion. Normal cooking does not deactivate these harmful "antinutrients," that can cause serious gastric distress, reduced protein digestion and can lead to chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake.

Beyond these, soybeans also contain hemagglutinin, a clot promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together. These clustered blood cells are unable to properly absorb oxygen for distribution to the body's tissues, and cannot help in maintaining good cardiac health. Hemagglutinin and trypsin inhibitors are both "growth depressant" substances. Although the act of fermenting soybeans does deactivate both trypsin inhibitors and hemagglutinin, precipitation and cooking do not. Even though these enzyme inhibitors are reduced in levels within precipitated soy products like tofu, they are not altogether eliminated.

Only after a long period of fermentation (as in the creation of miso or tempeh) are the phytate and "antinutrient" levels of soybeans reduced, making their nourishment available to the human digestive system. The high levels of harmful substances remaining in precipitated soy products leave their nutritional value questionable at best, and in the least, potentially harmful.

What About the Studies?

In recent years, several studies have been made regarding the soybean’s effect on human health. The results of those studies, largely underwritten by various factions of the soy industry, were of course overwhelmingly in favor of soy. The primary claims about soy's health benefits are based purely on bad science. Although primary arguments for cancer patients to use soy focus on statistics showing low rates of breast, colon and prostate cancer among Asian people, there are obvious facts being utterly ignored. While the studies boast that Asian women suffer far fewer cases of breast cancer than American women do, the hype neglects to point out that these Asian women eat a diet that is dramatically different than their American counterparts.

The standard Asian diet consists of more natural products, far less fatty meat, greater amounts of vegetables and more fish. Their diets are also lower in chemicals and toxins, as they eat far fewer processed (canned, jarred, pickled, frozen) foods. It is likely these studies are influenced by the fact that cancer rates rise among Asian people who move to the U.S. and adopt American-ized diets. Of course, this change of diet goes hand-in-hand with a dramatic shift in lifestyle. Ignoring the remarkable diet and lifestyle changes, to assume only that reduced levels of soy in these Americanized Asian diets is a primary factor in greater cancer rates is poor judgment, and as stated above, bad science. The changes of diet and lifestyle must be considered to reach the correct conclusion.

A widely circulated article, written by Jane E. Allen, AP Science Writer, titled, "Scientists Suggest More Soy in Diet", cites in the course of a symposium, numerous speakers discussing the probable advantages of soy under the title, "Health Impact of Soy Protein." However, the article states that the $50,000 symposium "was underwritten by Protein Technologies International of St. Louis, a DuPont subsidiary that makes soy protein!" In the course of the same symposium, Thomas Clarkson, professor of comparative medicine at Wake Forest University, states "Current hormone replacement therapy has been a dismal failure from a public health point of view," not because Premarin® is known to cause uterine or other female organ cancers, but "because only 20 percent of the women who could benefit from it are taking it."

Other popular arguments in support of soy state that fermented products, like tempeh or natto, contain high levels of vitamin B-12. However, these supportive arguments fail to mention that soy's B-12 is an inactive B-12 analog, not utilized as a vitamin in the human body. Some researchers speculate this analog may actually serve to block the body's B-12 absorption. It has also been found that allergic reactions to soybeans are far more common than to all other legumes. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics admits that early exposure to soy through commercial infant formulas, may be a leading cause of soy allergies among older children and adults.

In his classic book, A Cancer Therapy - Results of 50 Cases (p. 237), Dr. Gerson put "Soy and Soy Products" on the "FORBIDDEN" list of foods for Gerson Therapy patients. At the time, his greatest concerns were two items: the high oil content of soy and soy products, and the rather high rate of allergic reactions to soy. Soybeans can add as much as 9 grams of fat per serving, typically adding an average of 5 grams of fat per serving when part of an average American diet.

The Extraction Process

The processes which render the soybean "edible" are also the processes which render it "inedible." In fermenting soybeans, the process entails that the beans be puréed and soaked in an alkaline solution. The puréed mixture is then heated to about 115°C (239°F) inside a pressure cooker. This heating and soaking process destroys most, but not all, of the anti-nutrients. At the same time, it has the unwelcome effect of denaturing the proteins of the beans so they become very difficult to digest and greatly reduced in effectiveness. Unfortunately, the alkaline solution also produces a carcinogen, lysinealine, while it reduces the already low cystine content within the soybean. Cystine plays an essential role in liver detoxification, allowing our bodies to filter and eliminate toxins. Without proper amounts of cystine, the protein complex of the soybean becomes useless, unless the diet is fortified with cystine-rich meat, egg, or dairy products - not an option for Gerson patients.

To the soybean’s credit, they do contain large amounts of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, but these are particularly susceptible to rancidity when subjected to high pressures and temperatures. Unfortunately, high pressure and temperature are required to remove soybean oil from the soybean.

Before soybeans are sent to your table, they undergo a rigorous process to strip them of their oil. Hexane or other solvents are first applied to help separate the oil from the beans, leaving trace amounts of these toxins in the commercial product. Hexane by definition is; "any of five colorless, volatile, liquid hydrocarbons C6H14 of the paraffin series," and cannot be the least bit beneficial in anyone’s diet. After the oil is extracted, the defatted flakes are used to form the three basic soy protein products. With the exception of full-fat soy flour, all soybean products contain trace amounts of carcinogenic solvents.

Personal Experiences

The following letter was received in November 1998: "I have used soy milk for 12 years with no problems. About 9 months ago, I started to have heart palpitations. I thought maybe that I was in menopause, but I wasn’t. I added more potassium to my diet and magnesium and vitamin E. No change. I am already decaffeinated but I also took all sugar out of my diet. I lost 25 pounds and felt great except for the palpitations. I tried hawthorn and garlic but nothing was helping. Recently I came down with acute bronchitis and could only drink water because even the soy milk made me have horrendous bouts of coughing. I realized that after a few days my heart palpitations had stopped. I didn't think anything of it because it never occurred to me that soy was the culprit. As soon as I started drinking it again, my heart went crazy. I went off it for a week and then changed brands. Within 30 minutes of drinking only 4 ounces [of soy milk], my heart was all over the place. I've noticed that it takes about 24 to 36 hours for my heart to settle down. I wondered if your research turned up anything like this in regard to soy. I know it is not within the definition of an allergy, but something is definitely going on. I called the manufacturer of the soy milk, but they were of no help. I am very upset because I only drink soy milk and water. I also use the soy milk to make protein shakes (with what else…but soy protein)."

In our November/December 1996 issue of the Gerson Healing Newsletter we described another case: a pregnant lady who looked very ill and was terribly deficient! She also described her son, age five, who had many allergies and infections - both were using a good deal of soy in their diet. I recommended that they discontinue the use of all soy products. At the time, I had only just run across this situation. However, a year later, I was in the same area for a lecture, and the lady invited me to dinner. She had cut out all soy products: her skin was now rosy, her face filled out, her sunken eyes normal, her black circles gone and her little boy, now six, was in greatly improved health.

Just last week, another interesting story came to our attention. A patient at the Gerson Certified Hospital in Mexico told us of her son, now 25, who has total lack of hair (Alopecia) with the exception of eyebrows and eyelashes. She added that this started when he was just three years old. Since the mother asked me about this situation, I considered the problem for a moment. Then, looking at the parents who both have normal hair, I figured that the boy's problem was most probably not genetic. So, I asked the mother if he used a lot of soy. She said, no. But then, after thinking about the question for a moment, she said that at about one year of age, the boy had many allergies, so she regularly fed him soy milk! I explained to her that the enzyme and nutrient blocking ability of soy and the likelihood of the soy milk being the cause of his condition starting at age three. Since we had just witnessed the case of a patient whose hair grew back on his bald pate, (See "Practitioner Training" article in this issue) after being bald for some 20 years, I cautiously suggested that a complete change of diet accompanied by intensive detoxification, may be able to overcome the problem.

Gerson Institute Newsletter Volume 14 #3

This article is the first of two parts. Part Two will be next week

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/

“Soybean Products: A Recipe for Disaster?” Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Apr-May 1997), http://www.icom.net/ ~nexus/soya.html

Soy Protein Council, http://www.spcouncil.org

“Jeopardizing the Future? Genetic Engineering, Food and the Environment”, by Dr. Michael Hanson and Jean Halloran (Consumer Policy Institute /Consumers Union), http://www.pmac.net/ jeopardy.html

“Monsanto Genetically Engineered Soya has Elevated Hormone Levels: Public Health Threat” (Oct. 1997), http://www.holisticmed.com/ ge/warning.html

“Monsanto’s Toxic Roundup” (Nov. 1996), http://www.holisticmed.com/GE/roundup.html

“Toxicity from Genetically-Engineered Foods”, http://www.holisticmed.com/GE/toxicity.html

Soy (Part 2)

Soy: Too Good to be True (Part 2 of 2)
By Susan DeSimone & Brandon Finucan

Don't Believe the Hype!

The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is one of the leading manufacturers of soy products. They are seeking "GRAS" (generally recognized as safe) status from the FDA for isoflavones, the estrogen-like compounds found in soy products. They have submitted a document entitled, " An information document reviewing the safety of soy isoflavones used in specific dietary applications."

Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick, a biochemist and former Auckland University professor has carefully analyzed this material and presented his findings in an article entitled, "Soy Isoflavones: Panacea or Poison" published in the Journal of the Price-Pottinger Nutrition Foundation (vol. 22, no. 3). Dr. Fitzpatrick concluded that ADM's supporting document "contains factual errors, misrepresents cited authors and does not present the full body of scientific evidence."

ADM claims that "these isoflavones have been consumed by millions of humans for over two thousand years." In actuality, while they have been used in Asia for hundreds of years, they "did not form a significant part of [the Asian] diet." Furthermore, notes Fitzpatrick, "the traditional soybean was quite different from the soybean as we know it today ." The wild soybean, Glycine soja, "is the species that was consumed traditionally and is the ancestor of the modern cultivar, Glycine max, explains Fitzpatrick. The modern day species has been cultivated to breed much more protein than the traditional soybean.

The isoflavones serve as a "defense mechanism in response to pests. Increased disease resistance has been a consistent goal of soybean breeders and it is quite conceivable that this goal has served to increase the levels of isoflavones, and other naturally occurring toxins in the Glycine max." The levels of isoflavones in Glycine max vary considerably. "If this is so, then it is not implausible that the traditional Asian soybean, Glycine soja, contained quite low levels of isoflavones or perhaps none at all," states Fitzpatrick. Therefore, ADM's assertion that soybeans have been safely consumed for over two thousand years cannot be substantiated.

Soy and Infant Formula

What is particularly worrisome is the presence of soy in infant formulas. It is interesting to note that many infants cannot tolerate soy formulas, that they seem to be "allergic" to the soy.

Perhaps the body is instinctively rejecting the enzyme inhibitors found in the soy. In a letter addressed to Linda Kahl at the division of Product Policy of the Food and Drug Administration dated April 22, 1998, Daniel Sheehan, Ph.d and director of the Estrogen Base Program at the National Center for Toxicological Research wrote:

"There is abundant evidence that some of the isoflavones, including genistein and equal are toxicants... additionally, isoflavones are inhibitors of thyroid peroxidase which makes T3 and T4. Inhibition can be expected to generate thyroid abnormalities including goiter and autoimmune thyroiditis. In fact, infants consuming soy infant formula rich in isoflavones have about a two-fold risk of developing these diseases...While isoflavones may have beneficial effects at some ages or circumstances, this cannot be assumed to be true at all ages. Isoflavones are like other estrogens in that they are two-edged swords, conferring both benefits and risk.

Dr. Sheehan believes that "The addition of isoflavones to foods needs to be considered just as would the addition of estrogen to foods, which is a bad idea." Dr. Sheehan is very concerned about the high isoflavone content found in soy based formulas. He feels that infants fed these formulas have been placed at risk in a "large, uncontrolled, and basically unmonitored human infant experiment." Dr. Fitzpatrick raises another issue: he believes that soy may combine with other xenoestrogens (such as pesticides). Fitzpatrick writes that "because of the potential for synergistic effects, human exposure to all endocrine disrupters, such as the soy isoflavones urgently requires reduction."

Soy and the Western Diet

In part one of this article, we mentioned that assumptions have been made linking soy intake to the low incidence of certain cancers in Asia. "However, an epidemiological study in China has shown that high soy intake is not protective against breast cancer."1

The soy proponents have conveniently overlooked a study which has shown that high levels of genistein "may stimulate breast cells to enter the cell cycle" 2. These findings are "consistent with an earlier report by Petrakis et al. who expressed concern that women fed soy protein isolate have an increased incidence of epithelial hyperplasia."3

The U.K. government recently published their findings of the effects of soy in the diet, concluding that "there was almost no evidence linking health benefits from foods containing isoflavones to the isoflavones themselves."4

Another study concluded that "any benefits from soy products are not due to isoflavones specifically... [and] the combination of a high phytoestrogen intake with a western diet may not be beneficial.5

Adding to the natural trouble with soybeans, we are faced with a new Western phenomenon: genetically altered soy. Among other genetically altered, or transgenic foods like corn, apples, tomatoes, squash, strawberries, lettuce, potatoes, wheat and even walnuts (to name just a few), soy is one of the most controversial. MonsantoTM, the multi-million dollar biotechnology leader that brought us rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone), has been fighting to put genetically altered foods on your table for several years. So far, they are winning. The truth is, unless you've been eating ONLY organic foods, it is likely you've been tasting Monsanto's handiwork.

Monsanto has gained millions in profits from sales of its popular herbicide, Roundup®, and in turn has produced several transgenic crops that resist it. Soy is of course among those Roundup-Ready® crops. Being resistant to this powerful herbicide, farmers are able to spray more of it on their crops, resulting in higher levels of toxins in the harvested product. Recent studies have shown that sprayed soybean crops have an elevated estrogen level (much higher than the soybean's already high levels). As we mentioned earlier, the synergistic effect of these estrogens - especially on children ingesting soy based formula is unknown, but in a recent study reported in Pediatrics raised a few eyebrows. "

Investigators found that one percent of all girls now show signs of puberty, such as breast development or pubic hair before the age of THREE; by age eight 14.7 percent of Caucasian girls and a whopping 48.3 percent of African-American girls had one or both of these characteristics" states Sally Fallon in the Price-Pottinger article on soy. (For a natural alternative to soy and milk based formula, see Nourishing Traditions, available through PPNF at 619-574-7763).

These higher estrogen levels have proven to increase amounts of fat produced in the milk of cows fed the altered altered and sprayed beans. Together with the use of rBGH, the elevated estrogen levels bring into question whether cows milk can really be called milk.

The European Union has fought desperately to keep genetically altered crops from entering Europe's food chain, but this June, both France and Ireland will be planting the first altered crops to be grown on European soil. In the United States, there are very few (if any) regulations placed on the biotechnology industry.

Soy and Protein Intake

Soybeans are not the basis of measurement for whether or not a vegetarian diet is supplying you with the protein and nutrients your body needs. In fact, a diet completely devoid of soy or meat products, but varied in vegetables and fruits, can supply your body with all the protein and nutrients it needs. The important factor in determining whether or not your soy-free, vegetarian diet is good enough for you is not careful food combining, it is calories. As long as you ar eating enough leafy greens, fruits and vegetables, your body will be supplied with everything it needs. This is why the Gerson Therapy, with its well-balanced, plant-based (soy-free) diet, rich in vitamins and enzymes, is able to effectively heal even the most difficult of ailments.

Go To Part One

Gerson Institute Newsletter Volume 14 #4

1. Yuan JM et al. Diet and breast cancer in Shanghai and Yianjin. Br J Cancer 71:1353-1358 (1995).

2. Dees C et al. Dietary estrogens stimulate breast cells to enter the cell cycle. Eviron Health Perspect 105 (Suppl 3): 633-636 (1997).

3. Petrakis NL et al. Stimulatory influence of soy protein isolate on breast secretion in pre- and post-menopausal women. Cancer Epid Bio Prev 5: 785-794 (1996).

4. Assessment on phytoestrogens in the human diet. Institute for Environmental Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1997).