My friends call me the Nutrition Police. When I visit Canada, my elderly parents sigh gently on finding alfalfa sprouts in their sandwiches and beets in their salads. My nephews have learned to hide the Pop Tarts from me. But as someone once said, "If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?"
I’m inspired to write about food because I am currently in Vancouver, a city that celebrates eating. After the modest offerings of Delta Dewata I am stunned by the abundance on the supermarket shelves here – row after row of tins, jars and packets designed to be opened and consumed in minutes. Everyone is busy, no one has time to cook any more. So the bins of cauliflower, broccoli and carrots are often bypassed in favour of a frozen lasagna dinner or a packet of instant pasta that can be heated in the microwave.We’ve come a long way from our hunting and gathering days, roasting a leg of deer over an open fire and bashing each other over the head with the bones afterward. (This was evidently before barbecued meat was discovered to be carcinogenic.) We’ve evolved into a society so distant from its food sources that we usually have no idea how our nourishment is produced or what it contains. We look at the pretty picture on the front of the package, pop it in the microwave and consume it without thought. Most North American kids have never seen a chicken that wasn’t decapitated, plucked and wrapped in cellophane. My nephew was horrified when I told him where eggs came from.
One fifth of the world’s population goes to bed hungry every night. Another 20% is obese and malnourished – the ultimate irony – from consuming over-processed junk that contains no nutrition but plenty of fat and chemicals.
When we look at how most of our food is produced, the organic option begins to look very attractive. A recent study by Scottish scientists showed that organic vegetable soups contain almost six times as much salicylic acid, which fights hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer, than non-organic soups. The same scientists found significantly higher concentrations of salicylic acid in the blood of vegetarian Buddhist monks compared to meat eaters.
In April 2001, an American study compared the nutrient levels of organic and regular produce. In every case, the organic crops had higher nutrient levels — an average of 27% more vitamin C, 29% more iron and 14% more phosphorus.
A study by the Globe and Mail and CTV News on the nutrient quality of today’s fruits and vegetables compared to the same items 50 years ago shows that modern produce contains dramatically less vitamins and minerals. The average potato has lost most of its vitamin A, 57% of its vitamin C and iron and 28% of its calcium, 50% of its riboflavin and 18% of its thiamine. Similar results were found for 24 other fruits and vegetables. Organic oranges were found to have up to 30% more vitamin C than regular oranges, even though they are half the size.
Not only are organic crops better for you, but organic farming has been shown to produce more food per unit of energy and fertilizer than chemically grown crops. Industrial farming giants like Monstanto and Ciba Geigy would like us to believe that we need their chemicals in order to feed the world. Well-researched studies continue to refute this. A 2002 Greenpeace report states that organic and agro-ecological methods of growing in the Southern hemisphere produced a dramatic increase in yields, reduced pests and diseases, higher nutritional content and greater crop diversity. In Ethiopia, organic crops raised 300 — 500% more food than chemically treated plots. In Brazil, maize yields increased by 20 — 250%. In Peru, upland crop yields increased by 150%. A British experiment run by the Rothamsted Experimental Station shows that wheat yields on manured plots consistently average a slightly higher yield than chemically grown wheat.
Studies also demonstrate that mammals breed better when fed organic foods. Female rabbits fed organic leaves have twice the level of ovum production of rabbits fed chemically grown leaves. Chickens fed on organic food produce 28% more eggs. Consider these findings in the context of falling fertility levels in humans, and reach for organic foods if you’re in the market for a baby.
Now look at the health of the farmers who produce our food with chemicals. In Canada and the United States, farmers using the pesticide 2,4-D suffer a higher rate of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma than other groups. In Sweden, exposure to phenoxy herbicides has been shown to increase the risk of contracting lymphomas by 600%. In the US, deaths from myeloma, a cancer, are highest in rural farming areas. There is a strong association between breast cancer and exposure to chemical pesticides. The greatest irony is that properly managed organic crops are more naturally resistant to pests than chemically grown crops.
Most of us are already aware that industrially farmed meats (including virtually everything produced in the United States) has been aggressively treated with growth hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals which are readily absorbed by consumers. The European Union has banned US beef for several years because of unacceptably high levels of additives. Still determined to warm up that frozen lasagne in the microwave? Several studies over the past two decades strongly suggest that microwaved foods can harm us.
Dr Hans Hertel, a respected Swiss scientist, has studied the effects of microwaved nutrients in the blood and physiology of humans. He found that eating microwaved nutrients caused changes in the blood of his study participants. The deformation of food molecules after microwaving also resulted in the formation of new substances called radiolytic compounds (similar to free radicals) of which we know nothing.
Some of his findings, determined by comparative, defined interval blood samples taken prior to and following the intake of microwaved foods, demonstrate a decrease in hemoglobin, significant adverse changes in the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol) values, short-term decrease in white blood cells and an increase of leukocytes.
Far from celebrating these findings, the Swiss establishment moved to muzzle Dr Hertel. In 1993 he was convicted by a Swiss court of "interfering with commerce" and a gag order prohibited further publication of his results. He risked jail to stand by his research, and the European Court of Human Rights overturned the decision in 1998.
Other independent studies have tracked "microwave sickness" symptoms which include headaches, eye strain, fatigue, dizziness, moodiness, irritability and hair loss. There is new evidence that warming breast milk in a microwave destroys many of the nutrients that make mothers’ milk preferable to cows’ milk. In 1989, an article in the Lancet stated that microwaving baby formulas converted certain amino acids into toxins.
And covering food in common plastic wrap while microwaving food produces diethylhexyl (DEHA), an identified carcinogen, which is transfered to the food. The combination of fat, high heat and plastic can produce dioxins, which are potent carcinogens.
GMO foods? Don’t get me started….
So beware of vegetables, gentle reader, and keep your food out of the microwave. Organic produce is available in Bali at Andalan Health Food Stores in Ubud and Sanur, Sunrise Market at Sunrise School and through the organic farms of Blair and Ben. Email me for contact details.
The information in this article was gleaned from Common Ground, a health and environment newsletter published in Vancouver, Canada. www.commongroundmagazine.com
