In my latest issue of Natural Health Magazine (April/May 2012), there was an article written by Allison Young about the potential dangers and the recent findings on GMOs. If you have this issue, make sure to read the article- it’s very interesting!

Genetically Modified Organisms are plants that have had their DNA altered in order to establish a useful trait within that plant. The purpose of this is to make them more resistant to insects, disease, and herbicides.

Animal studies have linked GMOs to infertility, food allergies, liver damage, gastrointestinal problems, resistance to antibiotics, and cancer. Europe even now requires such foods to be labeled as GMO foods. GMOs are found in about 70% of processed foods here in America. A possibly good aspect to this reality is that there is virtually no DNA left from the plants by the time the foods are processed. These may be deemed “safe” to consume since the DNA is no longer there, but I ask, “Who wants to eat food that requires that much processing anyway? “ All the chemicals used to wipe out the DNA is probably just as harmful to the consumer than the genetically engineered plants.

Unfortunately, the US leads the world in genetically engineered crops. There are several American harvested vegetables and fruits that have been genetically modified. They are sugar beets (95%), soybeans (94% of the crop), cotton (90%), field corn (88%), and smaller amounts of zucchini, squash, alfalfa sprouts, sweet corn, and papayas.

With this information now under my belt, I will continue to avoid processed foods (I am always leery of foods with the word “modified” in the list of ingredients. Why would you want to eat something that has been modified by man?) and stick with organic when it comes to the above list of fruits and vegetables.