It seems like every few years there is some new villain of the nutrition world. For awhile it was carbohydrates thanks to Dr. Atkins, then it was gluten and our latest evil-doers are GMOs, or genetically modified organisms.

 

As a dietitian, my registration and license require me to conduct evidenced based practices. Meaning, I cannot, by the nature of my license, promote information or claims that are not upheld by scientific proof. Physicians are held to the same standards which is why you will rarely find  any of us repeating information that has not been thoroughly reviewed by scientists and published in scholarly journal. The reason there are these specifications in place is to protect the public from possible harm. As healthcare professionals, we take an oath, and that oath is: “Do no harm”. It is also the reason you will not find us promoting cleanses,  unnecessary vitamin infusions, unproven “cures” and it is also why as a dietitian, I know GMOs to be largely safe AND beneficial.

 

Whoa!!! What?? But GMOs are evil! Because…Monsanto?! Right?! Not so fast…

 

The problem with cherry picking evidence regarding any topic, is you don’t get the full picture. What you may NOT know about GMOs is that they have been responsible for many good things. For example, golden rice which is a rice molecule spliced with Vitamin A has saved many children in developing countries from blindness. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is responsible for 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness and up to 2 million deaths each year. A humanitarian and plant scientist from Switzerland helped engineer a form of genetically modified rice. Regular white rice-the staple of many children in developing countries-was fortified with Vitamin A, a nutrient commonly deficient in many of these children’s diets because they don’t have access to vitamin A rich food sources. Although it was provided for free to farmers and was very effective, its distribution has now been blocked by GMO opposition.

 

GMOs are not, in fact, engineered by maniacal, mad- scientist types who are all in a huge scheme to poison the general public with the aid of a government cover up. What exactly is a GMO? So glad you asked….

 

Genetically modifying anything can sound really scary. We’ve all seen the pictures of the mouse with the ear on his back. Yikes! But, when it comes to plants and foods, modifying an organisms is just that: modifying its genetic structure.  GMOs aren’t constructed or created, they are changed at the genetic level to serve a purpose. This takes place by scientists, who typically have no interest in destroying public health, breeding or surgically altering the DNA. For example, Roundup Ready Wheat has had a particular enzyme which is vulnerable to Roundup removed. This way, roundup can be sprayed on an entire crop and the wheat survives, the weeds do not.

 

Genetic modification happens in nature all the time. It’s part of the reason why inedible maize from when our ancestors arrived is now edible. The Native Americans taught the pilgrims how to plant different seeds together to make an edible version which we now know as corn. This happens all the place in nature-just look at chicken’s ancestors who used to have alligator like teeth! Over time, the gene that made these creepy teeth was knocked out by evolution.

 

As a person who has spent a lot of time in labs (more than I would like) it’s important to recognize how GMOs are contributing to new and exciting opportunities to treat and cure diseases and illnesses. I often find it interesting that the same people who are terrified of GMOs will take vitamins. The same research that goes into making sure your vitamin supplement is safe for you to have is going into research that has helped with cancer cures and treatments, improved surgical procedures, medications and a host of other life-saving discoveries. Just a few of the things we can thanks GMOs for:

  • cheap and widely available insulin
  • life saving penicillin
  • medications such as tissue plasminogen activator, dornase alfa, Erythropoietin (EPO), granulocyte stimulating factor-ask a cancer or bone marrow transplant patient if they are happy these things are around!
  • lactase
  • Zmap-used to help create treatment for Ebola

Plus about a hundred other treatments that GMOs are responsible for helping to create.

 

“I would still never eat a GMO-that’s different”

 

GMOs being labeled as “unnatural” is  little silly. Ancient farmers HAD to plant seeds and cross breed plants with each other to make crops that were edible for human consumption. That’s how we evolved and have lived longer, healthier lives-because of better nutrition! For thousands of years people took seeds from the best tasting, juiciest plants and replanted THOSE varieties (juicy tomatoes, orange carrots, wheat, corn, bananas). All of this is a form of genetically “modifying” an organism. Our ancestors just wanted food that tasted better-and thank goodness for that!

The bottom line

 

To be fair, some large conglomerates (like Monsanto) have genetically modified crops to not reproduce viable seeds which has left some farmers hostage to the agricultural corporation. But you’d be comparing two different things here: a company being unethical and the safety of GMOs; the prior of which I will not comment on 😉

All too often we as the public are given sound bites of information that can leave us missing the bigger picture. In the case of GMOs, the bigger picture is that, as a whole, GMOs are not really what we have been led to believe and that the focus should be on the entirety of what you are eating. Just because you can find non-GMO chips and candy doesn’t mean they are good for you 🙂