The GMO and Gluten Intolerance Connection

Do you think there is a GMO and gluten intolerance connection today?  Believe it or not,  you probably eat GMOs every day.  A genetically modified organism or GMO is an organism whose genetic material has been engineered or changed. Organisms that have been modified already include plants, fish, mammals, bacteria, yeast and insects. Genetic modification involves the mutation, insertion, or deletion of genes.  GMOs are created to resist pests, herbicides, harsh weather and improve a product’s shelf life.  Imagine what they can do to your body!

As of 2011, 94% of soybeans are GMO, 90% of cotton and 88% of corn have been genetically modified.  Genetically modified food has been on the market since the early 1990s and now include too many to list here.  The bottom line is that we just don’t know which foods are GMO because there is no required labeling. It makes you wonder if there is a lot more genetically altered food we consume than we think and perhaps produced for a lot longer than is being reported. According to a CBS News poll, 87% of Americans want genetically modified ingredients labeled. GMO ingredients are labeled throughout Europe and in most of the world’s industrialized nations, however, it is not mandated in the U.S.

What problems do consuming GMOs cause?  The Organic Consumer Organization says that they have been linked to thousands of toxic and allergenic reactions, thousands of sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ and system studied in lab animals including cancerous tumors.

Over 20 years, beginning around 1990, the incidence of pediatric Celiac Disease, which is an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye in Scotland has increased 6.4-fold researchers found. “We have evidence from other groups — Welsh, American, Dutch, and Swedish — to suggest that this is not just a Scottish phenomenon,” he added.  Their research found that, between 1990 and 2009, 290 children had been diagnosed and treated for CD. Of the 266 children included in the study, the researchers compared incidence in four time periods: 1990 through 1994, 1995 through 1999, 2000 through 2004 and 2005 through 2009. The overall incidence per 100,000 increased from 1.8 between 1990 and 1994 to 11.7 between 2005 and 2009.

The following are charts showing the relationship between GMOs and our health, past and present:  (source) 

GMO graph on diabetes and gastro problems.

World Cancer Rates

“The incidence of CD in children with nonclassical monosymptomatic or extraintestinal presentation and those who were actively screened increased by 1566% between 1990 and 1999 and 1170% between 2000 to 2009!”

Could there be a direct correlation between gluten intolerance and GMOs being introduced into the food chain in the last two decades?…You decide.

See also my posts on:

1. What Does Eating Healthy Really Mean?
2. Treat Colitis Naturally
3. How Do I Know I Am Eating GMOs?