Normal Physiology Depends on Normal Food
We are at a tipping point in human health and the health of the planet.
We can no longer afford unsustainable agricultural practices or purely symptomatic relief and keep calling it “health care.” We have seen the devastating effects of monoculture on ecosystems and as health care costs keep rising, albeit more slowly, in spite of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
[see The Economist: https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21645855-growth-americas-health-care-spending-slowing-will-obamacare-cut-costs]. The graphic is astonishing when you compare the US to other nations on health care spending.
As the debate rages over labeling of GMO foods millions of pounds of toxic herbicide are being sprayed on millions of acres and an acre of rainforest is cut down every 5 minutes to grow round-up ready soybeans.
To many this link between agriculture and health is a non sequitur, but the cost of medical care is a direct result of the quality of food we ingest. Here’s the thing, a calorie is not a calorie.
A calorie from organic food may contain the same energy units of carbohydrate, fat, or protein from conventional grown foods, but it is richer in the micro-nutrients that make the cell function. Pesticide ridden foods damage cell function and make the cell sick. You are only as healthy as each individual cell.
Dr. Royal Lee, the founder of Standard Process, was fond of saying that the same preservative that kills mold or bacteria in food is going to have similar effect on our cells. We can’t poison our food and expect to be healthy.
So what is there to do? Call Congress 202-224-3121. An activist populous is the only hedge against corporate billionaires like Monsanto, Syngenta and Novartis.
Call the knuckleheads in Congress and demand they pass national legislation to label GMO (genetically modified organisms) – that insane decision by the Supreme Court allowing the patenting of life (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_v._Chakrabarty). The other crazy decision making corporations persons with similar rights as flesh and blood human beings.
You also vote with your dollars. Every time you eat is a vote for a change in the food system. You eat three meals a day and the more money you spend on organic food the more the food system will respond to fulfill on those market forces.
Eat well and keep in touch,
Dr. Olejak
Pesticide exposure contributes to heightened risk of heart disease
Summary: Pesticide exposure, not obesity alone, can contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk and inflammation in premenopausal women, according to a new study.
Pesticide exposure, not obesity alone, can contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk and inflammation in premenopausal women, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
The study looked at the effects of exposure to polychlorinated pesticides such as DDT. Although DDT was banned in many countries in the 1970s, it remains widespread in the environment and food supply.
DDT was one of the first recognized endocrine-disrupting chemicals, according to the introductory guide to endocrine-disrupting chemicals published by the Endocrine Society and IPEN. DDT and related pesticides are known as environmental estrogens because they can mimic and interfere with the function of the hormone estrogen. Research has found DDT exposure is linked to birth defects, reduced fertility and increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.
“After the body breaks down DDT along with similar pesticides, chemical remnants called metabolites accumulate in women’s fat tissue,” said one of the study’s authors, Diana Teixeira, PhD student of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto in Porto, Portugal. “When higher amounts of these environmental estrogens collect in the fat tissue, it can compromise the protective effect the body’s natural estrogen has on a premenopausal woman’s heart health. This leaves women at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and inflammation.”
The study analyzed the amount of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in fat tissue and blood samples from 121 obese women who underwent bariatric surgery at S. João Hospital in Porto. Among the participants, 73 were classified as premenopausal and 48 were postmenopausal. The researchers tested the participants’ fasting blood glucose and cholesterol. Using the Framingham risk score, the researchers assessed the women’s 10-year risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Researchers found that among premenopausal women, women with higher concentrations of environmental estrogens in their visceral fat tissue from the belly were more likely to have higher average blood sugar levels. Among premenopausal women, those with higher levels of environmental estrogens in their blood tended to have more inflammation and faced a greater risk of cardiovascular disease on the Framingham scale.
“Our findings show that endocrine-disrupting chemicals tend to aggravate complications of obesity, including inflammation and cardiovascular disease risk, in premenopausal women,” Teixeira said. “Measuring environmental estrogen levels may help physicians identify women who are at risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic disease so they can take preventative action.”
Source: Diana Teixeira, Diogo Pestana, Cristina Santos, Luísa Correia-Sá, Cláudia Marques, Sónia Norberto, Manuela Meireles, Ana Faria, Ricardo Silva, Gil Faria, Carla Sá, Paula Freitas, António Taveira-Gomes, Valentina Domingues, Cristina Delerue-Matos, Conceição Calhau, Rosário Monteiro. Inflammatory and Cardiometabolic Risk on Obesity: Role of Environmental Xenoestrogens. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2015; jc.2014-4136
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150408131329.htm