The great debate, are GMO’s really harmful. In the short answer, yes they are. But likely not for the reasons you have been told or what you are thinking. Yes they are not ideal for our gut, they don’t agree with our system but is this enough to really cause concern? Let me tell you what my major concern is. We are made up of more bacteria and microbes than we are of ‘human’ cells (depending on who you talk to because that theory is now also changing). That being said glyphosate was created to kill…. bacteria. Most of the crops in farmers fields in Canada and the USA are sprayed with round-up aka glyphosate which they tell us is safe yet if you get it into your eyes or on your skin you need to rinse it off immediately and head straight to emergency… but it’s safe enough to eat, ya buddy sounds safe to me.
I digress… Glyphosate degrades the intestinal bacteria balance and the shikimate pathway. This is my main cause of concern, scratch that let’s call it what it is. A five alarm, red bells and whistles type of panic. We NEED those pathways to function optimally or we are in big trouble, The shikimate pathway is needed to help us utilize certain nutrients like FOLATE. Yup we need these specific bacteria or we do not utilize specific nutrients, without those nutrients we won’t function properly. We end up with a host of disease related symptoms like depression and anxiety for starters. We can link it to gastrointestinal issues such as crohn’s and colitis.
What exactly is the shikimate pathway? It is a 7 step metabolic route used by bacteria, fungi, algae, some protozoan parasites (not all parasites are bad, we actually need some but that’s a whole other post). We need them for synthesis of folates, and aromatic amino acids such as phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan. Some of those likely ring a bell I imagine. The body turns phenylalanine into tyrosine which is one of the most important amino acids since it protects our neurotransmitters. Our body changes L-tryptophan into a brain chemical called serotonin. Serotonin helps control your mood and sleep… so all of these things which are negatively impacted when we damage the shikimate pathway are cause for concern. I don’t know about you but I prefer to stick to non gmo for my family.
Want to know more from someone who is an expert on GMO’s, check out this interview with Dr Stephanie Seneff and Jeffrey Smith
