Hi fellow Steemians! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are having an even better Monday! I thought I would take some time today to wrap up the topic of GMOs and talk more about how they are damaging our health. If you've been following along, you can probably tell by now, I'm very passionate about the topic. I have done a great deal of research over the years on genetically modified organisms, or GMOs as they're abbreviated, and more people need to know the truth about them.

Did you know, the significant increase in the number of gluten sensitivity cases in Americans can be linked to GMOs? This is an important topic Jeffrey Smith discusses in the report, Can Genetically-Engineered Foods Explain the Exploding Gluten Sensitivity? Jeffrey Smith is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology and author.

Gluten Sensitivity and Leaky Gut

There are different theories as to why GMOs may heighten gluten sensitivity or gluten reactions. The breeding of wheat is one theory believed to increase the gluten content of the crop, explains Smith. He supports the claim GMOs are largely to blame for gluten sensitivity reactions using evidence from animal feeding and case studies.

He says, “While there is insufficient research to prove that GMO consumption causes gluten sensitivity, the evidence does show how it might, at least, exacerbate the symptoms, or contribute to the conditions that might lead to the development of sensitivity to gluten.”

People that are hypersensitive to gluten, like celiac sufferers, often have an inflammatory condition called leaky gut. In people that have the condition, the cell lining of the intestines opens, causing digestive contents to leak into the bloodstream.

Some doctors estimate over half of the population suffers from some degree of Leaky Gut. Now, I would call that a secret epidemic...

Essentially, leaky gut causes the immune system to launch an attack on whatever leaks out of the gut and into the bloodstream. “Technically, anyone who consumes gluten—whether a celiac sufferer or not—is susceptible to increased intestinal permeability. That’s because the protein class in wheat known as alpha-gliadin can provoke the release of zonulin from our bodies, which can promote intestinal permeability to unhealthy levels,” he says.

Poor Digestion

Digestion, one of the most crucial processes for life, may also be impaired by GMOs. It is important to note, leaky gut and impaired digestion go hand-in-hand. In patients with leaky gut, the microvilli which help aid digestion and line the intestinal walls get damaged, thus impairing absorption of nutrients.

To provide evidence for this, Smith points to a study titled, “Fine Structural Changes in the Ileum of Mice Fed on Delta-endotoxin-treated Potatoes and Transgenic Potatoes”. The study observed Bt-toxin’s damaging effect on the microvilli of mice. Some of the microvilli in the mice's digestive linings were severed or broken completely off.

Now, the looming question is, if Bt-toxin can do this to mice, can it have a similar effect on the microvilli of humans?

Gut dysbiosis

Gut bacteria dysbiosis is also associated with gluten sensitivity/reactions and linked to GMOs. You've probably heard this called a microbial or gut imbalance, and as you may have noticed, this condition has been getting a lot of attention lately, driving the popularity of probiotics and fermented foods.

We've all heard the saying, you are what you eat... well that seems to be a true piece of wisdom. According to veterinarian Dan Skow, the introduction of GMOs lines up with the timeframe he began seeing livestock have gut imbalances. Skow says, ‘Now what set this off and why these disruptions of the balance to the microscopic flora in the intestinal tract? I’m personally suspicious—there’s a lot of impact from the GMOs’.

Even butchers have noticed changes in livestock, specifically, how the dead carcasses smell if they were fed a GMO diet.

‘The pigs fed GMOs have a very dramatic difference in their microflora. [It] has a terrible odor to it compared to the normal microflora because of that changed bio-environment.’ (Emeritus Huber, a professor at Purdue University)

Allergies and immune responses

Lastly, allergies and immune responses are another set of issues associated with GMOs and the poor gut health they cause. But it's not just GMOs that are the culprit, it's also the herbicides used on them. For instance, glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup which is sprayed on GMO crops has been found to be quite problematic for the gut as one study using mice revealed:

‘The study showed that retinoic acid, a metabolite of vitamin A, activated a specific immune response to gluten under inflammatory conditions in the gut. It turns out that glyphosate, the primary herbicide used on GMO crops, increases retinoic acid activity.’

Not only do GMOs trigger gluten sensitivity but also other immune responses. This exposure increases the body’s antigenic load, making a person more susceptible to allergies, even to non-GMOs. For instance, individual studies found the Bt-toxin in GMO corn “triggered immune responses in mice and in farm workers, and allergic- and flu-like symptoms in hundreds of exposed citizens.” Scientists also discovered the immune systems of mice will start triggering due to substances it never did prior to Bt-toxin exposure.

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I found these resources to be invaluable for understanding the hidden link between GMOs and health problems. Who would have thought that so many of the gut issues we're dealing with today, like gluten sensitivity, leaky gut, impaired digestion, and gut dysbiosis, can be caused by eating these genetically engineered foods? And not surprisingly, when we have an unhealthy gut, we end up with allergies or autoimmune reactions.

Well, I hope these series of posts on GMOs has opened your eyes or made you re-think the produce and foods you buy at the supermarket. If you suffer from any one of these gastrointestinal issues or have an allergy problem, like so many people do, it is probably best to avoid GMOs altogether or as much as possible.

It's a revolutionary idea but to heal the gut is to heal the body!

Want to learn more about GMOs and how they contribute to poor gut health and allergies? Check out report I highlighted - it's a great resource:

Smith, Jeffrey. Can Genetically-Engineered Foods Explain the Exploding Gluten Sensitivity? Rep. N.p., Sept. 2013. The 13-page report can be downloaded here on thehealinggardens Inside, you will find all the studies mentioned in this post with some great images and diagrams that further document the correlation between a GMO diet and various disorders.

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