GMO…Friend or Foe?

In light of upcoming wheat harvest in western KS and because I have heard patients say “wheat is a GMO”, I thought I would discuss this ongoing hot topic in the food world.

To begin, let’s define GMO.  GMO stands for “genetically modified organism”.  The definition of GMO is a crop developed by using techniques that transfer a beneficial trait, like insect resistance or drought tolerance, from one organism to another or change an existing trait in a plant.

GMO’s are not a result of cross-breeding or some less common forms of plant breeding, and this is important to keep in mind when talking about next week’s topic, wheat and gluten.

For today, I am going to provide the 10 (yes, only 10) GMO crops currently commercially available in the US:  corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets, papaya, squash, apple, and potato.  There are some other GMO crops in other countries.

Now, I will dispel some GMO myths:

·         there is no evidence GMO’s cause cancer

·         GMO’s help vs. hurt the environment by decreasing soil erosion with no till crops, by decreasing water usage, and by decreasing pesticide applications

·         no GMO’s have been detected in meat of animals that have eaten GMO crops

·         the nutrient content between GMO’s and their non-GMO counterpart is no different unless the nutrient content has been genetically modified

Finally, I will leave you with this thought…if a food or beverage doesn’t have genes, it can’t be genetically modified.  Keep this in mind when you read a salt or water label that says it is non-GMO…kind of like soy, rice, and almonds don’t lactate and therefore, don’t produce milk…but I digress.

Bottom line…don’t be fooled by marketing labels for GMO’s and non-GMO’s or any other nutrition “claims” and know that GMO’s are our friend!

Click here to learn more “friendly” facts about GMO’s.