I bet you’re confused when you hear things like “GMO food is the science of the future.” And then you turn around and hear “GMO food causes cancer.” Can both people be right?
The oversimplified answer is that GMO food is neither good nor bad. It depends on why the food is being genetically modified. And who is doing the modifying. I am going to attempt to do some splainin’ today.

There is an article put out by “nature” that defines some terms and explains why we might want to genetically modify plants and animals. That article can be found here.

Could problems arise when corporations confuse product improvement with profit improvement?

You bet. This article describes how canola oil (normally a healthy oil that is higher in polyunsaturated fatty acids) has now been modified to contain much more saturated fatty acids. It now resembles palm oil (an unhealthy oil), which was done to increase the stable shelf life of snack foods. Until now, there was no way of knowing what these food manufacturers had done. But help is on the way in the form of mandatory labeling for GMO foods.

This Journal of nutrition article looks into the beneficial results of having the ability to add iron or vitamin A to a low nutrient, but inexpensive, staple like rice.

As always, if you have any questions about this topic, or would be interested in hiring a nutritionist to improve your healthy eating habits, feel free to contact me on my website contact page.