I read a paper once on a native American tribe from the southwest. They had a larger than normal occurrence of diabetes. To put it in a nutshell, in trying to determine the cause of this the study found that the loss of a melon that had been natural to their diet contributed greatly to the rise in diabetes cases within the tribe. When the melon was reintroduced into their diet the occurrence of diabetes fell dramatically. It turns out that after ten thousand years of depending on this fruit for a major part of their diet their digestive systems had adapted to the point where taking the food source away caused it damage.
Unfortunately, I can't remember the source for this. It was read long ago when I was in college for some science class I was taking or some such thing. It stuck with me because I remember thinking how this demonstrated the nature of evolution. Evolution isn't something that happens suddenly and, poof, you have a new species. It's not even something you can necessarily see. It's something that happens over a long period of time, thousands and even millions of years, and something that one might not even be able to detect outwardly or by the remains we find. In short, evolution is the adaptation an organism undergoes to keep up with its changing environment. How well an organism can adapt will determine whether it survives and what it will evolve into.
In the case above the native Americans evolved into organisms that needed something in the melon to help them break down sugars in their diet. This wasn't discovered until the food source was removed and the abnormally high occurrence of diabetes was investigated. It makes sense to me that the digestive track and its processes would be some of the first and easiest things to evolve with a changing environment as opposed to something like height, or limbs, or other outward structures. This is because not only are these changes taking place at the molecular and cellular levels, but the body will be changing slowly as the food sources change. Given enough time, the organism may become dependent on certain food sources to remain healthy in ways we might not even think of.
All this gives me pause to think, what happens if our modern day food sources are suddenly changed? How would that affect our bodies that have adapted to certain qualities in certain food sources over the millennia? Will our bodies even be able to absorb the necessary nutrition from such food sources? Will they develop diseases such as diabetes and cancer? Such questions are already being answered, and you're doing the answering. Certain companies have decided it's alright to make such genetic changes in our food supply and not even tell us about them. Our federal government and their establishment corporate sponsors have teamed up and decided that there is no problem with turning the citizenry of this nation into guinea pigs. They refuse to even label genetically modified foods at the store and let you make the decision whether you wish to purchase and eat them or not.
It's bad enough that we eat so much prepared food. It's bad enough that we eat so many preservatives and manmade additives and ingredients in our modern diets. It wouldn't surprise me to find that these things have quite a bit to do with the increased cases of cancers, diabetes, heart disease and other maladies prevalent in modern society. But at least we more or less choose to consume such foods. At least most of us realize the risks and choose convenience and affordability over quality. Many people aren't even aware they're consuming genetically modified food, let alone informed on the risks.
We have been eating many foods for thousands of years. Our bodies expect certain elements and qualities in our meats, grains, fruits and vegetables. Our bodies have evolved over these thousands of years along with the food our diets consist of. My generation is possibly better able to handle the processing our food undergoes than even my father's generation, but that is not certain. When a different element is introduced into our food, our bodies have to figure out how to deal with it. Our bodies have to evolve. That takes time. Our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will likely have a better chance of their bodies adapting to absorb the necessary nutrition from these genetically modified foods than you or I do, but there are no guarantees. For all we know, modifying such foods could backfire and cause a catastrophe. And what will be available for most of us to eat is now being decided by a few faceless bureaucrats and elite corporatists who will never be held accountable for any possible disaster.
At the very least, food that is genetically modified should be labeled so. At the very least, those who grow natural crops should be reimbursed when their crops are destroyed by wind borne cross pollination with genetically modified crops. Instead the powers that be fight to prevent genetically modified foods from being labeled. Instead the courts are finding in favor of corporate farms and forcing small family farms out of business when cross pollination occurs by claiming the small farmers have violated the corporations' patents on such foods. Everything is backward. The powers that be want to keep us in the dark. The powers that be seem to want to force natural foods out of the market. Is it any wonder that so many see a conspiracy when it comes to food manipulation?
This is just another example of the total failure of the federal government to protect individuals or even to simply be reasonable and fair. In study after study it is shown that natural foods are better for the body. In study after study it is shown that natural foods provide the body with the nutrition necessary to grow stronger, to stay younger longer, to fight off diseases better, yet the corporate farms that have taken control of so much of our farmland insist on feeding us foods that are less and less natural and therefore less nutritious and less beneficial to the body. At the very least each individual should be able to decide what food they want to eat and feed their families. In our modern world, even the very least is denied us due to misinformation, government incompetence and even deliberately hidden information. It seems to me that if the powers that be appointed to such tasks can't protect the integrity of our food they should be held accountable when that integrity breaks down.
If you like my writings, please visit my website szandorblestman.com to see my archived articles and help support me by making a donation. I am also pleased to announce the release of the latest book by Matthew Wayne entitled "The Edge of Sanity" at smashwords.com. The download for this book is only $2.99, but interested readers can receive an additional 25% off by entering the coupon code CX99R until Jan. 29th, 2012.
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