Page 72 - Summer 2017 Journal

Technology as Servant
DANGERS OF GLUTEN-FREE FOODS By John Moody
Whether for fun, for fad, or for health recov- ery, “gluten-free” is the word of the day.1 Going gluten-free is incredibly popular—over one- fourth of Americans report eating gluten-free foods at least some of the time.2 Among people who identify themselves as health-conscious or who espouse diets such as GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome), paleo, or other similar dietary approaches, the numbers may be even higher.2,3 Market researchers expect the gluten- free industry to reach around five billion dollars by the beginning of the next decade, and North America ranks as the fastest growing segment of the world’s gluten-free market.4
Unfortunately, there are a number of dark sides to eating a gluten-free diet. Gluten-free proponents and adherents may not have suf- ficient awareness or warning of these dangers, especially when it comes to consuming ready- made gluten-free products.
HEAVY METALS
The first—and biggest—concern with many
gluten-free products is that they contain alarm- ing amounts of heavy metals. A recent study found higher (and clearly measurable) levels of heavy metals in individuals who reported eating a gluten-free diet compared to people consum- ing a standard diet.5,6 According to a descrip- tion of the study in New York Magazine’s food and restaurant blog, “Subjects with the highest concentrations [of heavy metals] had double the arsenic, a metal used in pesticides and herbicides that was used to make [the herbicide] Agent Blue during the Vietnam War, and 70 percent more mercury than the average person.”7
What could cause such elevated levels of heavy metals? One explanation is that most packaged gluten-free foods are heavily depen- dent on a few key ingredients and grains, espe- cially rice. Consumer Reports and other groups
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have studied rice and shown that it is heavily contaminated with arsenic and mercury.8,9 Moreover, organic rice offers no advantage over non- organic rice with regard to heavy metals. This is because rice—organic or not—is partial to arsenic and mercury in the same way that tea plants show a preference for taking up fluoride from soil. For many decades, U.S. agriculture was dependent on pesticides, herbicides and animal feed additives that contained arsenic, leaving it in high levels in the nation’s waters and soils. In addition, in some areas of the U.S., greater amounts of arsenic and other heavy metals are available to the soil from underly- ing rock and other geological formations.
The findings about arsenic and mercury are especially troubling for pregnant and nursing mothers who are eating gluten-free foods and food mixes. They are also disturbing for young children, who are more vulnerable to heavy metals because of body weight and their develop- mental stage.
GLYPHOSATE
The term “gluten-free” is a marketing powerhouse. Many consum-
ers assume that gluten-free products are clean, pure and wholesome, or think that gluten-free is a synonym for organic. The president of a com- pany specializing in gluten-free product ingredients states that whereas gluten-free was “once considered a micro trend,” it has now “become firmly entrenched in consumers’ minds as ‘good for you.’ Consequently, gluten-free is not a trend anymore, but a lifestyle.”10 This same executive continues, “Health-conscious consumers who don’t have any intolerance or allergy issues are increasingly likely to choose gluten-free products, seeing them as healthier alternatives to gluten equivalents.”10
As if heavy metals weren’t enough of a concern, it turns out that gluten-free foods can cause other types of harm as well. Despite the positive connotations of the gluten-free label, a gluten-free product offers absolutely no guarantee of being organic, natural or unprocessed. On the contrary, gluten-free foods, just like any and all conventionally raised foods, show high levels of contamination with industrial agricultural chemicals, and especially glyphosate (the key ingredient in Roundup). In fact, in a shocking surprise, it appears that non-organic gluten-free foods actually show higher levels of residual contamination with glyphosate than their non-organic wheat-based counterparts!11
A citizen blogger in Canada, Tony Mitra, has obtained and examined thousands of records of foods tested for glyphosate by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).11,12 Mitra comments, “One kind of presumably healthy food category that has really surprised me with astonishingly
Wise Traditions SUMMER 2017