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GLOWING GOOD HEALTH?
By Bonnie Jenkins, Advanced Natural Medicine Bulletin
You may have heard about the decision last May by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow irradiated beef to be served up in school cafeterias, despite thousands of letters from parents and consumer groups opposing the plan. But, I’ll bet you didn’t hear the one about plans to irradiate dietary supplements. I hadn’t either until a couple of articles from the alternative press came my way.
According to the first article, a high-tech medical company, the Steris Corporation, has filed a petition with the FDA requesting the “safe use of ionizing radiation” to sterilize dietary supplements.” The article also states that the irradiation dosage proposed by Steris ranges to as high as one billion times greater than that of a single chest X-ray – and about six times greater than that allowed by the FDA for the sterilization of meat. Although I couldn’t verify this information, it points to a growing trend in America to turn once healthy nutrients into high-tech and possibly harmful products. As unsettling as this is, according to the second article, it’s already happened in Britain. Last year the Food Standards Agency, the UK’s counterpart to our FDA, found that a number of herbal supplements had been irradiated in breach of food regulations. Not surprisingly, Dr. Jon Bell, Director of Food Safety Policy at the FSA quickly reassured consumers that these supplements were being removed from store shelves – not because they were unsafe, but because they were being sold illegally.
While the safety issue has been settled in the minds of government officials and multinational food manufacturers, consumer groups and some researchers aren’t so sure. According to Public Citizen, even though irradiated foods aren’t radioactive – a common misconception – they are nutritionally inferior and even dangerous.
Nuking our nutrients
One of the leaders of the anti-irradiation movement is a friend of mine, Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. He also happens to be professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health and the chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition – so when he talks, I listen. According to Dr. Epstein, there is well-documented scientific evidence on the cancer and other risks of irradiated food. But he says that the FDA has legalized the irradiation of fruit, vegetables, meat and eggs while ignoring federal safety regulations and relying on dozens of tests that the agency’s own expert scientists have dismissed as invalid.
But while the FDA touts its own safety studies, there’s plenty of research warning against the consumption of irradiated foods. A number of studies have shown that exposing foods to ionizing radiation can lead to the formation of bizarre new chemicals called “unique radiolytic products” – chemicals that have never been found in any food on earth. Recent German studies have found that one of these chemicals, known as 2-dodecycyclobutanone (2-DCB), caused genetic damage in rats and in human cells. In another study, rats were fed a very low concentration of 2-alkkylcyclobutanone (2-ACB), another type of radiolytic product, in their drinking water. Researchers then measured the absorption and excretion of the chemical. The study showed that less than one percent of the administered chemical was excreted by the rats. What the researchers did find was that much of the 2-ACB had crossed the intestinal barrier, entered the blood stream and accumulated in the adipose tissue of the animals.
Dr. Epstein also warns that, according to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, irradiated meat contains the carcinogen benzene at levels up to ten times greater than that found in cooked beef. Dozens of studies since the 1950s suggest that irradiated food may not be safe for human consumption. Even though it may take four to six decades before irradiation’s cancer legacy is confirmed, these are potent warning signs.
But, just for the heck of it, let’s assume that all of these studies are wrong and the FDA is right when they tell us that irradiated foods are perfectly benign and completely safe. There’s still a problem with irradiated foods. According to research compiled by Public Citizen, irradiation destroys vitamins (including vitamins A, C, E and the B complex), essential fatty acids and other nutrients in foods – sometimes significantly. In fact the process destroys 80 percent of the vitamin A in eggs and 48 percent of the beta carotene in orange juice – two products that are already approved for irradiation. It sort of gives a whole new meaning to the term “empty calories,” doesn’t it?
Since the FDA is primed to turn our kids into guinea pigs, it should come as no surprise that the agency is also considering a proposal to legalize the irradiation of ready-to-eat foods like deli meats, frozen foods and precut salads. Can supplements be far behind?
One Last Thing . . .
Irradiated food is required by the FDA and USDA to be labeled with either the radura symbol or the word “irradiated.” But, since meat and poultry producers have objected to the negative connotation the word “irradiated” can invoke among consumers, Congress has created a loophole allowing companies to use the term "electronically pasteurized" on their labels.
Whether or not political correctness will help sell more irradiated foods, the fact that these products have been irradiated must still be displayed on the packaging. So, what’s the problem? It seems that the FDA and USDA don’t require manufacturers to display the label prominently or even make it readable! If you want to make sure the food and supplements you’re buying haven’t been zapped, choose organic. Under the Organic Standards rule published in 2000, certified organic foods cannot legally be irradiated. But here’s the really great thing about organic foods – while earlier studies have shown that they are more nutritious than conventionally grown foods, a new study of organic peaches and pears has found that these fruits contain higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants.
This just in . . .
Been to the dentist lately? New research published in the journal Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids may just help you cut down on your visits. In the study, 24 people with periodontitis were randomly assigned to receive either 1,000 mg. of fish oil three times per day, 1,000 mg. of borage oil three times per day, 500 mg. each of borage and fish oils three times per day or a placebo. At the end of twelve weeks, there was a significant reduction in gingivitis and the depth of the pockets around teeth in the borage oil group – results that weren’t seen in the other three groups. And taking borage won’t just make your teeth healthier, it can also boost heart health since chronic periodontal disease is linked to poor cardiovascular health.
***
References:
“Beware of Irradiated Dietary Supplements.” Ascribe Newswire. 23 May 2003.
Delincée H, et al. “Genotoxic properties of 2-dodecylcyclobutanone, a compound formed on irradiation of food containing fat.” Radiation Physics and Chemistry. 1998; 52:39-42.
Horvatovich P, et al. “Detection of 2-alkylcyclobutanones, markers for irradiated foods, in adipose tissue of animals fed with these substances.” Journal of Food Protection. 2002; 65:1610-1613.
“Survey reveals irradiation of dietary supplements.” Food Standards Agency 7 Jun 2002. Ref: 2002/0226. |
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