Study: Autism Linked to Industrial Food, Environment

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by Common Dreams
Report cites prevalence of high-fructose corn syrup in US diet as possible contributor to alarming epidemic

A new study by Clinical Epigenetics, a peer-reviewed journal that focuses largely on diseases, has found that the rise in autism in the United States could be linked to the industrial food system, specifically the prevalence of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the American diet. The study, published yesterday online, explores how mineral deficiencies could impact how the human body rids itself of common toxic chemicals like mercury and pesticides. The report comes just after a different report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, documented a startling rise in autism in the United States.

“To better address the explosion of autism, it’s critical we consider how unhealthy diets interfere with the body’s ability to eliminate toxic chemicals, and ultimately our risk for developing long-term health problems like autism.” said Dr. David Wallinga, a study co-author and physician at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

The report's key findings:

• Autism and related disorders affect brain development. The current study sought to determine how environmental and dietary factors, like HFCS consumption, might combine to contribute to the disorder.

• Consumption of HFCS, for example, is linked to the dietary loss of zinc, which interferes with the elimination of heavy metals from the body. Many heavy metals like mercury, arsenic and cadmium are potent toxins with adverse effects on brain development in the young.

• HFCS consumption can also impact levels of other beneficial minerals, including calcium. Loss of calcium further exacerbates the detrimental effects of exposure to lead on brain development in fetuses and children.

• Inadequate levels of calcium in the body can also impair its ability to expel organophosphates, a class of pesticides long recognized by the EPA and independent scientists as especially toxic to the young developing brain.

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Clinical Epigenetics: Abstract

The number of children ages 6 to 21 in the United States receiving special education services under the autism disability category increased 91 % between 2005 to 2010 while the number of children receiving special education services overall declined by 5 %. The demand for special education services continues to rise in disability categories associated with pervasive developmental disorders. Neurodevelopment can be adversely impacted when gene expression is altered by dietary transcription factors, such as zinc insufficiency or deficiency, or by exposure to toxic substances found in our environment, such as mercury or organophosphate pesticides. Gene expression patterns differ geographically between populations and within populations. Gene variants of paraoxonase-1 are associated with autism in North America, but not in Italy, indicating regional specificity in gene-environment interactions. In the current review, we utilize a novel macroepigenetic approach to compare variations in diet and toxic substance exposure between these two geographical populations to determine the likely factors responsible for the autism epidemic in the United States.

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Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy: Study Links Autism with Industrial Food, Environment

The epidemic of autism in children in the United States may be linked to the typical American diet according to a new study published online in Clinical Epigenetics by Renee Dufault, et. al. The study explores how mineral deficiencies—affected by dietary factors like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—could impact how the human body rids itself of common toxic chemicals like mercury and pesticides. 

The release comes on the heels of a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimates the average rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among eight year olds is now 1 in 88, representing a 78 percent increase between 2002 and 2008. Among boys, the rate is nearly five times the prevalence found in girls. 

“To better address the explosion of autism, it’s critical we consider how unhealthy diets interfere with the body’s ability to eliminate toxic chemicals, and ultimately our risk for developing long-term health problems like autism.” said Dr. David Wallinga, a study co-author and physician at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

Wombania

Mortality Rates per Year - Substance Abuse

Tobacco

443,000 deaths/yr
46.6 million users

1 of every 100.6 users

Alcohol

85,000 deaths/yr
162.6 million users

1 of every 3240 users

Pharmaceutical Drugs

correctly prescribed and administered

100,000 deaths/yr
202 million users

1 of every 2020 users

misused/abused/not prescribed

32,000 deaths/yr
48 million  users

1 of every 825 users

Illegal drugs

17,000 deaths/yr
20.4 million users 

1 of every 1200 users

Poor Diet and Physical Inactivity:

365,000 deaths/yr
311 million users

1 of every 852 users

USDA's New Symbol of Dietary Guide is Propaganda for Dairy Industry

While there's some good news when it comes to fruit and vegetables, the new guidelines seem tailored to encourage maximum dairy industry profitability. 

By Ari LeVaux, AlterNet
Posted on June 13, 2011

MyPlate, the USDA's new symbol of dietary correctness, was unveiled on June 2. It replaces the agency's Eating Right Pyramid (est. 1992), which succeeded the Four Basic Food Groups (1956). Those four in turn represented a consolidation of the seven food groups the agency pushed in the 1940s, themselves pared down from 12 during the Great Depression, when many people would have been happy to find even a single food group on their plates.

The USDA's first nutrition guide was published in 1916, a year after the National Dairy Council was founded. The dairy industry has worked tirelessly with (and on) the USDA ever since -- an investment that has paid many dividends, including dairy's privileged perch as one of only four basic food groups. And despite zero scientific basis that a healthy diet requires dairy, the stuff has managed to maintain its position as a key dietary recommendation on each successive symbol du jour, through the pyramid days and on to today's MyPlate graphic.

In fact, the MyPlate paradigm is practically a repeat of the Four Food Groups, with only three discernible tweaks.

The "meat and fish" group has been generalized to "protein." This is barely even a change, and more of a semantic adjustment to reality given how many ways there are to get your fill of essential amino acids without meat.

The grain group made the transition from to MyPlate relatively unscathed, with an added piece of advice to eat more whole grains. It's worth mentioning that plenty of "Paleo diet" followers, not to mention the Atkins crowd, seem to do fine without grains as well. And if you avoid grains and sugars, it's practically impossible to get fat.

The most substantial change to the dietary recommendations is the "fruit and vegetable" category, which has been split in two. Fully half of the USDA's new plate consists of fruit and vegetables. This is an audacious goal considering how few Americans currently come close to consuming that ratio. If taken to heart by enough people, this change alone could have profound effects on public health.

By including recommendations against oversized portions, and generalizing the protein group, the USDA has managed to distance itself from the influence of special interests like the meat and fast-food industries. But it remains clearly beholden to dairy.  

This brings us to the third discernible difference from the four food groups: the MyPlate symbol includes a little circle next to the plate that looks like a glass of milk. Labeled "Dairy," it stands for three daily servings of dairy, including cheese, yogurt, milk, and other processed secretions of mammary glands, usually bovine.

In response to MyPlate's debut the dairy industry took a victory lap, with press releases from various dairy-oriented think tanks and trade groups praising the new symbol.

"USDA's new MyPlate, the simple visual metaphor of a serving of dairy products alongside a plate, says it's vital to consume three servings of low-fat and fat-free dairy foods every day," gloated Jerry Kozak, president of the National Milk Producers Federation, as he tacitly reveals how the new guidelines seem tailored to encourage maximum dairy industry profitability.

Three servings of dairy per day would be an increase for most Americans, who currently consume an average of two. Encouraging Americans to eat low-fat and nonfat milk products means even more profit, because the fat skimmed off is then processed into butter and other marketable products. The more items you can sell from a single gallon of milk, the more money you make, which is why as far as the dairy industry is concerned the MyPlate cup might as well be full of champagne: the industry has convinced USDA to recommend increased consumption of a product that's not only unnecessary, but is actually bad for most people.

Lactose intolerance, by some estimates, affects 75 percent of the world's population.

Caucasians have one of the lowest rates of intolerance, at only 12 percent. These numbers don't include the people like me, who may not get explosive diarrhea and other classic effects of lactose intolerance, but don't do well on dairy, with results including phlegm, heartburn and upset stomach. And if 75 percent or more of the world's humans can't handle dairy, it's hard to argue it being necessary for optimal human health.

Here is USDA's obsequiously dairy-centric advice to the lactose-averse: "If you avoid milk because of lactose intolerance, the most reliable way to get the health benefits of dairy products is to choose lactose-free alternatives within the Dairy Group, such as cheese, yogurt, lactose-free milk, or calcium-fortified soymilk (soy beverage), or to consume the enzyme lactase before consuming milk."

Calcium is the primary justification for the importance of dairy, but many green vegetables offer just as much calcium as milk, and in a more easily absorbed form. With the exception of soymilk, all other calcium sources, including almond milk -- which contains twice the calcium of dairy milk -- are cautioned against:

"[Non-soy, non-dairy calcium sources] may provide calcium, but may not provide the other nutrients found in dairy products."

If science and health were calling the shots, then milk products would simply be absorbed into the protein category as one of many ways to get your essential amino acids, or perhaps into a "calcium" group that would also include dark-green leafy vegetables and fortified dairy alternatives.

Much of the positive health hype about dairy is perpetuated by the National Dairy Council, which has a history of exaggerating dairy's positives and downplaying its negatives. In 2007 the Federal Trade Commission forced the NDC to retract its claim that dairy consumption encourages weight loss.

The NDC is "the nutrition research, education and communications arm of Dairy Management Inc," the Web site of which makes its intentions clear -- and improving public health isn't one of them. "DMI helps build demand for dairy on behalf of dairy producers and is dedicated to the success of the dairy industry."

Consuming dairy products is a choice that we (at least the lactose tolerant among us) have. But to spin the consumption of milk as a thrice-daily necessity is yet another scary reminder of the power that industries wield on policy.

At least with food we have the option to think for ourselves. But if USDA policy is so clearly shaped by industry, it makes you wonder about compromises the agency might make in other areas of its purview. USDA regularly makes decisions on things like pesticide regulation, forest policy and approval or disapproval of genetically modified crops. And those decisions, unlike a plate symbol, aren't so easily ignored.
 

You are what you eat!

KILLER at LARGE

Horse Meat in US Diet?

Put Horse Meat in US Diet, Slaughter Groups Say
01-10-2011
Source: CBS

(AP) LAS VEGAS - Ranchers and horse owners in the United States should be allowed to slaughter their animals and sell the meat as food, said dozens of breeders, trainers and lawmakers gathered in Las Vegas this week to revive the nation's shuttered horse processing industry.

The first Summit of the Horse on Tuesday drew advocates from across the West who slammed animal rights groups and implored the federal government to once again embrace horse meat as a legal source of nutrition, saying horse meat is already safely consumed in dozens of countries.

Sue Wallis, a Wyoming legislator and vice president of United Horsemen, said horse processing is the humane and ethical solution to controlling horse populations.

"What's happening is we've taken a valuable asset and turned it into a very expensive liability," she said. "The United States will become like Europe, where only the very wealthy will be able to afford horses."

Congress ended the killing of horses for human consumption in 2007 after animal-rights activists objected to the way the animals were treated.

Bureau of Land Management chief Robert Abbey is scheduled to address the conference late Tuesday to discuss problems created by growing populations of feral horses.

Abbey has expressed opposition to horse euthanasia but still faces criticism from animal rights groups for agreeing to face the pro-slaughter advocates in Nevada - a state that is home to nearly half of the nation's wild horses and burros.

Animal rights activists planned to host a protest against the horse summit Tuesday.

Horse processing proponents said the federal government's policy of rounding up excess horses and storing them amounts to public welfare for horses. The Bureau of Land Management spent $36.9 million in 2010 to feed and care for horses rounded up and confined in corrals.

Critics also portray the federal program as a job killing solution that undercuts the West's tradition of ranching and meat processing.

"The Chinese are chomping at the bit to buy our horses," said former U.S. Rep Charlie Stenholm, D-Texas. "The Russians are chomping at the bit to buy our horses. Why can't we sell it to them?"

Feral horses compete with other wildlife for forage. They can quickly overwhelm an area because they have long life spans and are unlikely to be threatened by predators or disease. The Bureau of Land Management estimates wild horses could double their population in four years if left unchecked.

Wallis of United Horsemen said extreme environmentalists have pushed policy that has allowed wild horses to overrun the West and U.S. markets to devalue privately owned horses.

Since 2007, some horses have been trucked to Canada and Mexico for slaughter, an expensive business cost that has rendered the horse industry unprofitable, slaughter advocates argue.

Some say over-breeding, not the slaughter ban, has caused the overpopulation problem.

"Just like the housing industry over saturated itself and collapsed, the horse breeding industry is self-destructing and bringing down horse values, and horse slaughter is their bail out," Simone Netherlands, a natural horsemanship trainer from Arizona and founder of Respect4Horses.

Netherlands said federal horse policy threaten horses and could eventually lead to their extinction.