Nestle Wants You To be Scared of Organic Foods
by Tom Laskawy
30 Aug 2011 7:00 AM
Photo: Howard Lake
Organic isn’t better for you? Give us a break, Nestlé.
In eye-opening comments to Fast Company this weekend, Nestlé’s chairman and former CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe offers a lengthy disquisition on the “problems” associated with organic foods and covers all the classic anti-organic arguments, from “organic can’t feed the world” to “organic isn’t any better for you.” He concludes by declaring that organic food sales in the U.S. and Europe have likely hit their peak. “I don’t think it will grow much more,” he adds.
To a large extent, this is a guy talking his book, as the financial types say. In the article, Fast Company observes that Nestlé “has made acquisitions of several premium brands that organic-loving people tend to buy: San Pellegrino water, PowerBar energy bars, and Skinny Cow ice cream.” However, none of those brands are organic. And a quick glance at the organic industry structure shows us that Nestlé is barely involved. They don’t own a significant stake in a single major organic brand, despite that fact that their closest candy competitors have all done so (Hershey owns Dagoba and Cadbury owns Green and Black’s).
It’s discouraging, if not surprising, to see the old “organic can’t feed the world” canard gracing the pages of another well-intentioned media outlet. But Brabeck-Letmathe isn’t content to rehash that tired trope. To heighten his argument, Brabeck-Letmathe also drags out the ancient claim that organic foods cause “30 to 40 deaths per year” in consumers due to improper use of manure in organic production. Over on Civil Eats, Anna Lappé has done a thorough job of documenting the long history of this false claim — going back to a retracted20/20 news report from a decade ago. She also cleverly points to the fact that Brabeck-Letmathe has been giving essentially this same interview for years.
It’s clear that Brabeck-Letmathe has multiple reasons for attacking organics. For one, his prediction about a plateau in the rise of organic sales rings hollow if you’ve been paying attention; from 2009 to 2010 (arguably the depths of the current recession) organics went up 7.7 percent. But whole, organic, and unprocessed foods don’t only represent a direct threat to Nestlé’s sales, they threaten its new business lines.
You see, Brabeck-Letmathe tells Fast Company that Nestlé is in the process of developing a line of neutraceuticals, or foods designed to treat or prevent disease. And it’s not unreasonable to assume that some of those foods will be designed to directly address diabetes or another chronic disease linked with obesity.
It may sound ironic that a company built on candy, sweetened beverages, and highly processed convenience foods hopes to move into the business of treating obesity. On the other hand, the audience for such products is growing rapidly; indeed, it’s an epidemic that, according to research appearing in the medical journal The Lancet, is just getting started. New estimates suggest that half the U.S. population will be managing obesity (and the illnesses that accompany it) by 2030.
So, it appears the idea is that you eat Nestlé’s highly processed food until you contract diabetes or another related disease, at which point you will switch to their neutraceutical products to manage the illness. It really is the perfect business model.
Source: Organic Consumers Association/Grist
Michael Pollan: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Source: Uploaded by UCtelevision on May 9, 2008 to YouTube
The UC Davis Mondavi Center presents bestselling author and UC Berkeley journalism professor Michael Pollan. He explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the twenty-first century. Michael Pollan is the author, most recently, of The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Healthy Foods And Cacao: Part Two
By: Marilyn Reid
As was discussed in Healthy Foods and Cacao: Part One, our bodies need raw materials to fight off the side effects of living. Our bodies are, literally, under attack, either by the normal processes of living (oxygen) or the other things we encounter on a daily basis that leave our bodies open to attack (H1N1). What we feed our bodies will either help in the fight or tear it down further. There are other minerals and nutrients our bodies need to do that work effectively.
It is the sweet potato, not the carrot, that will have the greatest impact on your vision. Sweet potatoes outpower carrots. One carrot contains 203% of the daily recommended vitamin a, but a sweet potato weighs in with 262.2% of the daily recommended dose. Sweet potatoes also contain vitamin C and B6 are known to help the body fight off inflammation.
Tomatoes contain vitamin C and vitamin A, but they also contain potassium (8% of the RDA). Tomatoes real punch comes from lycopene, which is present when tomatoes are cooked. Lycopene made headlines because of its impact on prostate cancer, but research has indicated that it may also be beneficial in warding of stomach, colon, breast, and lung cancers. Regardless, tomatoes are incredibly high in antioxidants and should be part of everyone’s diet.
Mom was right about eating your broccoli. As with all the superfoods so far reviewed, broccoli is high in antioxidant vitamins, like A and C, but it is also high in fiber, folic acid and even calcium. Broccoli contains 178 milligrams in one cup. (Milk has 300 in one cup, but also the fat that goes with it and no fiber.) A diet high in good fiber has been shown to ward off rectal and colon cancers.
Dense in antioxidants, cacao nibs are packed with a whole host of nutrients, making it a great choice for brain health. As discussed in the article Organic Cacao, the Department of Metabolism and Nutrition, in Madrid, Spain, reported that cacaos the glucose retardation index of cocoa . . . were similar to other natural commercial insoluble fibres. In other words, the good fiber in cacao helped keep glucose levels down. The chromium in cacao nips is known to reduce ones cravings for sugary foods (http://healthyfoodrawdiet.com/cacao/cacao-nibs). It has also been shown to reduce the platelet levels in the bloodstream, inhibiting the formation of clogged arteries and reducing the risk of cardiovascular problems. While cacao nibs do contain fat, it is important to remember that our bodies need fat to process nutrients.
Salmon is more evidence that not all fats are created equally. The fat in salmon is essential for our bodies, but more so our brains. The omega 3 fatty acids in salmon have no equal. It must be noted that for salmons benefits to be maximized, it is critical that one consumes wild catch salmon, as farm raised salmon omega 3 are significantly lower. It is believed that farm-raised salmon does not enjoy the normal diet as salmon out in the wild and does therefore not contain the same benefits. The quality of the meat suffers and the salmon can in fact suffer from more infections and must therefore be treated with antibiotics, leading to a whole host of other issues.
You are what you eat. If you fuel your body with superfoods that are rich in nutrients and good fats, your body will be better able to ward off infection and perform the way in which it was intended. Salmon, cacao nibs, tomatoes, broccoli, sweet potatoes are some of the best foods for fueling our body to fight off expected invaders, like free radicals that lead to oxidization, and unexpected invaders, like cancer cells.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Flavonoids are a type of antioxidants, a superfood (http://www.healthyfoodrawdiet.com/cacao)
Healthy Foods And Cacao: Part One
By: Marilyn Reid
What makes a food a healthy food? What properties does it have to make it a nutritional super food? We age because our bodies break down and wear out. Why? From the moment we draw our first breath, we begin the, usually, slow process of dying. Every breath gets us a step closer. The unfair part is that the process of aging is initiated with breath. Oxygen, so vital for our living, brings us daily closer to death. Think of the aging process as rusting. That is why antioxidants are so essential. They help the body deal with the process of rusting and thereby help stave off aging and help the body function optimally.
Green tea is quite a powerhouse. In the last couple of years, dentists have been recommending green tea because it has been shown to kill the bacteria causing plaque. As we know, dental plaque is, indeed, related to cardiovascular plaque and those with oral issues often also have heart issues. Further, studies have shown that green tea is beneficial in treating mouth and throat infections, which might explain its connection to a decrease in esophageal cancers. Green tea has been linked in several studies with a reduction of cancer proclivities, probably because of its high levels of antioxidants.
Usually, when we think of cacao, we think of hot cocoa. Cacao, even cacao tea http://healthyfoodrawdiet.com/cacao/cacao-tea), however, has often been recommended as a substitute for other, more harmful drinks. While cacao does contain some caffeine, it tends to be less acidic than coffee or black tea and therefore tolerated more easily. Furthermore, cacao, especially unprocessed and unsugared, has loads of other health benefits. Containing such properties as Phenylethylamine, it is able to induce both a sense of calmness and alertness. Cacaos levels of flavonoids are unsurpassed by most foods and contain other minerals like magnesium and chromium provide the body with nutrients that will stave off sugar cravings.
Blueberries, like green tea, are loaded with antioxidant vitamins. Blueberries, cousins to cranberries and bilberries, have been shown to promote urinary tract health. Interestingly, the tartness associated with wild blueberries is one of the reasons blueberries are so potent. That tartness leads to helping the body in becoming more alkaline (and less acidic). Acidity, we know, makes our system work harder. Our body has to strip magnesium and calcium from our bones to reduce the bodys acidity and make it more alkaline. Over time, a high level of acid in the body will affect the kidneys that are under load from the acidity and are working overtime to neutralize it. Blueberries, on the other hand, help restore and maintain a good level of alkalinity.
It has been suggested by numerous studies that cancer itself may be the body’s reaction to being under the load of inflammation over time. Any time we force our bodies to work overtime and we do not give our bodies the raw materials it needs to deal with that level of stress, we invite a whole host of other issues. Superfoods, like cacao, green tea, and blueberries are generally high in antioxidants and help the body fight inflammation, while providing it with the nutrients it needs to function optimally.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Flavonoids are a type of antioxidants, a superfood (http://www.healthyfoodrawdiet.com/cacao)
Whole Paycheck and Organic Food Deserts: The Challenge
By Ronnie Cummins
After decades of grassroots public education, battles to safeguard standards, and hard work, organic food and farming has become the fastest growing sector of U.S. agriculture. Organics have surged in popularity to become a $30 billion dollar industry in the United States, representing approximately four percent of total grocery store sales and 12% of fresh fruit and vegetable sales, growing at the rate of 10-20% a year, in comparison to a growth rate of 2-3% a year for so-called “conventional” (i.e. chemical and genetically engineered) food. According to a recent poll by National Public Radio the majority (58%) of Americans now prefer organic food.
Millions of health-minded consumers, especially parents of young children, understand that cheap, non-organic, industrial food is hazardous. Not only does factory farming destroy the environment, destabilize the climate, impoverish rural communities, exploit farm workers, inflict unnecessary cruelty on farm animals, and contaminate the water supply; but the end product itself is inevitably contaminated. Routinely contained in nearly every bite or swallow of non-organic industrial food are pesticides, antibiotics and other animal drug residues, pathogens, hormone disrupting chemicals, toxic sludge, slaughterhouse waste, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), chemical additives and preservatives, and a host of other hazardous allergens and toxins.
Organics or Fast Food/Monsanto Nation?
Before we pat ourselves on the back for reaching a point where $30 billion of the U.S.’s $750 billion in yearly grocery store sales are certified organic (consumers are also buying another $51 billion worth of so-called “natural” foods and products); before we congratulate ourselves on the fact that there are thousands of well-stocked health food stores and co-ops across the country, as well as 6,132 farmers markets (up 350% since 1994), and 13,000 local CSA (community supported agriculture) buying clubs with a total of 400,000 members, let’s put our organic movement’s accomplishments in perspective. The overwhelming majority of Americans are still eating non-organic, pesticide-laden, genetically engineered, overly processed, junk foods on a regular basis, spending half of their food dollars on super-sized industrial chow in restaurants, cafeterias, and fast-food outlets. Skyrocketing rates of obesity, cancer, heart disease, and other diet-related diseases, and a devastated rural landscape of factory farms, monoculture crops, lifeless soil, polluted waterways, and depleted aquifers are a testimony to the monumental challenge that still lies ahead.
Your Whole Paycheck for Organic Foods?
Even if the majority of Americans have now reached the point where they say they’d prefer to buy organic foods, the majority of their purchases obviously aren’t organic. Otherwise the organic market share this year would be $400 billion, not just $30 billion. Why aren’t more people buying more organic food, if they believe it’s better for their health, as well as the health of the environment? In the NPR poll cited above, 54% of Americans said they weren’t buying organic food, or else they weren’t buying much of it, because it is too expensive.
Expanding the organic revolution will require that the organic movement offer practical solutions to the “Whole Paycheck” dilemma, so that ordinary people start to feel that the “organic premium” is a worthwhile investment in terms of health and sustainability. And for the poor, we’re simply going to have to find ways to subsidize their organic food consumption by incorporating, for example, organic food into food stamp and nutrition programs, as well as school cafeterias.
Of course, if you add up the enormous hidden costs of non-organic foods and cheap junk fare – damage to public health, environmental destruction, greenhouse gas pollution, contaminated water, dead zones in the oceans, billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to chemical and GMO agribusiness – organic food is actually much cheaper. The problem however is that the average shopper doesn’t really understand this. Standing in the supermarket aisles or at the checkout counter, economically-stressed out Americans have only a limited amount of money to spend. What can they do?
On the website of the Organic Consumers Association, there are a number of articles on how to buy organic foods on a limited budget, but offering advice for budget organic shopping is not enough. The organic movement needs to step up its public education and advocacy work. Most importantly, we need to lead by example and show our families, friends, co-workers and neighbors what the Organic Alternative really means. To influence others and train a new generation of organic advocates we must walk our talk :
(1) Stay informed and motivated. Reading through the thousands of articles archived on the Organic Consumers Association website and other websites is a good way to inspire ourselves, to give us food for thought and communication. You can use the internal search engine on the OCA website to find the specific articles that fire you up, and then spread the word. http://www.OrganicConsumers.org
(2) Prioritize your time and money. Turn off the TV or computer, turn on the tunes, and head for the kitchen or the backyard garden. We need to show people how it’s possible and enjoyable to rearrange our daily routines to make healthy food and gardening a priority. We need to break free from consumer compulsions and cut back unnecessary expenditures in order to be able to afford more organic foods and ingredients.
(3) Do it ourselves or do it with friends and family. We can all learn or re-learn the joys of cooking at home and the satisfaction of sharing communal meals, potlucks, and picnics with our organic-minded friends. Americans spend half their food dollars eating out, which is often expensive and usually unhealthy. By eating out less often, we can afford to buy more organic foods to prepare at home and invite friends over for dinner. We can also set a good example by preparing healthy organic lunches for ourselves at work and for our children at school.
(4) Filter our water, grow veggies, and bake our own bread. By buying a home water filter (which will remove fluoride, chlorine and other toxins) and carrying a stainless steel canteen, we can show people that you don’t have to buy expensive drinking water in BPA-leaching plastic bottles. We can also show people, by example, that you can grow your own organic herbs, spices, and veggies, even if you just start with potted plants on your windowsills, rooftops, porches, or patios. Buying extra organic fruits and vegetables in season and learning the traditional arts of canning or preserving are a major step forward. With a bread-making machine or some lessons in kneading our own, all of us can enjoy organic bread and pastries every day for a fraction of the cost of chemical and GMO-tainted baked goods.
(5) Simplify your diet, eliminate waste, and reduce your intake of processed foods and animal products. We can all buy organic whole grains, beans, spices, herbal teas, and cereals in bulk and cook from scratch. Learning how to use a pressure cooker will save time, money, and energy, as will careful meal planning and creative use of leftovers. Americans typically throw out and waste one-third of their food. Get in the habit of looking for recipes on the Internet, or using cookbooks.
(6) Shop at farmer’s markets, consumer coops, or join a Community Supported Agriculture project in your area. This way you can get your organic fruits and vegetables at the most affordable prices. Also look for fruits and vegetables and other foods that are in “Transition” to organic. Start a home garden or join a community gardening project. Eat as many salads and raw foods as possible.
(7) Join or organize an organic and non-GMO wholesale discount food-buying club. This buying club might include just your household or combine the buying power of several households. OCA will be announcing a new national distribution system for organic discount food buying clubs next week. This buying club network will address the Whole Paycheck and Organic Food Desert problems by offering non-perishable organic and non-GMO foods at an average 30-40% discount off retail prices, delivered directly to your door.
Organic Food Deserts, Highways, and Byways
Most American restaurants – where people spend half of their food dollars – are, in effect, organic food deserts, offering little or no organic fare. The same goes for school and workplace cafeterias, hospitals, universities, hotels, motels, and convenience stores. The United States interstate highway system can only be described as one enormous organic food desert, where low-grade restaurant chains, big box stores, and fast food outlets dominate the landscape.
In the NPR poll cited above, a significant proportion (21%) of Americans say that organic foods are not readily available or accessible in their towns or neighborhoods. In effect, large areas of the U.S., including rural communities, small towns, and low-income urban communities are “organic food deserts” with little or no access to natural food stores or farmers markets. If we want to move organic food and farming from being a 4% niche to the norm, we’re going to have to “green” these deserts, but not the way Michele Obama has suggested, by bringing Wal-Mart stores into every urban community. Instead, to green America’s food deserts we need to “get political” and change public food policies. In the meantime, food buying clubs, CSAs, and co-ops can lay down the foundation for organic retail storefronts.
Who Will Grow the Organic Food of the Future?
We’ve got 25,000 organic farmers and ranchers working hard and, in many cases, starting to make a decent living across North America, but we need a million organic producers if we are to make organic foods readily accessible and more affordable for the majority of consumers. We’ve got eight million acres of U.S. cropland and pastureland under organic management – producing nutrient-dense, healthy food, enriching the soil, preventing erosion, and restoring the soil’s capacity to sequester billions of pounds of greenhouse gases, but this amounts to only 1% of agricultural acreage. We’ve got thousands of young farm apprentices working on organic farms and CSAs, but we need hundreds of thousands. We’ve got scores of organic farm schools, but we need thousands, one or more at least, in each of the 3200 counties in the U.S. We’ve got a handful of universities and high schools teaching students about organic farming and animal husbandry, but we need every school and college to offer these programs, starting with elementary school.
We’ve got a half a million budding backyard organic gardeners, but we need millions, and we need more and more backyard farmers to expand into market gardening or mini-farms. At the end of the Second World War, half of America’s fruits and vegetables (and 30% in the UK) were coming from backyard, school, and community gardens, tended by millions of women, seniors, and youth, called Liberty Gardens. In this era of climate change, Peak Oil, and food insecurity, we’re going to need to scale up our “grow your own” efforts exponentially, and turn 60 million acres of chemical-intensive, non-edible lawns into organic gardens, mini-farms, and orchards. We’re also going to have to build a Main Street to Manhattan grassroots infrastructure of greenhouses and hoop houses, root cellars, food buying clubs, and neighborhood canning facilities.
The Myth of So-Called “Natural” Foods and Products
One of the major reasons why organic food sales and the acreage of organic farmland are still relatively small is the fact that millions of consumers have been hoodwinked into believing that so-called “natural” foods are “almost organic.” Of course the advantage in the marketplace of these so-called “natural foods” is that they are considerably cheaper than organic foods. This is the main reason why Americans buy $50 billion worth of foods and grocery items every year that are marketed as “natural,” while only buying $30 billion worth of organic products. Several recent polls indicate that the majority of health and green-minded consumers don’t know the difference between “natural” or “all natural” and organic foods. If they did know the difference, we’d likely be looking at $80 billion worth of organic foods and products sold every year, not just $30 billion.
Walk down the aisles of any Whole Foods Market (WFM) or Trader Joe’s and look closely. What do you see? Row after row of attractively displayed, but mostly non-organic “natural” (i.e. conventional) foods and products. By marketing sleight of hand, these conventional foods, vitamins, private label items, and personal care products become “natural” or “almost organic” (and overpriced) in the natural food store setting. The overwhelming majority of WFM products, even their best-selling private label, “365″ house brand, are not organic, but rather the products of chemical and energy-intensive farm and food production factories. Test these so-called natural products in a lab and what will you find: pesticide residues, Genetically Modified Organisms, and a long list of problematic chemicals. Trace these products back to the farm or factory and what will you find: climate destabilizing chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides, not to mention exploited farm workers and workers in the food processing industry. Of course there are many products in WFM and Trader Joe’s that bear the label “USDA Organic.” But the overwhelming majority of their products, even their best selling private labels, are not.
What does certified organic or “USDA Organic” mean? This means these products are certified 95-100% organic. Certified organic means the farmer or producer has undergone a regular inspection of its farm, facilities, ingredients, and practices by an independent Third Party certifier, accredited by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). The producer has followed strict NOP regulations and maintained detailed records. Synthetic pesticides, animal drugs, sewage sludge, GMOs, irradiation, and chemical fertilizers are prohibited. Farm animals, soil, and crops have been managed organically; food can only be processed with certain methods; only allowed ingredients can be used.
On the other hand, what does “natural” really mean, in terms of farming practices, ingredients, and its impact on the environment and climate? To put it bluntly, “natural,” in the overwhelming majority of cases is meaningless, even though most consumers do not fully understand this. Natural, in other words, means conventional, with a green veneer. Natural products are routinely produced using pesticides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, genetic engineering, and sewage sludge. Natural or conventional products – whether produce, dairy, or canned or frozen goods – are typically produced on large industrial farms or in processing plants that are highly polluting, chemical-intensive and energy-intensive. “Natural,” “all-natural,” and “sustainable,” products in most cases are neither backed up by rules and regulations, nor a Third Party certifier. Natural and sustainable are typically label claims that are neither policed nor monitored. (For an evaluation of eco-labels see the Consumers Union website). The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service provides loose, non-enforced guidelines for the use of the term “natural” on meat – basically the products cannot contain artificial flavors, coloring, or preservatives and cannot be more than minimally processed. On non-meat products, the term “natural” is typically pure propaganda.
The bottom line is that we must put our money and our principles where our values lie. Buy Certified Organic, not so-called natural products, today and everyday. And tell your retail grocer or co-op how you feel.
Ronnie Cummins is the National Director of the Organic Consumers Association.
Organic Consumers Association, Aug 4, 2011
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Organic Consumers Association · 6771 South Silver Hill Drive, Finland MN 55603
John Mackey and Michael Pollan’s Future of Food Discussion, Video 1:00:10
John Mackey and Michael Pollan discuss the future of food and the organic food industry at Whole Foods Market. Michael Pollan (left) is the author of “Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food”. John Mackey is the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Markets.
Source: video.google.com
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