How the Corrupt Food System Serves Industry and Betrays Humanity — and How to Reclaim Our Power

Here we’ve collated evidence of failure, corruption, betrayal, and harm by the food system and its “regulatory” agencies such as the FDA.

For more detail on specific harms caused by toxins (e.g. pesticides, heavy metals, synthetic food additives), see Toxins & Evidence of Harm.

Overview

Use the contents to jump to areas of interest. The curation below is organized like this:

#1 Corrupt System Protects Industry, Harms People

• The organizations entrusted to serve humanity have served industry instead, allowing it to dominate the food system with unnatural food products that cause serious health issues, chronic disease, anxiety and depression, suicidal thoughts in children, and death.
• They have failed to protect sources of food from multiple known harms. They created and bolstered corrupt “professional” organizations and “expert dieticians” to promote unhealthy, unscientific, and dishonest dietary guidelines and “health” protocols. They have sought to silence independent professionals who question industry-approved narratives.
• They stood by while industry created products that are sold as “food” but that 1) lack the nutrients and life-giving characteristics naturally found in real foods, 2) are contaminated with chemicals and toxins that cause great harm, and 3) promote addiction via brain chemistry hacks and corporate marketing power, targeting vulnerable populations including children and teens.

#2 Ultra-processed “Food”: A Toxic, Addictive Cash Cow

• Food for humans and animals is provided by the Earth. These have come to be called “whole foods” or “unprocessed foods.” For generations, whole foods have been preserved by traditional techniques such as canning or pickling.
• Food and drink products that are industrially manufactured are called ultra-processed foods (UPFs). They are ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat formulations containing food additives and little or no whole foods. Food additives are not normally consumed as food, but are nonetheless added to serve “a technological purpose” in the manufacture, processing, packaging, transport, or storage of UPFs.
• UPFs, junk food, fake food, fast food, energy drinks, and diet drinks have led to devastating outcomes in physical and mental health.

#3 Seed Oils, Vegetable Oils, LA, PUFAs

• Seed oils are industrially processed concoctions, often referred to as “vegetable oils.” They’re produced using a high degree of industrial processing.
• Seed oils are high in linoleic acid (LA) and are therefore “prone to oxidation and promote inflammation in the body.” [source]
• Replacing natural fats with manufactured “vegetable oils” was never proven to lower the risk of heart disease or death. In fact, it showed the opposite. And now we know seed oils cause chronic inflammation, diabetes, fatty liver, harm to brain and hypothalamus, dysregulated immunity, allergies, blood clots, autoimmune reactions, increased fat, obesity, depression, cardiovascular disorders, skin diseases, oxidative stress (which can lead to cellular damage, decreased energy and dysfunction). [source and source and source and source and source and source and source] Cooking seed oils at high temperatures creates toxins capable of damaging cells and DNA, thus causing mutations or cancer. [source and source]

#4 More Contamination of Foods

• The industrialized food system is characterized by toxic contamination, including phthalates, microplastics, heavy metals, glyphosate and other pesticides, synthetic dyes, and hundreds of additional chemicals including “forever chemicals” and other endocrine-disruptors.

#5 Apeel

• Apeel is a chemical formulation that may be put on organics and cannot be washed off.

#6 Industrial Agriculture / Factory Farming

• Industrial agriculture is at the root of many of humanity’s crises. Mechanization of agriculture has increased the use of poisons, and devastated the health of food and communities. Factory farms are continuing to get bigger and bigger.

#7 Genetically Engineered / GMO “Foods”

• Genetic modification is the alteration of an organism’s genome. GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are often used by industrial agriculture to create “frankenfoods” that will survive the use of toxic pesticides that devastate human health, soils, and biodiversity.

#8 Videos

Multiple videos available for quick reference.

#9 Solutions: Regenerative Farming & More

• The industrialized food system has these problems: 1) A food system and “regulatory” environment that is corrupted, betraying humanity and planet. 2) A system dominated by fake and highly processed foods that harm people and the planet. 3) Poisons in food, water and packaging that make people chronically sick in body and mind. 4) Factory farms characterized by unsustainable practices, animal cruelty, monoculture and pesticide use that have resulted in the devastation of soil, waterways, pollinators and ecosystems, causing sickness in people, animals and the environment.
• Solutions include: 1) Reclaiming food sovereignty, de-centralizing systems. 2) Developing localized food networks. 3) Healing soil. 4) Supporting regenerative farming. 5) Rewilding dead, dying, and imbalanced spaces.

Corrupt System Protects Industry, Harms People

FDA, EPA, FSA + Many Nutritional “Experts” Betray Humanity, Serving Industry Instead

The organizations entrusted to protect people and the food supply have betrayed that trust. As documented below, they have instead:

1. Allowed industry to dominate the food system with unnatural food products that cause serious health issues, chronic disease, anxiety and depression, suicidal thoughts in children, and death. [source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source]
2. Failed to protect sources of food from multiple known harms including phthalates which cause a litany of disease; BPA, a harmful chemical linked to heart disease, childhood obesity, and other serious harms; synthetic food dyes that cause neurobehavioral disorders, respiratory issues, and developmental delays; neurotoxins sold as artificial sweeteners, which cause cancer, and pesticides such as glyphosate, atrazine, paraquat, and CFS that cause cancer as well as brain damage, decreased IQ, and autism in children among other harms. In 2021, after 30 years of delays, the FDA banned a cancer-causing red dye in cosmetics, but didn’t stop it from being used in food. In 2024, 100% of Girl Scout cookies tested positive for glyphosate, plus toxic metals such as cadmium and lead. [source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source]
3. Created and bolstered corrupt “professional” organizations and “expert dieticians” to promote unhealthy, unscientific, and dishonest dietary guidelines and “health” protocols. Sought to silence independent professionals who question industry-approved narratives. [source and source and source and source and source and source]
4. Stood by while industry created products that are sold as “food” but that 1) lack the nutrients and life-giving characteristics naturally found in real foods, 2) are contaminated with chemicals and toxins that cause great harm, and 3) promote addiction via brain chemistry hacks and corporate marketing power, targeting vulnerable populations including children and teens. [source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source and source]

“A Few Powerful Transnational Companies Dominate Every Link of the Food Supply Chain: From Seeds and Fertilizers to Slaughterhouses and Supermarkets”

A handful of powerful companies control the majority market share of almost 80% of dozens of grocery items bought regularly by ordinary Americans, new analysis reveals. A joint investigation by the Guardian and Food and Water Watch found that consumer choice is largely an illusion – despite supermarket shelves and fridges brimming with different brands. In fact, a few powerful transnational companies dominate every link of the food supply chain: from seeds and fertilizers to slaughterhouses and supermarkets to cereals and beers.The size, power and profits of these mega companies have expanded thanks to political lobbying and weak regulation which enabled a wave of unchecked mergers and acquisitions. This matters because the size and influence of these mega-companies enables them to largely dictate what America’s 2 million farmers grow and how much they are paid, as well as what consumers eat and how much our groceries cost. It also means those who harvest, pack and sell us our food have the least power: at least half of the 10 lowest-paid jobs are in the food industry. Farms and meat processing plants are among the most dangerous and exploitative workplaces in the country. Overall, only 15 cents of every dollar we spend in the supermarket goes to farmers. The rest goes to processing and marketing our food… “It’s a system designed to funnel money into the hands of corporate shareholders and executives while exploiting farmers and workers and deceiving consumers.” – The Guardian, July 14, 2021

“Crony Capitalism” (Corruption) Defines the American Food System

The fact that the food industry and the agency responsibility for regulating that industry are in lockstep when it comes to defending a possible carcinogen that millions of Americans are consuming every day is yet another example of the crony capitalism that is threatening our health and the health of our children. – Alliance for Natural Health

95% of the Committee Members Setting Dietary Guidelines for the $100 Billion/Year American “Nutritional” Programs Have Conflicts of interest with Industry

Our analysis found that 95% of the U.S. dietary guidelines advisory committee members had conflicts of interest with the food and/or pharmaceutical industries…Our analysis has shown that the significant and widespread conflicts of interest on the committee prevent [them] from achieving the recommended standard for transparency… In the USA, the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans are required by statute to form the foundation for all national nutrition programmes (which are amounting to nearly $100 billion/year) and guide states and local governments, healthcare professional training, hospitals and community groups, amongst others, as overarching dietary recommendations. – Cambridge University Press

Health-Degrading Propaganda Promoted as Nutritional Advice

The Food Compass seems like a bad joke (only they aren’t kidding.) Are Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs healthier than meat and eggs? That’s what the new Tufts Food Compass ranking system would have you believe. In a recent editorial on this topic, independent journalist Nina Teicholz rightly asks: “What kind of dystopian world has nutrition ‘science’ whereby a university, a peer-reviewed journal, and one of the field’s most influential leaders legitimize advice telling the public to eat more Lucky Charms and fewer eggs?” Perhaps the fact that Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition receives funding from 60 companies, including several that ranked highly on the Food Compass, has something to do with it? – Chris Kresser, Email Feb 10, 2023

Evidence of Failure, Betrayal, Corruption, and Harm

1. FDA Sued for Not Doing What it’s Been Entrusted & Paid to Do — “Environmental groups sue FDA over refusal to tackle… plastic packaging [issues]. The agency has either ignored petitions or ruled against taking action against chemical that presents serious health risks.” Here we learn “The FDA allows 25 plasticizers as ‘indirect food additives’ in food manufacturing processes, despite some being restricted in children’s toys by other regulatory agencies.” See also: FDA must set limits on PFAS in food, lawsuit says See also: A litany of known harms from plastics and PFAS: Toxins & Evidence of Harm: EDCs and Microplastics
2. Corn Syrup is in Infant Formula, and that’s Okay with the FDA — “Major formula companies use corn syrup… Research links corn syrup formula to negative effects on gut bacteria that, according to studies, can contribute to childhood obesity, food fussiness, and diminished food satisfaction… Unlike U.S. companies, formula makers in countries in the European Union (EU) are prohibited from replacing lactose with corn syrup.” See also: Most U.S. infant formulas contain mainly added sugars, posing a serious risk to babies’ health, researchers say See also: Advertising sugary cereals to children needs regulation, report says. See also: The known harms of corn syrup: Toxins & Evidence of Harm: Food Additives
3. Toxic Weed Killer Found in Most Foods Sold in the U.S. — “Few people had detectable levels of glyphosate in their urine in 1993, but by 2016, 70% had detectable levels. Between 1993 and 2016, the glyphosate levels in people’s bodies increased by 1,208%… It’s been found to disrupt or destroy your microbiome, methylation pathways, thyroid health, protein synthesis, cell health and your mitochondrial function.” See also: Farm country fight – Battle rages over proposed legal protections for pesticide makers
4. 7 Food Additives Banned in Europe, Commonly Used in the US — “The stark contrast between food quality in the United States and Europe is often immediately apparent to those who travel abroad.”
5. Titanium Dioxide, Banned in Europe is One of the Most Common Food Additives in the U.S. “Titanium dioxide, a food additive in chewing gum, cakes, candies, breads and ice cream, is linked to a wide range of adverse health effects, particularly genotoxicity (a precursor to cancer) and intestinal inflammation. It is banned in the European Union but found all over grocery shelves in the U.S.”
6. A Cancer-Causing Additive Put in Baked Goods for Decades in the U.S. is Banned in Many Countries — “Potassium bromate is commonly used as a food additive in baked goods, including breads, pastries, bagels, and crusts. It has been linked to various cancers, along with thyroid disease, kidney damage, gut irritation and reproductive abnormalities. In 1999, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), categorized potassium bromate as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” It has been banned as a food additive in Europe since 1990, in Canada since 1994, and in India since 2016. Other countries that have banned potassium bromate include Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Peru, China, and Sri Lanka.”
7. U.S. Food System Far More Corrupted than Other Countries — This article demonstrates how products with the same name have different ingredients in the U.S. vs the U.K., including the addition of corn syrup to the U.S. version of Heinz ketchup, for example.
8. Hundreds of Unnatural Ingredients in American Food System — “Hundreds of novel ingredients never encountered by human physiology are now found in nearly 60 percent of the average adult’s diet and nearly 70 percent of children’s diets in the United States… The unprecedented consumption of these ultra-processed foods in the standard American diet may be the new ‘silent’ killer.”
9. While Other Countries Banned Fish from Oceans with Radioactive Wastewater, the U.S. Military Announced in 2023 it Would Buy it for Service Members to Eat — “Japan last month completed its fifth release into the Pacific Ocean of treated contaminated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station… China, Russia and South Korea [have banned] the import of Japanese seafood, over concerns about radioactive contamination. But the U.S. took a different tack. In October 2023, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel announced the U.S. military would buy bulk Japanese seafood for service members stationed at military bases in Japan.”
10. “Testing Reveals High Levels of Toxic Heavy Metals in Baby Formula, and Toxic Chemicals in Gluten-Free Foods” — “As usual, the FDA has not been doing its job. Private organizations stepped in, did lab testing, and discovered the poisoning of our children.”
11. FDA Took No Action on Toxic Metals & Uranium in Infant Formula — “Two out of the four formulas subjected to testing by the FDA yielded concerning results, showing the presence of toxic metals and even radioactive uranium. Despite these alarming findings, no discernible actions were taken by the FDA in response to this critical issue.”
12. Risks Associated With Genetically Engineered Foods Ignored By The FDA — “By slipping it into our food without our knowledge, without any indication that there are genetically modified organisms in our food, we are now unwittingly part of a massive experiment. . . . Essentially, the FDA has said that genetically modified organisms, or food, are basically not much different from regular food, and so they’ll be treated in the same way. The problem is this: Geneticists follow the inheritance of genes, in what we call a vertical fashion . . . [but] what biotechnology allows us to do is to take this organism, and move it, what we call horizontally, into a totally unrelated species.”
13. EPA Illegally Hid Health, Safety Data on Toxic Chemicals — “EPA Illegally Hid Health, Safety Data on PFAS Found in Millions of Plastic Containers: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Center for Environmental Health last week sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly withholding data on toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in high-density polyethylene plastic containers.”
14. EPA Catered to Chemical Manufacturers Rather than Defending Food Safety — “Following a 2019 application submitted by chlormequat manufacturer Taminco, the EPA proposed in April last year to allow the use of chlormequat on oats, barley, wheat, and triticale grown in the United States.”
15. Organizations Entrusted to Protect People Instead Obey Corporations— “’This system needs to change,’ Campbell said, ‘This is a massive problem. We need to do something about it…’ In the final clip Campbell shared, Kennedy said that one of the key changes necessary is to eliminate conflicts of interest among regulators. ‘We have a generation of kids that are swimming around in a toxic soup right now,’ Kennedy said. ‘We’re betraying them.’ Campbell agreed. ‘Let’s get the ethics back into this. Let’s start putting people first rather than profit for big industries.'”
16. EPA Spending its Resources to Discredit Testimony of Expert Witness Describing Studies that Prove Fluoride Is a Neurotoxin — EPA seeks to protect industry instead of preventing potential harm to people, called for based on such evidence as the following: “The release of the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) systematic review of fluoride’s neurotoxicity was concealed from the public… Prior to the NTP report’s scheduled release in May 2022, it was shared with members of dental groups like the American Dental Association, which urged officials to alter the report. After a court order, the NTP report was released, showing that out of 55 studies included, 52 found that increased fluoride exposure was associated with decreases in child IQ.” [source] “Fluoride is a highly toxic substance. Consider, for example, the poison warning that the FDA now requires on all fluoride toothpastes sold in the U.S. or the tens of millions of people throughout China and India who now suffer serious crippling bone diseases from drinking water with elevated levels of fluoride… Fluoride has long been used in rodenticides and pesticides to kill pests like rats and insects… Over-ingestion of fluoridated dental products…can cause serious poisoning incidents, including death.” [source]  Research found that fluoride “readily accumulates in the human pineal gland.” [source and source and source]
17. Corruption of Organizations in the Food System is Rampant — “The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), a group instrumental in sculpting the nation’s eating habits, finds itself in controversy as new evidence suggests a tangible, disconcerting link between our dietary guidelines and the financial interests of major food and pharmaceutical entities.” More Sources: Cambridge University Press report, How Corporations Corrupted Nutrition Guidelines in the USA 10-min video, U.S. Right to Know, Nearly Half of Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Have Conflicts of Interest article, Jan 2025 article
18. Industry Stranglehold: Corruption from Top to Bottom — “A former tax economist at the U.S. Treasury Department reveals how Big Ag’s most powerful families amassed their fortunes with help from a cadre of complicit government players.”
19. Numerous Organizations Claiming to Provide Health Information are Actually Propagandists for Corporations— “The Food Compass, unveiled in 2021 by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, appears to be a propaganda tool in disguise… [Despite] claims that it’s a science-based tool to rank the healthfulness of foods, it actually promotes ultraprocessed junk.”
20. lndustry Has Developed Effective Techniques to Obfuscate, Manipulate & Mislead — “The International Food Information Council (IFIC), a trade group funded by large food and pesticide companies, misleads the public about diet and health, according to documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know. IFIC is widely cited in the media as a source on issues related to food and health.”
21. Rather than Supporting Local Farmers, EPA Burdens Them While Shielding Industrial Agriculture — “A new EPA regulatory rule that will force small meat and poultry producers to invest heavily in new water filtration systems while letting industrial factory farms off the hook is an attack on the local food movement and domestic agriculture, critics say.”
22. Proposed Policy Change to Deregulate Biotechnology in New Zealand Disregards 1996 Food Safety Laws — “New Zealand Prime Minister laughs as he announces removal of food safety laws so lab-made products can be released onto the market.”
23. FSA Ignored U.K. Citizens’ Opposition to GMOs / PBOs — “The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has just published the final report on its public consultation on the sale of genetically modified precision bred (PBOs) food and animal feed in England…. They are openly disdainful of citizen (‘consumer’) views and fail to live up to the FSA’s mandate to protect the public interest… Citizens in the UK are – and have been for decades – consistent in their rejection of unlabelled, unmonitored, unregulated GMOs in the food system. It is in the public interest to respond to and act on these views, but that is not what the FSA has done.”
24. Non-Organic Fruits & Vegetables Contain Poisons — “The Environmental Working Group’s annual consumer’s guide reveals that almost three-fourths of non-organic fruits and vegetables sampled contained traces of toxic pesticides while the “dirty dozen” — including strawberries and spinach — tested at levels closer to 95%… Four out of five of the most frequently detected pesticides found on the twelve most-contaminated produce items were fungicides that could have serious health impacts.”
25. Lead-Tainted Applesauce Poisoned 400 Hundred Children in 2024 — February 2024, cinnamon applesauce pouches linked to 400 childhood lead poisoning cases. More Sources: New York Times article Epoch Times Nov 14, 2023 article and Nov 5, 2023 article
26. Parents Need to Know the Heavy Metal Content of Processed Foods & the Affect on their Children’s Health, including ADHD and Autism — “Educating women about the heavy metal content of ultra-processed foods, or junk foods, can reduce the risks of chronic diseases across generations, according to a U.S. study… Symptoms of autism or ADHD worsen as mercury and lead accumulate in an affected person’s blood.”
27. 80 Percent of Americans Exposed to Fertility-Lowering Chemicals in Cheerios, Quaker Oats — “Exposure to the chemical can result in lower fertility and harm developing fetuses even at doses below acceptable levels set by regulators. Researchers detected chlormequat in 80 percent of urine samples collected between 2017 and 2023, with ‘a significant increase in concentrations for samples from 2023.'” See also: Abnormal Levels of Toxins Found in General Mills ‘LOADED’ Cereal: Report — “Testing by Moms Across America… found the artificially flavored creme-filled breakfast food contains measurable levels of aluminum, cadmium, arsenic, lead, glyphosate, and pesticides shown to be harmful to humans.”
28. Wheat Intolerance Could be Due to Glyphosate, According to Canadian Study — “A scientific review identifies identifies glyphosate as a possible cause of the global rise in wheat intolerance.” See also: 1-min video on wheat processing in Italy
29. U.S. Food Manufacturers Can Label a Product “Whole Grain” Even if Only 51% of it Actually Is — “So you have no way to know how much you are actually getting.”
30. Farmed Salmon Are a Toxic ‘Junk Food’ — “Salmon farming is a disaster both for the environment and for human health, and tests show farmed salmon is about five times more toxic than any other food tested. In animal feeding studies, mice fed farmed salmon developed obesity and diabetes — effects researchers believe are related to toxic exposures. Besides pesticides and antibiotics used in fish farming, the most significant source of toxic exposure is the dry pellet feed, which contains dioxins, PCBs and other toxic pollutants. Farmed salmon also does not have the nutritional profile of wild salmon, containing more than three times more omega-6 fat than wild salmon, which further skews rather than corrects most people’s omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.”
31. 90% of U.S. Cheese Contains GMO Made by Pfizer — “Rennet is used as a clotting agent to curdle the milk into cheese, separating the liquid parts of milk from the solids. Pfizer makes a genetically modified rennet, but because of a labeling loophole, cheese containing Pfizer’s rennet does not have to be labeled as containing a genetically modified organism.”
32. “Just Eggs” Isn’t Eggs at All — “How do they get away with it? How can they be selling a product labelled ‘Just Eggs’ and now, ‘Just Eggs-Folded,’ that doesn’t contain a single egg. In fact, the first two products of “Just Eggs” are mung beans and canola oil… Farmers, ranchers, backyard chicken raisers, and all hungry people are on the front lines of the food wars.”
33. Nutella Advertising vs. Reality — “Advertised as a hazelnut spread with a touch of chocolate, Nutella actually contains a large dose of refined sugar and refined palm oil, both with known carcinogenic properties.”
34. Ultra-Pasteurization Robs Milk of Its Nutrients — Processing and storing “massive amounts of milk produced by factory farms robs it of its natural nutrients — but today, unprocessed milk is making a comeback.”
35. More on Milk Processing — “A 2019 study from China found that all forms of milk processing tested caused ‘formation of protein oxidation products which impair spatial learning and memory in rats.’ … As noted by Fallon, ultrapasteurization exposes the milk to far higher heat than boiling (284 F compared to 212 F). So, clearly, ultrapasteurized milk doesn’t even come close to real milk… Damaged milk proteins may contribute to allergic reactions, Fallon notes, and milk allergy is now commonplace. An estimated 20 Americans die each year from anaphylactic shock caused by conventional milk — a shocking reminder of just how far modern milk has strayed from real, raw milk, which rarely causes any allergic reactions.”
36. Chemicals Leaking from Plastic Food Packaging Harmful to Health — “Norwegian researchers reported that chemicals leaching from plastic food packaging may cause more concerning and widespread harm to health than previously realized, including developmental problems and hormone-related cancers.”
37. Plastics in Food Packaging Leak into Foods & Drinks; “BPA Drives Childhood Obesity” — “BPA is a component of food packaging plastics that leaches into foods and drinks, so diet is the principal source of human exposure. Researchers cultured stool samples from 106 children (median age 7.7) to determine their bacterial microbiome composition. Cultured bacteria were then exposed to various concentrations of BPA… endocrine disruptor that promotes obesity through several mechanisms, including interfering with hormones that affect appetite and satiety… BPA exposure affects specific gut taxa and drives microbiota dynamics in childhood obesity… The study found that a child’s body mass index (BMI) determines how they process BPA, which in turn affects their gut microbiome composition in ways that drive further weight gain. In other words, it’s a vicious cycle.”
38. 61 Unauthorized ‘Forever Chemicals’ Found in Food Packaging — This March 2024 article in the Scientific American highlights a global study that “identified 61 PFAS chemicals in food packaging that are not authorized for use in such products.”
39. Nestle Describes Perrier as “Mineral Water” but the Spring Contains Bacteria & Pollutants — The lawsuit claims “the company is misbranding its Perrier brand of bottled water because the French spring it comes from is contaminated and must be treated and filtered, violating French and U.S. regulations governing mineral water. Kevin O’Rourke filed a proposed class action against Nestle, claiming it was misleading customers by selling Perrier as a mineral water when the company knew the naturally carbonated underground spring in Vergeze, France, where it comes from contains bacteria and pollutants. The filtration and treatment that the water requires means it no longer qualifies as natural mineral water under either U.S. or French rules, the lawsuit claimed. The lawsuit follows a stir in France over mineral water bottling processes that began when a whistleblower came forward in 2020, alleging the companies’ manufacturing methods did not conform with French regulations.”
40. “The Sugar Conspiracy: Papers Expose Industry Plot to Frame Fat for Heart Disease” — “It sounds like a movie plot – men with dubious intentions, a trove of secret documents, and a red herring to distract people from the truth. But unlike cinema, this story is 100% real-like the dangers of sugar that industry execs tried to hide.”

Academic “Nutrition” Departments Do the Bidding of Industry

Much of the funding of many academic nutrition departments is from the food industry or its intermediaries, which helps drive research agendas. The medical world learnt the hard lessons on influence from the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries, but it has yet to recognise fully the influence of food and drink companies, which have far greater impact on our health. This influence has indirectly ensured that it took 40 years for the first quality randomised controlled trial of the effects of junk food in humans. – Dr. Tim Spector and Dr. Christopher D. Gardner

UPFs, Fake Foods, Lab-Made Foods

An Attempt to Hold industry Accountable and Raise Awareness for Their Horrific Tactics

A lawsuit alleges that ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), engineered to be addictive like cigarettes, caused a teenager to develop serious health problems like fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes. UPFs are defined as ‘industrially produced edible substances’ that lack essential nutrients and are loaded with refined ingredients, added sugars and unhealthy fats like linoleic acid. These foods disrupt metabolism, gut health and cellular function, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and chronic inflammation. The lawsuit claims that Big Food took a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook, using similar tactics to engineer addiction and aggressively market UPFs to children. Protect your health by avoiding ultraprocessed foods, learning to read food labels, cooking more often, making healthier food swaps and practicing mindful eating.” – Dr. Joseph Mercola, Feb 1, 2025

Definitions

1. Whole Foods / Unprocessed Foods — Food for humans and animals is provided by the Earth. These have come to be called “whole foods” or “unprocessed foods.”
2. Preserved Foods / Processed Foods — When “whole foods are preserved by traditional techniques” such as canning or pickling, these may be called “processed foods.” [source] However, it’s likely that many people will use the term “processed foods” to refer to ultra-processed foods as opposed to the minimal and safe procedures involved in preserving whole foods.
3. Ultra-processed Foods (UPFs) / NOVA Group 4 — Food and drink products that “are industrially manufactured ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat formulations containing food additives and little or no whole foods” are called ultra-processed foods or UPFs. [source] In the NOVA food classification system explained here, UPFs are Group 4.
4. Food Additives — “Any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food” is a food additive. Food additives serve “a technological purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport, or storage of” foods. [source]

UPFs, Junk Food, Fake Food, Fast Food, Energy Drinks, Diet Drinks: Devastating Outcomes

1. Ultra-processed Foods Cause Anxiety, Depression, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Other Chronic Diseases, and Death — A large peer-reviewed meta-analysis of 14 studies published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) examined the link between ultra-processed foods and adverse health effects. “Significant intake of ultra-processed foods results in increased risk of all-cause mortality… increased risk of heart disease-related death… increase in the risk of most types of cancer… increase in having sleep problems… increase in anxiety… increase in common mental disorders (including depression, OCD, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder), increases in risk for asthma, Crohn’s disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and so on.” See also: 6 Popular Ultra-Processed Foods to Immediately Stop Eating [Epoch TV, 13-min video with links to research] See also: Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses [Melissa M. Lane et al, BMJ, Jan 19, 2024] See also: Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of cardiovascular events: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis [Yang Qu etl al, eClinicalMedicine, The Lancet, March 2024] See also: Study Finds Link Between Ultra-Processed Food and Potentially Fatal Heart Problems [Martha Garcia, About Lawsuits, Feb 22, 2024] See also: Processed Foods Linked to ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Human Blood: Study [Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times] See also: Associations of dietary intake and longitudinal measures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in predominantly Hispanic young Adults: A multicohort study [Hailey E. Hampson et al, Environmental International, March 2024] See also: Ultra-processed foods: A growing threat to public health [Florida Atlantic University, News Medical, Feb 20, 2024]
2. Ultra-processed Foods Harm Microbiome Health & Increase the Risk of Cancer — “French researchers reported that emulsifiers added to improve the texture and shelf-life of processed foods wreak havoc on the gut microbiome, leading to inflammation and possibly cancer. Their investigation included 92,000 adults enrolled in the French NutriNet-Santé study and followed for an average of 6.7 years… During the study period, 2,604 cancer cases occurred… Higher intakes of mono- and diglyceride emulsifiers were associated with a higher risk for all cancers… Carrageenan emulsifiers were associated with additional breast cancer risk.”
3. As Addictive as Tobacco, Alcohol, Cocaine: Industry Gets Children and Adults Addicted to Fake Food — Food corporations know that chemically engineered products provoke overeating and addiction and harm health, and they capitalize on it to drive sales. U.S. Right to Know link, New York Post link, The Guardian link, The Epoch Times 2025 link, The Epoch Times 2023 link
4. “Junk Food ‘Brainwashes’ You so You’re Wired to Eat More” — “Did you know this food component rewires the brain, changes how you think and negatively affects memory and learning?… Researchers found participants who ate high-fat, high-sugar snacks experienced changes in neural encoded responses so they no longer preferred low-fat, low-sugar snacks and they subconsciously preferred a lot of fat and sugar. Data show bingeing on sugar for just six weeks can slow brain function, memory and learning. One study showed sugar affected the reward system in a “manner similar to that of drugs of abuse.” Eating junk food for one week can impair your appetite control; data also show the more sugar you eat, the lower your nutrient intake. Eliminating sugar is a quick and clear route to better health. Metabolic flexibility is a key to better health; it is also important to avoid industrial vegetable oils or seed oils, margarine, shortening and any fake butter and spreads. Instead, choose from a list of healthy fat foods that include olives, avocados and coconut oil.”
5. Some Chemcials in Packaging of Processed and Fast foods Cause Devastating, Transgenerational Effects to Fat Cells and are “Highly Correlated” with Obesity and Diabetes — Obesogens are defined as “EDCs that exert permanent and even transgenerational changes to fat cells… Research shows obesogens are highly correlated with obesity and diabetes.”They “interfere with normal endocrine regulation of metabolism, adipose tissue development and maintenance, appetite, weight and energy balance.” Research articles: here and here and here.
6. Kids Who Consume Energy Drinks Suffer “Alarming Health Risks” — “New research reveals alarming health risks like heart problems, mental distress, and risky behaviors in kids who consume caffeinated, sugar-laden energy drinks.”
7. Researchers Link Energy Drinks to Suicidal Thoughts in Children — “Energy drinks could pose a risk to young brains, said UK researchers.”
8. Diet Drinks Increase Risk of Heart Condition — “Drinking two liters or more per week of artificially sweetened beverages — the equivalent of a medium-sized fast-food diet soda a day — raised the risk of an irregular heartbeat by 20% when compared to people who drank none, a new study found.”
9. Industrially Processed Foods Lack Nutrients People Need in Their Food + are Processed & Packaged in Ways that Cause Chronic Disease + Neurologically Act “Like a Traditional Addictive Drug” — “If you are not consuming nutrient dense foods, and instead rely heavily on processed foods, you are most likely lacking in several nutrients.” [source] “Ultra-processed foods can accelerate aging and the decline of your body’s health, even if you generally eat healthy foods, say Italian researchers… It may be due more to the potentially harmful ways these foods are highly processed and packaged by industry than their poor nutritional content.” See also: Billions of People Have Inadequate Micronutrients, Study Estimates
10. Loophole Allows Manufacturers to Get Away with Not Listing Some Additives on Labels — “The long list of unfamiliar names on ingredient labels of processed foods is already a cause for concern. However, many people are unaware of another category of additives never listed on these labels. These ‘invisible’ additives are known as processing aids.”
11. Antibiotic and Contraceptive Drugs Found in Fast Food Lab Results — “According to a recently published lab report, food samples from McDonald’s and several other national food chains were found to have detectable levels of animal antibiotics, as well as animal contraceptives. Although the sample size in this particular study was small, it does highlight a much larger issue — the fact that all of these chemicals and drugs that go into our livestock might very well be ending up on our plates.” More Sources: Lab results link Study on additives in animal feed link

Ultra-processed Foods: Manufactured, Ready-to-Eat or Ready-to-Heat Formulations. These Industrially Manufactured Foods Have Additives, Contaminants, and a Highly Degraded Structure. They are Detrimental to Health.

Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat formulations containing food additives and little or no whole foods, in contrast to processed foods, which are whole foods preserved by traditional techniques such as canning or pickling…. Processing induces significant changes to the food matrix, for which ultra-processed foods may affect health outcomes differently than unrefined whole foods with similar nutritional composition. Notably, the highly degraded physical structure of ultra-processed foods may affect cardiometabolic health… and the gut microbiota composition and function. Food additives and… contaminants produced during processing may also play a role in risk of cardiovascular disease. Key biological pathways include altered serum lipid concentrations, modified gut microbiota and host–microbiota interactions, obesity, inflammation, oxidative stress, dysglycemia, insulin resistance, and hypertension.” – Published in Advances in Nutrition journal, Sep 2021

Detail on the Composition & Processing of Ultra-Processed Foods

Ultra-processed food and drink products… are industrial formulations typically with five or more and usually many ingredients... Ingredients only found in ultra-processed products include substances not commonly used in culinary preparations, and additives whose purpose is to imitate sensory qualities of [unprocessed] foods… or to disguise undesirable sensory qualities of the final product. [Unprocessed] foods are a small proportion of or are even absent from ultra-processed products. Substances only found in ultra-processed products include some directly extracted from foods, such as casein, lactose, whey, and gluten, and some derived from further processing of food constituents, such as hydrogenated or interesterified oils, hydrolysed proteins, soy protein isolate, maltodextrin, invert sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Classes of additive only found in ultra-processed products include dyes and other colours, colour stabilisers, flavours, flavour enhancers, non-sugar sweeteners, and processing aids such as carbonating, firming, bulking and anti-bulking, de-foaming, anti-caking and glazing agents, emulsifiers, sequestrants and humectants. Several industrial processes with no domestic equivalents are used in the manufacture of ultra-processed products, such as extrusion and moulding, and pre-processing for frying. The main purpose of industrial ultra-processing is to create products that are ready to eat, to drink or to heat, liable to replace both unprocessed or minimally processed foods that are naturally ready to consume, such as fruits and nuts, milk and water, and freshly prepared… meals. Common attributes of ultra-processed products are hyper-palatability, sophisticated and attractive packaging, multi-media and other aggressive marketing to children and adolescents, health claims, high profitability, and branding and ownership by transnational corporations. Examples of typical ultra-processed products are: carbonated drinks; sweet or savoury packaged snacks; ice-cream, chocolate, candies (confectionery); mass-produced packaged breads and buns; margarines and spreads; cookies (biscuits), pastries, cakes, and cake mixes; breakfast ‘cereals’, ‘cereal’ and ‘energy’ bars; ‘energy’ drinks; milk drinks, ‘fruit’ yoghurts and ‘fruit’ drinks; cocoa drinks; meat and chicken extracts and ‘instant’ sauces; infant formulas, follow-on milks, other baby products; ‘health’ and ‘slimming’ products such as powdered or ‘fortified’ meal and dish substitutes; and many ready to heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes; poultry and fish ‘nuggets’ and ‘sticks’, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, and powdered and packaged ‘instant’ soups, noodles and desserts. – NOVA Food Classification

UPFs Have No Health Benefits. They Cause Chronic Diseases and Mental Health Issues.

High ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is associated with an increased risk of a variety of chronic diseases and mental health disorders. At present, not a single study reported an association between UPF intake and a beneficial health outcome. – An Umbrella Review & Meta-Analyses of Observational Evidence, June 2024

Anxiety, Depression, Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Cancers, and Premature Death

A study published in the British Medical Journal finds people who consume high amounts of ultra-processed foods have an increased risk of anxiety, depression, obesity, metabolic syndrome, certain cancers and premature death. The data come from more than 9 million people who participated in dozens of studies. – NPR

UPFs, Fake Foods, Lab-Made Foods: Sources by Date

1. Feb 25, 2025 — Most U.S. infant formulas contain mainly added sugars, posing a serious risk to babies’ health, researchers say — Pamela Ferdinand, U.S. Right to Know link
2. Feb 1, 2025 — Ultra-Processed Food Addiction: A Little-Known and Growing Problem: Learn about the complexities of food addiction, its relationship with ultra-processed foods, and emerging treatment approaches. — Amy Denney, The Epoch Times link
3. Feb 1, 2025 — Lawsuit Alleges Addictive Ultraprocessed Foods Caused Youth’s Illnesses; “A lawsuit alleges that ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), engineered to be addictive like cigarettes, caused a teenager to develop serious health problems like fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes. UPFs are defined as ‘industrially produced edible substances’ that lack essential nutrients and are loaded with refined ingredients, added sugars and unhealthy fats like linoleic acid. These foods disrupt metabolism, gut health and cellular function, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and chronic inflammation. The lawsuit claims that Big Food took a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook, using similar tactics to engineer addiction and aggressively market UPFs to children. Protect your health by avoiding ultraprocessed foods, learning to read food labels, cooking more often, making healthier food swaps and practicing mindful eating.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
4. Jan 24, 2025 — US Food Guidelines Face Divide Over Protein, Dairy, and Ultra-Processed Foods: Whether to prioritize plant or animal based proteins and the omission of ultra-processed foods have raised heated debate around the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines. — Sheramy Tsai, The Epoch Times link
5. Jan 17, 2025 — Ultra-processed foods and early death — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
6. Jan 17, 2025 — Scientists Expose Startling Levels of Food Processing at Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods; “A new study found that most foods in major U.S. grocery stores are ultra-processed.” — Mass General Brigham, SciTechDaily link
7. Jan 15, 2025 — What’s Really Behind Food Dyes?; “Why is it that the Froot Loops sold in Europe are made with real ingredients while the ones sold in the U.S. are packed with artificial dyes and chemicals?” — Dr. Mark Hyman, YouTube 1-min video
8. Jan 13, 2025 — The What, How, and Why of Ultraprocessed Foods; “Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) are having a real moment. Few recent topics in public health and nutrition science have caused such a stir within the research community — and now, in the news, on social media, and in Congress — like these ubiquitous industrial formulations… Earlier in 2024, lawmakers… proposed legislation to put warning labels on UPFs, restrict the way they’re marketed to children, and increase funding for scientific research on UPFs and health. It was the first time the use of the term “ultraprocessed food” was recorded in Congress.” — MedPage Today link
9. Jan 13, 2025 — Battle of the Grocery Aisles: How America’s Top Chains Stack Up on Processed Food Options; “The analysis revealed that while Whole Foods typically offers a wider range of minimally processed options, Walmart and Target’s selections in many categories are predominantly ultra-processed. For example, in the cereal aisle, Whole Foods customers can choose from products across the processing spectrum, while Walmart’s options are largely limited to highly processed varieties. The study found particularly concerning patterns in everyday staples like soups, yogurt drinks, and milk alternatives, where some stores offered virtually no minimally processed options. Even more striking, in categories like pizza and popcorn, all three chains primarily stocked highly processed versions… To help consumers navigate these choices, the researchers have made their database publicly accessible through a website called TrueFood.tech. The platform allows users to look up specific products and find less processed alternatives within the same category.” — Massachusetts General Hospital, Science Blog link
10. Jan 13, 2025 — Multiple Violations Found at McDonald’s Onion Supplier After Deadly E.Coli Outbreak; “[There were] dozens of violations at a McDonald’s supplier… including equipment with biofilm and food debris, incomplete sanitation procedures, and improper handling of ready-to-eat produce.” — India Edwards, U.S. News & World Report link
11. Jan 12, 2025 — How Excess Iodine Is Undermining Thyroid Health and What to Do About It; “Modern food production and industry has created widespread iodine overload through multiple sources: iodized animal feed, dairy cleaning practices, processed foods, personal care products and supplements.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
12. Jan 11, 2025 — Americans Are Not Eating ‘Real Food’-Here’s What You Need to Know: Vani Hari — American Thought Leaders, Epoch TV link and 31-min video
13. Jan 8, 2025 — Associations between degree of food processing and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a multicentre prospective cohort analysis in 9 European countries — Esther M. Gonzalez-Bil et al, The Lancet link
14. Jan 6, 2025 — Why Is the American Diet So Deadly? A scientist tried to discredit the theory that ultra-processed foods are killing us. Instead, he overturned his own understanding of obesity. — Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker link
15. Jan 6, 2025 — Sugary beverages contribute to millions of diabetes and heart disease cases — Tufts University, News Medical link
16. Jan 6, 2025 — Sugary Drinks Linked to Millions of New Diabetes and Heart Disease Cases; “Sugary drinks are a major contributor to chronic health issues. A new study from Tufts University in Boston suggests that approximately one in 10 new cases of Type 2 diabetes and one in 30 new cases of cardiovascular disease are linked to sugary drinks.” — Rachel Ann T. Melegrito, The Epoch Times link
17. Dec 20, 2024 — Teenager’s Lawsuit: Taking on the Global Food Giants; “18-year-old Bryce Martinez has taken a stand against some of the world’s largest food corporations. Martinez has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against 11 major food companies, including household names like Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Kraft Heinz, alleging that their ultra-processed foods (UPFs) led to his development of Type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease at the age of 16.” — Colin Todhunter, Countercurrents.org link
18. Dec 16, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Food Companies Face Legal Scrutiny for Targeting Children — Amy Denney, The Epoch Times link
19. Dec 14, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods Hinder Body’s Healing Process, Drive Colorectal Cancer Growth — Rachel Ann T. Melegrito, The Epoch Times link
20. Dec 14, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods Hinder Body’s Healing Process, Drive Colorectal Cancer Growth:New research shows how high omega-6 content may contribute to chronic inflammation and colorectal cancer growth through complex cellular mechanisms. — Rachel Ann T. Melegrito, The Epoch Times link
21. Dec 12, 2024 — ‘First-of-its-kind’ Lawsuit Alleges Addictive Ultraproccessed Foods Caused Teen’s Illnesses: A Pennsylvania teenager sued Coca-Cola, Nestlé USA, PepsiCo, General Mills, WK Kellogg Co and six other Big Food companies alleging that ultraprocessed foods engineered to be as addictive as cigarettes caused him to develop fatty liver disease, Type 2 diabetes and other health problems. — Michael Nevradakis PhD, Children’s Health Defense link 
22. Dec 11, 2024 — Lawsuit Accuses Major Food Companies of Marketing ‘Addictive’ Food to Kids — Brendan Pierson, Reuters link 
23. Dec 11, 2024 — Food firms sued for allegedly marketing “addictive” products to kids; “Martinez, whom local media report is now 18 years old, says in the suit that he suffers from severe chronic illness… ‘These diseases did not exist in children prior to Defendants’ conduct,’ the lawsuit alleges, in regards to Martinez’s condition.” — Rebecca Falconer, Axios link
24. Dec 11, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods: increased risk of cancer — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know  link
25. Dec 10, 2024 — Common Foods May Lead to Colon Cancer; “Ultra-processed food might be driving colon cancer risk by fueling inflammation in the body, according to a study…” — Hatty Willmoth, Newsweek link 
26. Dec 10, 2024 — Morgan & Morgan Files Lawsuit over Allegedly Harmful, Addictive Ultra-Processed Foods; “Morgan & Morgan has filed a lawsuit against food industry behemoths Kraft Heinz Company, Mondelēz International, Inc., and others alleging they specifically engineer their ultra-processed food products to be addictive and market those products towards children, allegedly causing chronic disease in children.” — Morgan & Morgan link
27. Dec 9, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods (UPF) and Type-2 Diabetes Lawsuit — Rene F. Rocha, Morgan & Morgan, For the People link
28. Dec 6, 2024 — Eating Ultraprocessed Foods Raises Mortality Risks, Especially for Women: A recent study of 27,670 participants linked higher ultraprocessed food consumption was linked to poor cholesterol profiles, showing reduced HDL (good cholesterol) and increased VLDL (bad cholesterol), particularly in older women. — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
29. Dec 6, 2024 — Frequent Ultraprocessed Food Consumption Raises Mortality Risks, Especially in Women — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
30. Dec 4, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to More Fat in Muscles, Osteoarthritis: Study: Research shows that more fat in thigh muscle resulting from a diet high in ultra-processed foods raises knee osteoarthritis risk. —  George Citroner, The Epoch Times link
31. Dec 4, 2024 — What Are Ultra-Processed Foods and Why Do Scientists Say They Cause Fat Thighs? — Martin Bagot, Mirror link 
32. December 2024 — Ultra-processed food consumption is associated with the acceleration of biological aging in the Moli-sani Study — Simona Esposito et al, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition link
33. Nov 30, 2024 — Fake Food, Bill Gates’ Involvement in Animal-Free Milk and the Bigger Agenda; “While these innovations are framed as breakthroughs in ethical consumption, this growing “fake food” trend has dangerous implications for both health and sovereignty.” — Tess Lawrie PhD link
34. Nov 29, 2024 — Bovaer in Foods: Another Attack on Health and Sovereignty?; “The active ingredient in Bovaer that raises concerns is 3-NOP (3-nitrooxypropanol)… a synthetic compound. Its long-term effects on animal health, as well as potential residues in meat and dairy products, have not been fully studied for human safety.” — World Council for Health link
35. Nov 27, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to Psoriasis Flare-Ups: A new study of more than 18,000 participants highlights the potential influence of diet on inflammatory diseases. — George Citroner, The Epoch Times link
36. Nov 23, 2024 — KFC Drops Pledge to Stop Using ‘Frankenchickens’ in the UK; “The fast food chain KFC has ditched its pledge in the U.K. to improve animal welfare by sourcing its chicken from slower-growing breeds by 2026. Fast-growing meat chickens have been called “Frankenchickens” because of welfare concerns, including higher mortality rates, lameness and muscle disease. More than 1 billion chickens are slaughtered in the U.K. each year for meat. KFC won plaudits in 2019 when it announced it was signing up to the Better Chicken Commitment but now says it will not meet the pledge. Its 2024 annual progress report on chicken welfare reported that just 1% of its chickens were from slower-growing breeds.” — The Guardian link
37. Nov 20, 2024 — Inside the Junk Food Lobby’s Plans to Derail RFK’s Agenda: The plan to block “Make America Healthy Again.” Exclusive inside details from lobbyists representing high fructose corn producers, PepsiCo, and the soda industry. — Lee Fang link 
38. Nov 20, 2024 — Junk Food Lobbyists Mobilize to Prevent Senate Confirmation of RFK Jr.: Dr. McCullough Responds on Fox Business with Elizabeth MacDonald — Nicolas Hulscher MPH link 
39. Nov 16, 2024 — The Babies Addicted to Fast Food —  Dr. Joseph Mercola link
40. Nov 16, 2024 — Ultraprocessed Foods Threaten Children’s Liver Health — Dr. Joseph Mercola link 
41. Nov 13, 2024 — Ultra-processed Foods May Speed Up Aging — And They’re Addictive — Pamela Ferdinand U.S. Right to Know (Children’s Health Defense) link
42. Nov 12, 2024 — ‘A Bleak Picture’: Most Food Sold by Biggest Companies Is Unhealthy; “Two-thirds of the products sold by the 30 biggest food companies in the world are unhealthy, according to a report published… on Thursday. ‘If you go to your supermarket, on average, nearly 70 percent of products you’ll be looking at will be unhealthy, no matter what the labeling says, no matter what the advertising says.'” — Hatty Willmoth, Newsweek link
43. Nov 12, 2024 — Baby Food and Bee Pollen – Two Food Sources That Are Loaded with Pesticides — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
44. Nov 11, 2024 — Scurvy Is Making a Surprising Comeback; “Scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, is making a comeback as people increasingly rely on processed foods due to economic pressures, dietary restrictions and limited access to fresh produce.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
45. Nov 11, 2024 — The Worst Foods for Your Brain: Neurological Implications of the Ultra-Processed Modern Diet — Dr. Austin Perlmutter MD link
46. Nov 8, 2024 — ‘Industry Scandal’: How Big Ag Stripped Our Food of Valuable Nutrients — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
47. Nov 7, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods can speed up biological aging, new study shows — Pamela Ferdinand, U.S. Right to Know link
48. Nov 5, 2024 — High Blood Pressure Is a Growing Problem Among Children and Teens; “Diet plays a crucial role in managing blood pressure. Reducing ultraprocessed foods and optimizing sodium-to-potassium ratio through whole, unprocessed foods help prevent high blood pressure in children.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
49. Oct 31, 2024 — Ultra-processed Foods and Plastics: A Toxic Relationship — Pamela Ferdinand, U.S. Right to Know (Children’s Health Defense) link
50. Oct 28, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods and Plastics: A Marriage Made in Hell — Pamela Ferdinand, U.S. Right to Know link
51. Oct 25, 2024 — Over 70% of Children’s Diets Now Consist of Ultraprocessed Foods — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
52. Oct 24, 2024 — A toxic relationship: ultra-processed foods & plastics — Joe Yates et al, Globalization and Health link
53. Oct 15, 2024 — Florida bans sale of lab-grown “meat” — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
54. Oct 13, 2024 — The association between ultra-processed food consumption and low-grade inflammation in childhood: A cross-sectional study — Burak Mete et al, Nutrition Bulletin link
55. Oct 7, 2024 — Just One Soda a Day May Raise the Risk of Heart Disease, Cancer, and Diabetes: Recent research also ties sugar-sweetened drinks to depression, liver disease, and premature death. — Don Rauf, Everyday Health link
56. Oct 4, 2024 — Ultra-processed food intake in toddlerhood and mid-childhood in the UK: cross sectional and longitudinal perspectives — Rana E. Conway et al, European Journal of Nutrition link
57. Oct 3, 2024 — Rise in Sugary Drinks Consumption Parallels Obesity Epidemic: Global Study — Zrinka Peters, The Epoch Times link
58. Oct 1, 2024 — Eating ultra-processed food may shorten life span among older adults — Harvard Medical School link
59. Sep 30, 2024 — Healthier McDonald’s Options Available in Europe, but Not in the US: As concerns rise over unsafe additives in everyday foods, experts advocate for a reevaluation of safety standards to protect public health. — Cara Michelle Miller, The Epoch Times link
60. Sep 22, 2024 — Unleashing covid biotechnology on New Zealanders is not enough; the Government wants to now unleash biotechnology “food” — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
61. Sep 20, 2024 — Ultraprocessed foods may increase your risk for type 2 diabetes, study shows — Madeline Holcombe, CNN link 
62. Sep 19, 2024 — Kids Increase Their Aluminum Intake When They Eat McDonald’s Salt: McDonald’s salt packets don’t just contain salt — they also contain sugar and “sodium silicoaluminate,” an anticaking agent that according to an aluminum toxicity expert, kids shouldn’t eat. —  Suzanne Burdick PhD, Children’s Health Defense link 
63. Sep 19, 2024 — You’ll Never Eat Processed Food Again After Hearing THIS; “In this video, Rhonda discusses: 1) How almost 99% of chemicals introduced to the food supply since the year 2000 were green-lighted by the food & chemical companies rather than properly reviewed by the FDA. 2) How common chemicals found in processed food affect health: Nitrites, Potassium Bromate, Propyl Paraben, Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA), Tertiary Butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), & Artificial Colors (e.g., Red #40, Yellow #5, Blue #1). 3) Whether “ultra-processed” food is more dangerous than processed food. 4) Why just because something says ‘BPA-free’ doesn’t mean it’s safe.” — Rhonda Patrick PhD 14-min video
64. Sep 18, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods linked to increased risk of Type 2 diabetes — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
65. Sep 16, 2024 — Did Big Tobacco Create the Processed Food Industry?; “Big Tobacco companies like Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds strategically acquired major food companies in the 1980s, dominating the U.S. food system for over 20 years and shaping processed food formulations. Tobacco-owned foods were more likely to be “hyper-palatable,” engineered with specific combinations of fat, sugar, salt and carbohydrates that excessively activate brain reward circuits, leading to addictive-like eating behaviors. While the processed food industry predates Big Tobacco’s involvement, tobacco companies applied their expertise in flavor enhancement and marketing strategies to food products, influencing the broader industry. Tobacco companies also shaped the sugary drinks market, developing and marketing popular children’s beverages like Hawaiian Punch, Kool-Aid and Capri Sun using tactics like cigarette advertising. The tobacco industry’s influence on food formulation and marketing persists today, with researchers arguing that the current food environment is like the unregulated tobacco landscape of the 1950s.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
66. Sep 16, 2024 — Food consumption by degree of food processing and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort analysis of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC); “Over an average [11] years follow-up of 311,892 individuals, 14,236 type 2 diabetes mellitus cases were identified. Each 10% increment of total daily food intake from UPF was associated with 17% higher incident type 2 diabetes… Replacing UPF with unprocessed/minimally processed food (MPF) + processed culinary ingredients (PCI) or processed food (PF) was associated with lower incident type 2 diabetes.” — Samuel J. Dicken et al, The Lancet link
67. Sep 8, 2024 — Food Standards in Australia and New Zealand are being changed so real food can be replaced with fake “food” – here’s what you can do — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
68. Sep 5, 2024 — Fast Food and Fast Casual Restaurant Packaging and PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ — Report 2023; “Mamavation tested 81 pieces of fast food packaging for PFAS chemicals, finding 35% contained detectable levels. Some brands exceeded California’s 100 ppm limit even after the state’s January 2023 ban. PFAS chemicals in food packaging pose health risks including reduced immunity, hormonal disruption, and increased cancer risk. They can persist in the body for years or decades. Several restaurant chains have committed to phasing out PFAS in packaging, but Mamavation’s testing shows mixed results in actually implementing these changes, especially outside of California…  To reduce PFAS exposure, cook at home more, filter your water, avoid certain cookware and clothing, and choose safer personal care products and household items.” — Mamavation, Mercola.com link
69. Sep 5, 2024 — What are ‘ultra-processed foods’ anyway? Here’s how ‘healthy’ labels may hide their dangers — Malay Mail link 
70. Sep 3, 2024 — Research centre launched in the UK to push fake meat and develop a national protein strategy — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
71. Sep 3, 2024 — Billions of People Have Inadequate Micronutrients, Study Estimates: Many diseases worldwide are caused by vitamins and minerals deficiencies. — Huey Freeman, The Epoch Times link
72. Sep 1, 2024 — Joe Rogan UNLOADS On Time Magazine For Pushing Processed Foods — The Jimmy Dore Show, YouTube 15-min video
73. Aug 29, 2024 — Days after RFK Jr. signaled desire to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ Time issues defense of ultra-processed foods — Joseph MacKinnon, Blaze Media link
74. Aug 28, 2024 — Packaged Food Brands Using Clever Marketing To Draw Kids To Unhealthy Snacks, Says Bite Back — Steve Wynne-Jones, ESM – European Supermarket Magazine link
75. Aug 28, 2024 — High ultra-processed food consumption tied to rising BMI and fat mass in young children — Pooja Toshniwai Paharia, News Medical link
76. Aug 26, 2024 — The dangers of ultra-processed plant-based foods — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link 
77. Aug 23, 2024 — Baby’s First Junk Food: How Companies Prey on New Parents — Paul Sacca, Blaze Media link
78. Aug 23, 2024 — The Illusion of Choice: Why Won’t They Tell Us the Truth About Lab-Grown Meat?; “[Industry] frames the debate as a fight for consumer freedom to choose lab-grown meat, but the underlying concern is public safety and transparency… The concept of lab-grown meat relies on the flawed notion of bioequivalence, oversimplifying meat as just a few key fats and proteins while ignoring its complex and variable biological composition. Emerging research suggests lab-grown meat may contain unknown compounds with potential long-term health risks. Lab-grown meat companies benefit from lenient regulation on products that are completely new to the food supply. The debate should focus on informed choice, with consumers needing transparency and more rigorous testing before these products are widely accepted.” — Alliance for Natural Health link
79. Aug 23, 2024 — New Zealand Prime Minister laughs as he announces removal of food safety laws so lab-made products can be released onto the market — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
80. Aug 15, 2024 — Ditching Ultra-Processed Foods For Family Health, With Dr. Madiha Saeed — Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, YouTube 35-min video
81. Aug 8, 2024 — The Shift to Processed Foods Has Been a Disaster for Human Health–Part 1; “Journalist Charlie Cornish-Dale—also known as Raw Egg Nationalist—[talks] about why we should eat like our ancestors, the damage processed foods have done to the human race, and in what ways we are already well down the road toward a globalist reset of our food supply.” — British Thought Leaders, Epoch TV 44-min video
82. Aug 6, 2024 — When Food Hijacks Your Brain, There Are Ways to Get It Back: Processed foods are designed to keep us eating, with detrimental effects on the body and mind – but there are ways to find balance and reduce cravings.; “Before the advent of processed foods, what we ate was grown in nature, harvested, and eaten solely for the purpose of satisfying hunger. Today, however, much of the food we eat contains artificial ingredients and added sugars that not only provide a sense of fullness, but also induce cravings.” — Dr. Yuhong Dong MD, PhD, The Epoch Times link
83. Jul 30, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods that should come with a cigarette-style health warning — David Cox, The New Zeland Herald link
84. Jul 25, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods Are Harming Children: What’s Being Done About It? — Jennifer Sweenie, The Epoch Times link
85. Jul 18, 2024 — Deceptive “copycat” cannabinoid snacks are putting children at risk, US agency warns; “Companies are ‘putting the health of young children at risk’ by illegally selling ‘copycat’ food products that contain THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, but packaged to look like well known snack brands, the FDA has warned.” — Elisabeth Mahase, BMJ link
86. Jul 18, 2024 — Calcium Peroxide in Your Wendy’s Classic Burger? The Daily Mail examined the ingredients lists of nine of the “most-loved fast food items” from U.S. restaurant chains, including Chipotle, KFC, Burger King, Wendy’s, Starbucks, Panera Bread, Domino’s, McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A.; “Many foods sold by popular fast food chains in the U.S. contain harmful chemicals and other substances linked to increased health risks.” — Suzanne Burdick PhD, Children’s Health Defense link
87. Jul 17, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to 32 Health Risks: The addictive nature and ubiquity of ultra-processed foods make them hard to avoid, but frequent indulgence risks our health. — JoJo Novaes & Ben Lam, The Epoch Times link
88. Jul 16, 2024 — UK adolescents get two-thirds of daily calories from UPFs, says survey: Concerns over ultra-processed foods and effect on health have led some countries to introduce new labelling — Tanya Procyshyn, The Guardian link
89. Jul 13, 2024 — Questions Linger About the Unlisted Substances Used in Processed Foods: Safer and more traditional alternatives exist for some of them.; “The long list of unfamiliar names on ingredient labels of processed foods is already a cause for concern. However, many people are unaware of another category of additives never listed on these labels. These “invisible” additives are known as processing aids.” — Flora Zhao, The Epoch Times link
90. Jul 12, 2024 — Health impacts of ultra-processed foods — Natasha Mutebi, UK Parliament Post link
91. Jul 10, 2024 — Chemicals in Ultraprocessed and Fast Food Packaging Pose Serious Risks for Pregnant Women — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
92. Jul 4, 2024 — McDonalds: On Seed Oils and more — Lies are Unbekoming link
93. Jul 3, 2024 — These ultraprocessed foods may shorten your life, study says — Sandee LaMotte, CNN link
94. Jul 1, 2024 — ‘Alarming’ Levels of Toxins Found in Stouffer’s, Other Frozen Meals: Popular brands of ultra-processed frozen foods contain harmful ingredients and contaminants, including seed oils rich in linoleic acid, additives, artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, colorants, bisphenols and phthalates. — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
95. Jun 27, 2024 — ‘This disorder has almost killed me’: His addiction to ultraprocessed food began as a child — Sandee LaMotte, CNN link
96. Jun 24, 2024 — Plant-Based Ultraprocessed Foods Linked With Higher Risk of Cardiovascular Disease; “Vegans and vegetarians often consume more ultraprocessed foods than meat eaters, especially ‘industrial plant-sourced meat and dairy substitutes.’ The health risks of these unnatural foods come not only from the highly processed ingredients they contain but also from the additives and contaminants formed during processing.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
97. Jun 22, 2024 — Widely Used and Deemed Safe, These Food Additives Are More Harmful Than Thought: More than 73 percent of food is ultra-processed. Some ingredients are ‘generally recognized as safe,’ but research has begun to show that they may not be.; “Today, more than 73 percent of the U.S. food supply is ultra-processed. While both natural and ultra-processed foods are referred to as ‘food,’ there is a vast difference between them. For instance, ultra-processed foods are not grown in soil but manufactured in factories, using many ingredients that cannot be found in the average home pantry.” — Flora Zhao, The Epoch Times link
98. Jun 21, 2024 — Pentagon Dumps $500 Million Into Lab-Grown ‘Meat’ Manufacturer BioMADE Tied to World Economic Forum (WEF): American troops being used as “guinea pigs.”— Jon Fleetwood link
99. Jun 20, 2024 — ‘Alarming’ Levels of Toxins Found in Popular Frozen Meals; “Aggressive marketing campaigns and advertising by food companies promote ultraprocessed foods as desirable and convenient. Many brands, like Stouffer’s, also promote a wholesome image with ‘scratch-made taste,’ but many contain ‘alarming’ levels of toxins… Many Stouffer’s products received the worst rating from the EWG Food Scores… Ultraprocessed foods have infiltrated the globe, bringing with them rapid increases in obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, and 13 of 15 major cancers. Ultraprocessed foods contain a number of harmful ingredients and contaminants, including seeds oils rich in linoleic acid (LA), additives, artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, colorants, bisphenols and phthalates.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
100. Jun 18, 2024 — Experimental biosynthetic food to replace natural food is happening, now!; “Biosynthetic food products are being falsely promoted as more nutritious than organic food. None of this is backed by sound science. No biosynthetic foods have been proven to be healthy or safe.” — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
101. Jun 11, 2024 — Associations Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adverse Brain Health Outcomes — Varun M. Bhave et al, Neurology link
102. Jun 10, 2024 — Implications of food ultra-processing on cardiovascular risk considering plant origin foods: an analysis of the UK Biobank cohort; “Ultra-processed foods [were] linked to higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality, and no evidence for an association between contribution of all plant-sourced foods and CVD incidence and mortality was observed… Recognizing the role of food processing is crucial for favourable cardiovascular disease outcomes, even in plant-sourced diets.” — Fernanda Rauber et al, The Lancet link
103. Jun 6, 2024 — The Man Who Warned Us About UPFs: Michael Pollan on His 25-Year Fight With the Food Industry — Zoe Williams, The Guardian link
104. Jun 6, 2024 — Concerning Amounts’ of Lead Found in Organic Kids Snacks From Lesser Evil, Serenity Kids: Report: There is currently no federal limit for lead in most foods, including baby foods. — Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times link
105. Jun 6, 2024 — ‘Techno Foods’ Won’t Feed the World — But They’ll Make Tech Entrepreneurs Richer: Foods invented in laboratories and produced in factories won’t improve the quantity or quality of our food supply, so who benefits? The business entrepreneurs who see food as a commodity to be patented and profited from. — GMWatch, Children’s Health Defense link
106. June 2024 — Ultra-processed foods and human health: An umbrella review and updated meta-analyses of observational evidence; “High ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is associated with an increased risk of a variety of chronic diseases and mental health disorders. At present, not a single study reported an association between UPF intake and a beneficial health outcome.” — Shuhui Dai et al, Clinical Nutrition link
107. May 30, 2024 — Teens Who Eat Junk Food at Risk of Long-term Memory Problems: Consuming junk food can also increase your child’s risk of depression, obesity, and inflammatory conditions like eczema, rhinitis and severe asthma. — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
108. May 30, 2024 — How Ultra-Processed Food is Poisoning Our Brains — Dr. Austin Perlmutter MD link
109. May 19, 2024 — Academic and doctor Chris van Tulleken: ‘Ultra-processed products are food that lies to us’ — Tim Adams, The Guardian link
110. May 15, 2024 — Energy drinks can lead to serious heart issues in kids and teens, health experts say — Boston Herald link
111. May 14, 2024 — How Food Giants Get Kids Hooked on Junk Food — and How to Stop Them: Parents are protectors of their children. They have to be especially on guard to protect their children from pervasive direct mass marketing, using influencers, peer groups and abduction of their youngsters into the Internet Gulag. — Ralph Nader, Children’s Health Defense link
112. May 13, 2024 — How Ultraprocessed Foods Are Slowly Killing Us; “In a lecture at The Royal Institute, Chris van Tulleken shared details of how ultraprocessed foods impact human health, tracing a timeline from the mid-1970s when childhood obesity was a mere 2% to the present day, just 50 years later, when it now hovers at 20%… Ultraprocessed food manufacturers propose that obesity is caused by not getting enough exercise or not having enough willpower. Yet, the evidence suggests these theories are invalid and that obesity and other diseases are linked to consuming ultraprocessed foods that may be slowly killing us.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
113. May 9, 2024 — What is ultra-processed food – and is it bad for you? A new study reveals the extent of harmful health effects ultra-processed food can have — Albert Toth, The Independent link
114. May 8, 2024 — Association of ultra-processed food consumption with all cause and cause specific mortality: population based cohort study: Such foods encompass a broad category, including cookies, doughnuts, potato chips, hot dogs, white bread and frozen meals  — Zhe Fhang, et al, The Washington Post link
115. May 8, 2024 — High levels of ultra-processed foods linked with early death, brain issues — Anahad O’Connor, The Washington Post link 
116. May 8, 2024 — Studies of 10 Million People Find Ultra-processed Foods Linked to Serious Health Issues: A comprehensive systematic review of nearly 10 million participants found that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods was directly associated with increased risk for obesity, heart disease, cancer, cognitive decline and premature death, according to a study published in The BMJ. — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
117. May 8, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods linked to higher mortality — Kathryn E Bradbury, BMJ link
118. May 6, 2024 — Fake meat: It’s all part of a plan to control the entire food supply — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link 
119. May 2, 2024 — Study finds social and psychological factors fuel teen cravings for ultra-processed foods during screen time — Dr. Sanchari Sinha Dutta PhD, News Medical link
120. May 1, 2024 — ‘Unethical’ junk food packaging manipulates children into craving sweets, report claims: Bite Back, a Jamie Oliver campaign group, found the 10 biggest producers reel in young shoppers with attention-grabbing colours and cartoons — Jamie Oliver, The Guardian link
121. Apr 28, 2024 — Beyond Lead: A Pediatrician’s Concerns With ‘Lunchables’ and School Lunch Standards: Ultraprocessed foods are the real villains in the deteriorating health of our nation’s children. — Joel Warsh, The Epoch Times link
122. Apr 27, 2024 — Study Review Shows Dozens of Health Problems From Ultraprocessed Food — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
123. Apr 25, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods increase risk of cardiovascular disease — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
124. Apr 23, 2024 — Big Junk Food’s Campaign to Get You Eating Doritos and Oreos for Dinner — Deena Shanker, Bloomberg link 
125. Apr 22, 2024 — Children Eating Junk Foods Could Suffer Memory Impairment: Study; ‘Early life diet can have critical, long-lasting effects on neural function—independently of obesity,’ researchers said in a study of rats fed unhealthy food. — Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times link
126. Apr 21, 2024 — “They’re Doing WHAT To Our Children’s Food?!!” This Is NOT GOOD; “Lunchables have concerning levels of lead and sodium in them, as you subsidise its Big Food manufacturer, Kraft, with your taxes.” — Russell Brand, YouTube 7-min video
127. Apr 14, 2024 — Arthritis, Joint Pain from SUGAR & Junk Food: Harvard Doctor Tells All: Dr. Amy West MD; “Metabolic health is the real driver of joint pain, tendon issues and more” — High Intensity Health, YouTube 16-min video
128. Apr 9, 2024 — Lunchables found to contain relatively high lead levels — Miranda Nazzaro, The Hill link
129. Apr 8, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods linked to higher glaucoma risk, study warns — Pooja Toshniwal Paharia, News Medical link 
130. Apr 4, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods: increased risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
131. Apr 4, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods: increased risk of depression and anxiety — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
132. Mar 21, 2024 — 5 Toxic Foods You Should Cut Out of Your Diet Right Now: Ultra-processed foods are everywhere, and they come with some serious health risks. — The Vigilant Fox link
133. Mar 20, 2024 — 6 Popular Ultra-Processed Foods to Immediately Stop Eating — Facts Matter, Epoch TV link and 13-min video
134. Mar 19, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods linked to increased risk of Type 2 diabetes — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
135. Mar 18, 2024 — Diet drinks may boost risk of dangerous heart condition by 20%, study says — Sandee LaMotte, CNN link
136. Mar 14, 2024 — Frankenfoods v2: Exploiting the Bioequivalence Principle: Powerful forces are trying to shift our food system away from the soil-based farming systems and towards genetically engineered, lab-grown food. We can’t let them succeed. — Alliance for Natural Health link
137. Mar 12, 2024 — Junk food addiction is real, experts say — here are the signs of ‘ultra-processed food use disorder’ — Brooke Steinberg, New York Post link
138. Mar 12, 2024 — Food Additive in Pizza, Pancakes Linked to Lower Sperm Counts: Dr. Naomi Wolf sounded the alarm about sodium aluminum phosphate, a food additive found in many baked goods and processed foods, citing peer-reviewed studies suggesting ingesting aluminum compounds could lead to oxidative stress, DNA damage and decreased testosterone levels and sperm counts in male mammals… Innophos’ Actif-8 brand safety data sheet classifies sodium aluminum phosphate as a ‘hazardous substance or preparation’ that can cause serious eye damage, skin irritation and respiratory irritation… aluminum exposure can lead to adverse reproductive outcomes in male and female mammals.” — John-Michael Dumais, Children’s Health Defense link
139. Mar 6, 2024 — Why the double standards on ultra-processed foods? Because some have better PR than others: The growing evidence on UPFs merits sober discussion, but products marketed with a halo of ‘health’ are avoiding scrutiny — Giles Yeo, The Guardian link 
140. Mar 1, 2024 — As Addictive as Cigarettes and Cocaine: How Big Food Hooks Consumers on Junk Food; A growing body of research suggests big food brands are not only aware their chemically engineered products provoke overeating and addiction — they capitalize on it to drive sales, consciously harming health — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know (Children’s Health Defense) link
141. March 2024 — A high consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with higher total mortality in an adult Mediterranean population — Laura Torres-Collado, et al, Clinical Nutrition link
142. March 2024 — Associations of dietary intake and longitudinal measures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in predominantly Hispanic young Adults: A multicohort study; “Beverage consumption habits and food preparation are associated with differences in PFAS levels in young adults. This highlights the importance of diet in determining PFAS exposure.” — Hailey E. Hampson et al, Environment International link
143. March 2024 — Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of cardiovascular events: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis — Yang Qu et al, eClinicalMedicine (The Lancet) link
144. Feb 29, 2024 — Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to 32 Health Problems in Review: What to Know — Rachel Pannett, The Washington Post link
145. Feb 28, 2024 — Ultra-processed food linked to 32 harmful effects to health, review finds: World’s largest review finds direct associations with higher risks of cancer, heart disease and early death — Andrew Gregory, The Guardian link
146. Feb 28, 2024 — Some ultra-processed foods are as addictive as cigarettes and cocaine — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
147. Feb 28, 2024 — Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses — Melissa M. Lane et al, BMJ link
148. Feb 25, 2024 — Like cigarettes, junk food should come with a warning: ‘Can kill’: Only regulation will stop fast food firms churning out products we are evolutionarily hardwired to find it difficult to resist — Martha Gill, The Guardian link
149. Feb 22, 2024 —Processed Foods Linked to ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Human Blood: Study; Consuming foods rich in fiber such as fruits, vegetables, and grains helps in reducing chemical concentrations, the research suggested. — Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times link
150. Feb 22, 2024 — Study Finds Link Between Ultra-Processed Food and Potentially Fatal Heart Problems: The findings come amid increasing concerns over the health effects of ultra-processed foods, which make up an increasing percentage of diets in the U.S., particularly among teens. — Martha Garcia, About Lawsuits link
151. Feb 20, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods: A growing threat to public health — Florida Atlantic University, News Medical link
152. Feb 15, 2024 — Energy Drinks Linked to List of Conditions in Kids: Study; New research reveals alarming health risks like heart problems, mental distress, and risky behaviors in kids who consume caffeinated, sugar-laden energy drinks. — George Citroner, The Epoch Times link
153. Feb 15, 2024 — I am writing to urge the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require corporations in the food and beverage industry to put strong warning labels on the products they sell that are high in sugar, salt and saturated fats. — Bernard Sanders, U.S. Senate link
154. Feb 13, 2024 — Food additive emulsifiers and cancer risk: Results from the French prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort; “Emulsifiers are widely used food additives in industrially processed foods to improve texture and enhance shelf-life. Experimental research suggests deleterious effects of emulsifiers on the intestinal microbiota and the metabolome, leading to chronic inflammation and increasing susceptibility to [creation of cancer cells].” — Laury Sellem et al, PLOS link
155. Feb 9, 2024 — Big, Bold Warning Labels Can Steer People Away From Junk Food: The U.S. could follow the example of Chile, whose aggressive effort has gotten impressive results — Lindsey Smith Taillie, The Wall Street Journal link
156. Feb 5, 2024 — Common Preservative May Harm Your Gut; “Nisin is a popular antimicrobial preservative used in everything from beer to cheeses and dipping sauce… Compounds like this are often called ‘lantibiotics’ because they are made of special bacteria-derived molecules called lantipeptides. However, while these are very effective at eliminating food-borne diseases, they may also be damaging the ‘good’ microbes in our gut.” — Pandora Dewan, Newsweek link
157. Feb 1, 2024 — Warning Issued After Researchers Link Energy Drinks to Suicidal Thoughts in Children: Energy drinks could pose a risk to young brains, said UK researchers. — Jack Phillips, The Epoch Times link
158. Feb 1, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods and early death  — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right To Know link
159. Feb 1, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods tied to cancer, diabetes, dementia, depression, early death, and more — Mikael Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
160. Feb 1, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods: increased risk of cancer — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
161. Feb 1, 2024 — Ultra-processed foods: obesity and weight gain — Mikaela Conley, U.S. Right to Know link
162. Jan 31, 2024 — Activity of Gut-Derived Nisin-like Lantibiotics against Human Gut Pathogens and Commensals; “Nisin is a class I lantibiotic that has been widely used in the food industry for decades and has been explored as an antimicrobial therapeutic… Nisin… caused deleterious effects on the antimicrobial activity…” — Zhenrun J. Zhang et al, ACS Chemical Biology link
163. Jan 24, 2024 — Surprise! Everything You’ve Been Told About Salt Is Wrong; “The vast majority, approximately 71%, of your salt intake comes from processed food Hence, if you avoid processed foods, you have virtually no risk of consuming too much salt.” [Originally published May 29, 2017] — Dr. Joseph Mercola link  
164. Jan 23, 2024 — Nutritional Criminology: Why the Emerging Research on Ultra-Processed Food Matters to Health and Justice; “Higher ultra-processed food consumption is associated with multiple forms of harm, including those related to mental health and behavior.” — Susan L. Prescott et al, International Journal of Environmetnal Research and Public Health link
165. Jan 19, 2024 — Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses; “Greater exposure to ultra-processed food was associated with a higher risk of adverse health outcomes, especially cardiometabolic, common mental disorder, and mortality…” — Melissa M. Lane et al, BMJ link
166. Jan 6, 2024 — Ultra-Processed and Fast Food Consumption, Exposure to Phthalates During Pregnancy, and Socioeconomic Disparities in Phthalate Exposures — Brennan H. Baker et al, Environment International, Science Direct link
167. 2024 — Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca-Cola Takes readers deep inside the secret world of corporate science, where powerful companies and allied academic scientists mold research to meet industry needs.; “The 1990s were tough times for the soda industry. In the United States, obesity rates were exploding. Public health critics pointed to sugary soda as a main culprit and advocated for soda taxes that might decrease the consumption of sweetened beverages—and threaten the revenues of the giant soda companies. Soda Science tells the story of how industry leader Coca-Cola mobilized allies in academia to create a soda-defense science that would protect profits by advocating exercise, not dietary restraint, as the priority solution to obesity, a view few experts accept. Anthropologist and science studies specialist Susan Greenhalgh discovers a hidden world of science-making—with distinctive organizations, social networks, knowledge-making practices, and ethical claims—dedicated to creating industry-friendly science and keeping it under wraps. By tracing the birth, maturation, death, and afterlife of the science they made, Greenhalgh shows how corporate science has managed to gain such a hold over our lives.” — Susan Greenhalgh book
168. Dec 29, 2023 — More than half the calories Americans eat come from ultra-processed foods that bring big profits to food corporations – but at great cost to our health. — U.S. Right to Know link
169. Dec 14, 2023 — Bernie Sanders: We can’t allow the food and beverage industry to destroy our kids’ health — Sen. Bernie Sanders, USA Today link
170. Dec 13, 2023 — Here’s Why You’re Addicted to Ultra-Processed Food | Chris van Tulleken — Tedx Talks (YouTube) 15-min video
171. Nov 25, 2023 — Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to Higher Risk of Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes: Study; The findings were a cause of concern as ultra-processed foods make up over half of people’s daily food intake, said the study author. — Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times link
172. Nov 21, 2023 — Ultraprocessed foods now account for two-thirds of calories in the diets of children and teens; “Children and teens in the United States now get more than two-thirds of their calories from ultraprocessed foods, an analysis of almost two decades worth of data has found. Ultraprocessed foods – such as frozen pizza, microwave meals, packaged snacks and desserts – accounted for 67% of calories consumed in 2018, up from 61% in 1999.” — Katie Hunt, CNN link
173. Nov 2, 2023 — Ultra-Processed Food as Addictive as Alcohol and Tobacco, Especially in Children: Ultra-processed foods hold a hidden addiction, affecting health and strategically targeting children through industry tactics. — Sheramy Tsai, The Epoch Times link
174. Oct 26, 2023 — The harsh reality of ultra processed food – with Chris Van Tulleken — The Royal Institution (YouTube) 58-min video
175. Oct 18, 2023 — 80% of Packaged Foods in the US are BANNED Elsewhere: Here’s WHY & the LIST — Simon N. R., Sustainability Success link
176. Oct 13, 2023 — Traces of Contraceptive Drugs Found in Fast Food Lab Results — Facts Matter, Epoch TV link and 9-min video
177. Oct 4, 2023 — Why Synthetic Food Is Very Dangerous; “An estimated 99% of the components making up whole food are a complete mystery. The USDA details 188 nutritional components of food, including 38 flavonoids, yet scientists estimate there are more than 26,000 different biochemicals in our food. We know even less about the constituents of processed foods and synthetic foods, which falsely claim to be ‘equivalents’ to whole foods, such as ‘animal-free meats’… A paper published in the April 2023 warns that cultured products are not nutritionally equivalent to the meats they’re intended to replace. A May 2023 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization concluded there are at least 53 potential health hazards associated with lab-grown meat, including the possibility of contamination with heavy metals, microplastics, nanoplastics and chemicals, allergenic additives, toxic components, antibiotics and prions.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
178. Aug 28, 2023 — Ultra-processed food may cause ‘tidal wave of harm’ including stroke and heart attack risk: Lowest risk found at less than 15 per cent of ultra-processed food consumption out of calorie intake per day — Vishwam Sankaran, The Independent link
179. Jul 13, 2023 — The False Promise of Lab-Grown Meat; “As much as the food industry doesn’t want you to know this, the process of creating lab-grown meat relies on ‘genetic engineering’ or GE. While the NIH wants us to restrict the GE term to ‘laboratory-based technologies [that] alter the DNA makeup of an organism,’ we believe it should be just as applicable to gene-editing techniques that involve the deliberate alteration of the genetic makeup of pluripotent cells like stem cells.” — Alliance for Natural Health link
180. May 16, 2023 — Modulation Of The Gut Microbiome With Nisin; “These results show a functionally altered community structure during nisin treatment mainly due to the replacement of Gram-positive bacteria by Gram-negative bacteria.” — Catherine O’Reilly et al, Nature link
181. Apr 21, 2023 — Machine learning prediction of the degree of food processing; “The increased reliance of an individual’s diet on ultra-processed food correlates with higher risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, angina, elevated blood pressure and biological age, and reduces the bio-availability of vitamins… Replacing foods with less processed alternatives can significantly reduce the health implications of ultra-processed food, suggesting that access to information on the degree of processing, currently unavailable to consumers, could improve population health.” — Giulia Menichetti et al, Nature Communications link
182. Apr 20, 2023 — Junk Food ‘Brainwashes’ You so You’re Wired to Eat More; “Researchers found participants who ate high-fat, high-sugar snacks experienced changes in neural encoded responses so they no longer preferred low-fat, low-sugar snacks and they subconsciously preferred a lot of fat and sugar. Data show bingeing on sugar for just six weeks can slow brain function, memory and learning. One study showed sugar affected the reward system in a ‘manner similar to that of drugs of abuse.’ Eating junk food for one week can impair your appetite control; data also show the more sugar you eat, the lower your nutrient intake.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
183. Feb 10, 2023 — Ultra-processed foods increase the risk of cancer; “This study found that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods—including breakfast cereals like Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs—leads to a greater risk of developing and dying from cancer. This should surprise … exactly nobody. Ultra-processed foods are high in additives, flour, sugar, and other harmful ingredients and often nearly devoid of the nutrients we need for optimal health and longevity.” — Chris Kresser link
184. Feb 6, 2023 — NOVA Food Classification — Anne Maher, The Urban Co-op link
185. Jan 31, 2023 — Ultra-processed food consumption, cancer risk and cancer mortality: a large-scale prospective analysis within the UK Biobank; “The mean ultra-processed foods (UPFs) consumption was 22.9% in the total diet. During a median follow-up time of 9.8 years, 15,921 individuals developed cancer and 4009 cancer-related deaths occurred. Every 10 percentage points increment in UPF consumption was associated with an increased incidence of… cancer. Furthermore, every 10 percentage points increment in UPF consumption was associated with an increased risk of… cancer-related mortality.” — Kiara Chang et al, eClinicalMedicine (The Lancet) link
186. Nov 14, 2022 — Ultra-Processed Foods and Drinks Consumption Is Associated with Psychosocial Functioning in Adolescents — Marta Reales-Moreno et al, Nutrients link
187. Oct 29, 2022 — IFIC explainer: How Big Food defends ultra-processed foods, pesticides, artificial sweeteners; “The International Food Information Council (IFIC), a trade group funded by large food and pesticide companies, misleads the public about diet and health, according to documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know. IFIC is widely cited in the media as a source on issues related to food and health.” — Stacy Malkan, U.S. Right to Know link
188. September 2021 — Ultra-processed Foods and Cardiovascular Diseases: Potential Mechanisms of Action; “Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat formulations containing food additives and little or no whole foods, in contrast to processed foods, which are whole foods preserved by traditional techniques such as canning or pickling…. Higher consumption of ultra-processed food is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)… Processing induces significant changes to the food matrix, for which ultra-processed foods may affect health outcomes differently than unrefined whole foods with similar nutritional composition. Notably, the highly degraded physical structure of ultra-processed foods may affect cardiometabolic health by influencing absorption kinetics, satiety, glycemic response, and the gut microbiota composition and function. Food additives and neo-formed contaminants produced during processing may also play a role in CVD risk. Key biological pathways include altered serum lipid concentrations, modified gut microbiota and host–microbiota interactions, obesity, inflammation, oxidative stress, dysglycemia, insulin resistance, and hypertension.” — Flippa Juul et al, Advances in Nutrition link
189. Aug 28, 2021 — Ultra-Processed Food is Associated with Cardiovascular Disease; “Weekly consumption of ultra-processed food is linked with an increased risk of heart disease… Ultra-processed food refers to a wide range of products such as mass produced bread, ready meals, fast foods, sweets and desserts, salty snacks, breakfast cereals, reconstituted meat including chicken and fish nuggets, instant noodles and soups, tinned vegetables with added salt, sugar-coated dried fruit, sodas and sweetened beverages.” — Sophia Antipolis, European Society of Cardiology link
190. Aug 10, 2021 — Trends in Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods Among US Youths Aged 2-19 Years, 1999-2018; “From 1999-2000 to 2017-2018, the estimated percentage of total energy from consumption of ultraprocessed foods significantly increased from 61.4% to 67.0%.” — Lu Wang PhD, MPH et al, JAMA link
191. Aug 1, 2022 — Eating lots of highly processed food is linked to faster cognitive decline, research finds: In a study, adults who ate more processed food saw a 25% faster decline in their ability to plan and execute a task than people whose diets did not contain much processed food. — Aria Bendix, NBC News link
192. Jul 19, 2021 — Ultra-processed diet, systemic oxidative stress, and breach of immunologic tolerance — E. Martínez Leo PhD et al, Nutrition link
193. Jun 24, 2021 — Eating All Parts of the Plant is Essential; “Just as the human being has a head or nervous system, a rhythmic or chest system, and a metabolic/limb region, the plant is divided into root, leaf/stem and flower/fruit regions. In essence, the plant is an upside-down person, with its sense organs fixed in the soil and its reproductive system reaching to the sky. A healing and complete vegetable diet takes advantage of this correspondence between the plant and human, meaning, each day we eat roots, leaves and fruits.” — Dr. Tom Cowan link
194. Jun 14, 2021 — Urgent action needed to reduce harm of ultra-processed foods to British children — Genevieve Timmins & Ryan O’Hare, Imperial link
195. Oct 23, 2019 — Ultraprocessed foods: US vs. UK; “Vani Hari, a.k.a. The Food Babe, is interested in getting rid of artificial food additives. She asks an interesting question. If American companies can eliminate them for sales in Britain, why can’t they do that here? She has put together lots of surprising examples. Here is just one.” — Marion Nestle, Food Politics link
196. Oct 21, 2019 — How Gummy Candies Are Made (Shocking!); “Your gummy candies started out as pigs or possibly cows… gelatine is a product obtained from partial hydrolysis of collagen derived from natural sources such as skin, connective tissue, and bones of animals. Each of these is obtained from slaughterhouses, boiled and broken down in vats of acid before being flavored, colored, and packaged into your favorite sweet… High fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, preservatives, artificial flavors, gluten, and sugars are just some of the highly toxic and inflammatory candy ingredients that you should be on the lookout for in your Halloween haul.” — Laurentine Tn Bosch, Food Matters link
197. Sep 25, 2019 — Lab-grown meat versus agro-ecological farming; “‘Civilized man is the only animal clever enough to manufacture its own food, and the only animal stupid enough to eat it.'” — Alliance for Natural Health link
198. May 11, 2019 — Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017; “In 2017, 11 million deaths and 255 million disability-adjusted life-years were attributable to dietary risk factors… This study provides a comprehensive picture of the potential impact of suboptimal diet on on-communicable disease mortality and morbidity, highlighting the need for improving diet across nations.” — Ashkan Afshin et al, The Lancet link
199. Oct 10, 2018 — French National Assembly issues tough report on ultraprocessed foods — Marion Nestle, Food Politics link
200. Feb 21, 2018 — Ultra-processed food dangers – why we need to cook more from scratch: Avoid ultra-processed foods before you live to regret it — Alliance for Natural Health link
201. Dec 7, 2017 — The French food industry v. public health: front-of-package label; “The French government’s decision on October 31 to support voluntary adoption of a “Nutri-Score” front-of-package label is now under attack by the food industry.” — Marion Nestle, Food Politics link
202. January-March 2016 — The Food System: Food Classification. Public Health NOVA; “The NOVA classification outlined below groups foods according to the extent and purpose of the processing they undergo. Food processing as identified by NOVA involves physical, biological and chemical processes that occur after foods are separated from nature, and before they are consumed or used in the preparation of dishes and meals… NOVA classifies all foods and food products… into the following four groups. Group 1 Unprocessed or minimally processed foods… Group 2 Processed culinary ingredients… Group 3 Processed foods… Group 4 Ultra-processed food and drink products.” — Carlos A. Monteiro et al, University of Sao Paulo (World Nutrition) link
203. June 2015 — Changes in intestinal tight junction permeability associated with industrial food additives explain the rising incidence of autoimmune disease — Aaron Lerner & Torsten Matthias, Autoimmunity Reviews link
204. December 2005 — Adverse reactions to food additives; “A large number of food additives are widely used in the food industry…. It is… prudent to investigate food additives in patients considered to have idiopathic reactions… Oral challenge testing with common additives, preferably preceded by a trial of an additive-free diet, is the definitive procedure for detecting the offending agent. Once the specific additive is identified, management is basically avoidance of all its forms.” — Brian G Wilson & Sami L Bahna, Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology link
205. No Date — Shelf Life vs. Your Life; “Is the food you’re eating eventually going to rot? The longer the shelf life, the shorter your life.” — Brian Johnson, Heroic link

Seed Oils, Vegetable Oils, Linoleic Acid, PUFAs

Terminology

Saturated Fats

• Animal fats, Butter, Coconut oil, Ghee, Lard
• Fats that are solid at room temperature and have no double bonds in their chemical structure.
• “Saturated fats are stable and less prone to oxidation, making them safer for cooking. They have been wrongly associated with health problems in the past, but recent research suggests they are not as harmful as previously believed.” [source]

Monounsaturated Fats

• Avocado oil, Olive oil
• Fats that are liquid at room temperature and have one double bond in their chemical structure.
• “Monounsaturated fats are relatively stable and are associated with various health benefits, such as improved heart health and reduced inflammation.” [source]

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs)

• Canola oil, Corn oil, Soybean oil, Sunflower oil
• Fats that are liquid at room temperature and have two or more double bonds in their chemical structure.
• “PUFAs are the most unstable type of fat and are prone to oxidation, which can lead to the formation of harmful compounds when exposed to heat, light, or air.” [source]

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

• Chia seeds, Fatty fish, Flax seeds, Flaxseed oil, Walnuts
• A type of PUFA that is essential for human health, with anti-inflammatory properties.
• “Among 11 types of omega-3s, the 3 most important are ALA, EPA, and DHA. [source]
• “Omega-3 fatty acids play a critical role in the development and function of the central nervous system… A number of studies have found decreased omega-3 content in the blood of depressed patients.” [source] “Omega-3 fatty acids are important for brain function, heart health, and reducing inflammation in the body.” [source]

Omega-6 Fatty Acids

• “Seed oils” / “Vegetable oils”
• A type of PUFA that is essential in small amounts but can be harmful when consumed in excess. “Excessive consumption of omega-6 fatty acids, particularly from seed oils, can lead to chronic inflammation and various health problems.” [source]
• “Both types of PUFAs are unstable and tend to oxidize or go rancid quickly. Rancid omega-3 fats are what you smell when a fish goes bad and are the reason omega-3 fats are not generally used in processed foods, as the rotten fish smell is unappealing as well as toxic.” [source]

Linoleic Acid (LA)

• “Seed oils” / “Vegetable oils”
• An omega-6 PUFA that is the most abundant in modern diets, primarily due to the widespread use of seed oils. “Linoleic acid is… a precursor for inflammatory molecules. This is an important reason why, in excess, linoleic acid can contribute to pathological inflammation and tissue damage. Conversely, the omega-3 fats alpha-linolenic acid and DHA are precursors for anti-inflammatory molecules.” [source] “Excessive intake of linoleic acid is associated with chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and an increased risk of chronic diseases.” [source]

Trans Fats / Trans Fatty Acids (TFAs)

• Margarine, Partially hydrogenated oils
• Fats that have been chemically altered through a process called hydrogenation, making them solid at room temperature.
• “Found mainly in processed foods… trans fats have been linked to numerous health risks, including increased risk of heart disease.” [source] “Trans fats are known to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems. They have been banned or restricted in many countries.” [source]

Seed Oils: Industrially Processed Concoctions Called “Vegetable Oils”

“Seed oils” is a blanket term used to describe omega-6 [dominant] vegetable oils that are made from seeds. Soy and canola oils are also referred to as seed oils, even though they don’t come from seeds. – MindBodyGreen

Seed oils are industrially processed oils, often referred to as “vegetable oils.”

• Seed oils are produced using a high degree of industrial processing which may include bleaching, deodorizing, chemical solvents, high heat processing, and/or “roller mill technology” (replacing stone mill technology, and removing the nutrients). [source and source and source] The oils may also be referred to as “RBD” oils referring to the fact that “these oils are refined, bleached, and deodorized.” [source]
• “Most crops used to make seed oils are genetically modified.” [source]
• Liquid at room temperature, seed oils belong to a category of fats called polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). “PUFAs are the most unstable type of fat and are prone to oxidation, which can lead to the formation of harmful compounds when exposed to heat, light, or air.” [source]
• Another category that seed oils belong to is a type of PUFA called omega-6 fatty acids. These are essential but only in small amounts and when consumed in large amounts in comparison to omega-3s, causes harm. “Excessive consumption of omega-6 fatty acids, particularly from seed oils, can lead to chronic inflammation and various health problems.” [source]

Examples of seed oils include:

• Canola (rapeseed) oil
• Corn oil
• Cottonseed oil
• Grapeseed oil
• Peanut oil
• Rice bran oil
• Safflower oil
• Soybean oil
• Sunflower oil

Many industrial seed oils were never intended for human consumption. Canola oil began as rapeseed oil, primarily used as a machine lubricant until Canadian scientists modified it in the 1970s… The name itself—a blend of “Canada” and “oil”—was a marketing invention. “Vegetable oil” is another misleading term—it’s often a blend of industrial seed oils marketed to sound healthier than it is. – Sheramy Tsai

Corruption

95% of the committee setting dietary guidelines for the $100 billion/year American “nutritional” programs have conflicts of interest with industry. Thus, health-degrading propaganda is the standard.

Our analysis found that 95% of the U.S. dietary guidelines advisory committee members had conflicts of interest with the food and/or pharmaceutical industries… Our analysis has shown that the significant and widespread conflicts of interest on the committee prevent [them] from achieving the recommended standard for transparency… In the USA, the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans are required by statute to form the foundation for all national nutrition programmes (which are amounting to nearly $100 billion/year) and guide states and local governments, healthcare professional training, hospitals and community groups, amongst others, as overarching dietary recommendations. – Cambridge University Press

In a recent editorial, independent journalist Nina Teicholz rightly asks: “What kind of dystopian world has nutrition ‘science’ whereby a university, a peer-reviewed journal, and one of the field’s most influential leaders legitimize advice telling the public to eat more Lucky Charms and fewer eggs?” Perhaps the fact that Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition receives funding from 60 companies has something to do with it? – Chris Kresser, Email Feb 10, 2023

Replacing Natural Fats with Manufactured “Vegetable Oils” Was Never Proven Effective

Replacing Natural Fats with Manufactured “Vegetable Oils” Was Never Proven to Lower the Risk of Heart Disease or Death; In Fact, it Showed the Opposite

Evidence from randomized controlled trials shows that replacement of saturated fat in the diet with linoleic acid effectively lowers serum cholesterol but does not support the hypothesis that this translates to a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease or all causes. [There is]… growing evidence that incomplete publication has contributed to overestimation of the benefits of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid. – The BMJ Apr 12, 2016

The Backstory: As Early as 1965, Research Showed Corn Oil Increased Heart Attacks and Deaths; And in 1972 it was Even Clearer that Linoleic Acid (in Seed Oils) Was Associated with a Higher – Not Lower – Risk of Death

By 1965, results of the first human trial testing the effects of linoleic acid-rich corn oil on cholesterol levels and heart disease were published. The Rose Corn Oil trial reported: At two years, the proportion of patients remaining free of major cardiac events is greater for the control group (75%) than for the two oil groups (olive oil 57%, corn oil 52%).” Corn oil is high in linoleic acid which is why it was used in this trial, but the linoleic acid level of olive oil was not reported. But, typically, olive oil is much lower in linoleic acid than corn oil. The omega-6 content was not directly tested for any of the three groups. The corn oil group did have lower cholesterol levels, but they also suffered more heart attacks and deaths. The authors concluded, “under the circumstances of this trial corn oil cannot be recommended in the treatment of ischaemic heart disease… While the Minnesota Coronary Experiment (MCE)… trial finished in 1972, the report was not issued until 1989… The final results weren’t published until National Institute of Health researchers, attempting to conduct a meta-analysis of linoleic acid and heart disease, re-analyzed the results using previously unpublished data. They found that while increased linoleic acid did reduce serum cholesterol levels, this was associated with the ‘possibility’ of a higher rate of death and no benefit. ‘This finding that greater lowering of serum cholesterol was associated with a higher rather than a lower risk of death in the MCE does not provide support for the traditional diet-heart hypothesis.‘ In other words, the process of proving the 1961 AHA hypothesis that omega-6 fats could lower the risk of heart disease-related death that began with the ill-advised 1961 AHA advisory had been completed, and the hypothesis was disproved. In 2014, one of the leading heart disease researchers in the world (who also discovered that trans fats and oxidized cholesterol induce heart disease), summarized the evidence linking seed oils to heart disease as follows: No clinical trial has succeeded in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease using an increased intake of [seed oils].‘ A meta-analysis of available randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) also concluded that: ‘… replacement of saturated fat with [seed oils] effectively lowers serum cholesterol, but does not support the hypothesis that this translates to lower risk of death from coronary heart disease or all-causes.” So, there was never evidence that seed oils, or increased intake of omega-6 PUFAs in place of other fats, lowered the risk of heart disease. – Zero Acre

The Shift of the American Diet from Natural Fats to Industrially Processed Oils

A century ago, the fats in our diets looked very different. People cooked with stable animal fats like butter, lard, and beef tallow. That changed in the early 1900s when industrial seed oils—like soybean, canola, and corn oil—entered the food scene. Products made from hydrogenated seed oils became popular as a cheaper alternative to animal fats. By the 1990s, economic incentives and government subsidies made seed oils even more appealing to food manufacturers. Fast food chains swapped out beef tallow for seed oils, and the American Heart Association (AHA) began recommending oils like canola and soybean as “heart-healthy” alternatives… The AHA had received significant funding from key players in the seed oil business. – MindBodyGreen

Seed Oils (Particularly Soybean Oil) are Pervasive in the U.S. Food System

Used for fast food frying, added to packaged foods, and fed to livestock, soybean oil is by far the most widely produced and consumed edible oil in the U.S. – University of California Riverside

In 2016 USDA Report, Seed Oils Made Up 20% of Daily Calories

Seed oils make up about 20% of our daily calories and can be found in almost every packaged product, restaurant meal, and even soap, perfumes, and candles. – MindBodyGreen, referencing a 2016 USDA publication

“Five Tablespoons of Corn Oil Requires 98 Ears of Corn”

The average American consums 5-10 tablespoons of vegetable oil per day. Five tablespoons of corn oil requires 98 ears of corn. Five tablespoons of sunflower oil requires 2,800 sunflower seeds. Five tablespoons of grape seed oil requires 625 grapes. Five tablespoons of rice brain oil requires 40 cups of brown rice. – Zero Acre

Soybean Oil Heavily Used in Processed Foods, Restaurants, and Fast Food; Detrimental to Health

The recommendation for decreased saturated fat consumption, as well as other factors, led to a dramatic, greater than 1000% increase in the consumption of soybean oil in the U.S. [Between 1909 and 1999], per capita consumption rose from 0.01 [one-one hundredth] to 11.6 kg per year. Approximately 40 million tons of soybean oil were produced worldwide in 2007, which is about one half of all the edible vegetable oil and one-third of all fats and seed oils produced. Soybean oil is heavily used in processed foods, margarines, salad dressings and snack foods, and is the oil of choice in many restaurants and fast food establishments… Our results indicate that in mice a diet high in soybean oil is more detrimental to metabolic health than a diet high in fructose or coconut oil. – PLOS One

Humans Evolved with a Natural Balance of Fatty Acids for Healthy Brain Development and Genetic Expression; Without that Balance, Chronic Disease Results

During the Paleolithic period when human’s genetic profile was established, there was a balance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Their balance is an important determinant for brain development and in decreasing the risk for coronary heart disease, hypertension, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and other autoimmune and possibly neurodegenerative diseases. Both omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids influence gene expression… A target of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio of 1:1 to 2:1 appears to be consistent with studies on evolutionary aspects of diet, neurodevelopment and genetics. A balanced ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids is important for health. – OCL Journal, 2010

Professional Associations Recommended Seed Oils and Government Subsidized Them

These oils have become dietary staples, largely due to government subsidies and outdated nutritional guidelines. For many years, I have pioneered the political and cultural dimensions of America’s seed oil problem on broadcast news radio and deep-dive podcasts with the scientists investigating these harmful oils. – David Gornoski

The Fats in Seed Oils Aren’t in Their Natural State

Industrial seed oils… tend to contain fats that are oxidized or structurally damaged at the molecular level. This isn’t their natural state but rather occurs from industrial processing, during storage, or when they’re heated and used for cooking. In fact, oxidation is a critical factor that makes the biological effects of seed oils significantly more harmful than other fat sources that aren’t as easily oxidized. In other words, consuming industrially processed sunflower oil is much different than eating whole sunflower seeds. – Zero Acre

The Effects from Consuming Seed Oils, and From the Resulting Imbalance in Fats in the Body

In Summary

Replacing natural fats with manufactured “vegetable oils” was never proven to lower the risk of heart disease or death. In fact, it showed the opposite. And now we know seed oils cause chronic inflammation, diabetes, fatty liver, harm to brain and hypothalamus, dysregulated immunity, allergies, blood clots, autoimmune reactions, increased fat, obesity, depression, cardiovascular disorders, skin diseases, oxidative stress (which can lead to cellular damage, decreased energy and dysfunction). [source and source and source and source and source and source and source] Cooking seed oils at high temperatures creates toxins capable of damaging cells and DNA, thus causing mutations or cancer. [source and source]

Point by Point

1. Seed oils are high in linoleic acid (LA), a PUFA, and are therefore “prone to oxidation and promote inflammation in the body.” [source]
2. “When omega-6 intake is high—especially from… seed oils—these fats out-compete omega-3s for the available enzymes, limiting your body’s ability to convert omega-3s into their active forms. When omega-6 fats dominate your diet without enough omega-3s to counterbalance them, the inflammatory signals can overwhelm your body, leading to chronic, low-grade inflammation.” [source]
3. “The typical Western diet now provides an omega-6/3 ratio of approximately 20:1 in favor of omega-6. This predisposes to [abnormally high] inflammatory responses and perpetuates chronic low-grade inflammation. The over-consumption of linoleic acid, mainly from industrial omega-6 seed oils, and the lack of long-chain omega-3s in the diet creates a pro-inflammatory, pro-allergic, pro-thrombotic [blod clot] state. Reducing the omega-6/3 ratio… may be an effective strategy for reducing inflammation, allergies, and autoimmune reactions.” [source]
4. “When omega-6 fats dominate, it drives inflammation in our body and can create a slew of downstream issues related to the altered immune response.” [source]
5. “The group with obesity had… a higher ratio of omega-6 to omega-3s than the control group.” [source]
6. “Mice who received diets high in soybean oil… had increases in weight gain, adiposity [fat], diabetes, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. They also developed abnormalities in the liver, including fatty liver. Those mice on diets high in coconut oil in general did not develop these problems… Not only does soybean oil cause metabolic diseases like diabetes, but also contributes to genetic changes in the brain that could lead to conditions like anxiety and Alzheimers–both the conventional soybean oil and the modified soybean oil had the same effect. Most seriously, the researchers found that soybean oil had a pronounced effect on the hypothalamus.” [source]
7. “A number of studies have found decreased omega-3” in those with depression. [source]
8. In a randomized control trial, people with metabolic syndrome who supplemented with omega-3s had “significant improvement” in cardiovascular function and inflammation. [source]

Seed Oils are the Result of “Heavy” Industrial Processing Including the Use of Chemical Solvents such as Hexane, a Petroleum Derivative; Just as Consequential is the Pervasiveness in Processed Foods

To extract these oils from their seeds, manufacturers rely on heavy industrial processes involving high heat, high pressure, and chemical solvents like hexane—a compound derived from petroleum. While most of the hexane is removed during production, trace amounts may remain in the final product… These refining methods are efficient but come at a cost: They can oxidize the oils and produce byproducts that may contribute to inflammation and other health risks… The real issue with seed oils isn’t just their composition—it’s how much of them you’re unknowingly consuming. Oils like soybean, corn, and sunflower are among the [highest] sources of omega-6 fats, and they’re everywhere in modern diets.” – Dr. Mark Hyman

Unstable Fats, Deodorized and Colorized, Rancid and Difficult to Digest, Lacking Building Blocks from Animal Fats

The bottles of yellow oil on the supermarket shelves are labeled heart-healthy, but they are in actuality damaging for our health (and the heart). These are seed oils—unstable fats extruded from seeds that are not meant for human consumption. They are deodorized and colorized to make them look and taste appealing, but they are rancid and difficult to digest. These oils especially harm the younger generation since they don’t offer the building blocks that come from animal fats, including cholesterol and arachidonic acid. Seed oils also lead to a host of health conditions from obesity, to cancer, to diabetes, to premature aging. – The Weston A. Price Foundation

The Reliance on Seed Oils Disrupts the Omega Ratios in the Body

The problem with seed oils is that they’re found in many foods and are some of the most common fats used for cooking. Because of this, they make up the majority of fats in most people’s diets… They disrupt the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio… Omega-6 fats tend to be more pro-inflammatory. – MindBodyGreen

This Shift to Cheap, Industrially-Produced Fat Sources Has Created a Dramatic Imbalance, Causing Inflammation & Immune Issues

Research suggests that our ancestors consumed a diet with a good balance of omega-3 to omega-6. In fact, some studies suggest that it was once a 1:1 ratio. Today, however, that ratio has shifted—drastically. It’s estimated that the Standard American Diet consists of a ratio of around 20:1, with omega-6 fats taking the lead… Both omega-6 and omega-3 fats are critical for healthy cellular function, but the balance of these two fatty acids is crucial for overall health. When omega-6 fats dominate, it drives inflammation in our body and can create a slew of downstream issues related to the altered immune response… The primary reason [that we are consuming so much omega-6] is that seed oils… are being used much more prominently today than ever before. Why? Because they’re cheap. – Dr. Wendy Myers

PUFAs in Seed Oils are Reactive with Oxygen, Deteriorating into Toxins; The Naturally Occurring Stabilizing Factors are Removed (Unlike with Saturated Fats)

PUFAs react with oxygen and deteriorate into toxins. Saturated fats [fats that are solid at room temperature] do not. Seed oils are high in PUFA, and removing the oils from the seeds oxidizes the fatty acids, creating toxins. The factory refining process removes some toxins but creates others while at the same time removing the stabilizing factors called antioxidants.” – Dr. Catherine Shanahan MD

Increasing Seed Oils Increased Oxidative Stress, a Foundational Characteristic of Health Damage

[In the] dietary study… half the volunteers consumed a diet containing 5% PUFA (low) for 4 weeks and after a 6 week washout period consumed a 15% PUFA (high) diet for another 4 weeks. The second group of volunteers completed this protocol in reverse. Total fat, carbohydrate, protein and vitamin E contents of the diets were constant… There was a significant increase in… oxidative stress after consumption of the high PUFA diet. – European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999

Note: Oxidative stress describes a by-product from mitochondria during normal, healthy cellular activity. It’s kept in balance by natural anti-oxidants in the cells. When excessive, and the antioxidants can’t keep up, oxidative stress can cause cellular damage, experienced as a decrease in energy and overall function. [Dr. Donielle Wilson]

Soybean Oil: Weight Gain, Fat, Insulin Issues and Diabetes, Fatty Liver, Harm to Brain and Hypothalamus

In 2015 researchers at the University of California at Riverside compared mice on four different diets of equal calories: a diet high in coconut oil; a diet high in soybean oil; the coconut oil diet plus high fructose corn syrup (HFCS); and the soybean oil diet plus HFCS. Those mice who received diets high in soybean oil, with and without HFCS, had increases in weight gain, adiposity, diabetes, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. They also developed abnormalities in the liver, including fatty liver. Those mice on diets high in coconut oil in general did not develop these problems. Two years later the researchers repeated the study using soybean oil genetically modified to contain lower amounts of polyunsaturates. This oil also induced obesity and other problems in the mice, but not as greatly as the original soybean oil. These results point to polyunsaturates—and not high fructose corn syrup—as the major culprit in the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes. In January 2020, the research team published more bad news. Not only does soybean oil cause metabolic diseases like diabetes, but also contributes to genetic changes in the brain that could lead to conditions like anxiety and Alzheimers–both the conventional soybean oil and the modified soybean oil had the same effect. Most seriously, the researchers found that soybean oil had a pronounced effect on the hypothalamus. – Sally Fallon Morell

Soybean Oil Damaged Hypothalamus Functioning and Affected At Least 100 Genes

Research shows soybean oil not only leads to obesity and diabetes, but could also affect neurological conditions like autism, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, and depression… The new study, published this month in the journal Endocrinology, compared mice fed three different diets high in fat: soybean oil, soybean oil modified to be low in linoleic acid, and coconut oil. The same UCR research team found in 2015 that soybean oil induces obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, and fatty liver in mice… In the study released this month… the scientists found pronounced effects of the oil on the hypothalamus, where a number of critical processes take place. “The hypothalamus regulates body weight via your metabolism, maintains body temperature, is critical for reproduction and physical growth as well as your response to stress,” said…a lead author on the study. The team determined a number of genes in mice fed soybean oil were not functioning correctly. One such gene produces the “love” hormone, oxytocin. In soybean oil-fed mice, levels of oxytocin in the hypothalamus went down. The research team discovered roughly 100 other genes also affected by the soybean oil diet. They believe this discovery could have ramifications not just for energy metabolism, but also for proper brain function and diseases such as autism or Parkinson’s disease… ‘The dogma is that saturated fat is bad and unsaturated fat is good. Soybean oil is a polyunsaturated fat, but the idea that it’s good for you is just not proven,’ Sladek said. Indeed, coconut oil, which contains saturated fats, produced very few changes in the hypothalamic genes. ‘If there’s one message I want people to take away, it’s this: reduce consumption of soybean oil,” Deol said.” – University of California Riverside

Restoring Omega Balance “Fundamental” in Prevention and Treatment of Skin Diseases

While major changes have taken place in the human diet over the past 10,000 years, our genes have not changed that much… Therefore, it is not surprising that newly established Western diets deficient in omega-3s and rich in omega-6s promote the pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory (skin) diseases. Omega-3s, PUFAs, DHA, and EPA, are associated with healthy aging and have a role in the prevention and treatment of numerous diseases… Omega-6s… change the physiological state to pro-inflammatory… Well-balanced nutritional omega-3/omega-6 ratio, mostly Mediterranean diet, which is proven to promote health and prevent disease formation, should be fundamental in the prevention and additional treatment of various skin diseases. Additional anti-inflammatory PUFA-based supplementation (DHA-, EPA-, GLA-containing oils or supplements) should be encouraged in a targeted manner for individuals in need to provide better management of skin diseases. – International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Cooking Oils High in PUFAs (Seed Oils) at High Temperatures Creates Toxins Capable of Damaging Cells and Genetic Material, Such as DNA, Thus Causing Mutations or Cancer

Exposure of PUFA-rich culinary oils to high temperature frying practices generates high concentrations of cytotoxic and genotoxic lipid oxidation products… These toxins.. readily penetrate into fried foods and hence are available for human consumption; therefore, they may pose substantial health hazards. – Nutrients

“Large Consumption of Repeatedly Heated Cooking Oils has been Associated with… Lung, Colorectal, Breast, and Prostate Cancers”

Repeatedly heated cooking oils [at high temperatures] can generate varieties of compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which have been reported as carcinogenic… Consumption and inhalation of cooking fumes can pose a serious health hazard… caus[ing] a high incidence of genotoxic, mutagenic, tumorogenic and various cancers… Repeatedly heated cooking oils and its cooking fumes were found to enhance the incidence of aberrant cells, including breaks, fragments, exchanges and multiple chromosomal damages and micronuclei in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the large consumption of repeatedly heated cooking oils has been associated with a number of malignancies, including lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers. – Critical Review in Food Science and Nutrition

Vegetable Oil Breaks Down into an Obesogenic Toxin

There is no tribe, population, or nation that has started consuming vegetable oils and not seen obesity rates climb. Vegetable oil breaks down into the obesogenic toxin HNE (4-Hydroxynonenal), which appears to be a cause of obesity. Linoleic acid sensitizes fat cells to the fat-storing hormone insulin. It can divert energy toward fat storage rather than fat-loss, up to a point. Linoleic acid activates the body’s own (endo)cannabinoid system via the CB1 receptor in a way that may interfere with hunger signals. For many animals, seasonal increases in linoleic acid consumption are a signal to hibernate and fatten up — might this be relevant to how human obesity develops? – Zero Acre

See also: EDCs & Microplastic Harms: Some EDCs are also “Obesogens”

What Say the “Experts” in March 2025?

As late as March 2025, “Nutrition Scientists” are “Exasperated”, Claiming “Decades of Research Confirms the Health Benefits of Consuming” Seed Oils

The seed oil discussion has exasperated nutrition scientists, who say decades of research confirms the health benefits of consuming such oils, especially in place of alternatives such as butter or lard. – MedPageToday

Video: MD & MPH Critiques Seed Oil vs. Butter Research

Dr. Vinay Prasad MD, MPH — By 3:30 in this 21 min video, Prasad has clearly explained why a “research” article recommending seed oil over butter is a “low-tier, low-credibility, piece of trash observational study” that “belongs in the trash basket.” See also: Is seed oil better than butter? A new paper says YES, but is the paper any good?

Seed Oils: Sources

1. No Date — How to Detox Seed Oils from the Body — Dr. David Jockers link
2. No Date — Top 3 Hidden Dangers in Seed Oils — Dr. Wendy Myers link
3. No Date — Sunflower Lecithin V. Sunflower Oil: Why One Is Inflammatory; “Sunflower oil… is an industrial seed oil that has raised health concerns… Sunflower lecithin, on the other hand, is a natural extract derived from sunflower seeds, rich in phospholipids.” — Dr. Will Cole link
4. No Date — Announcing Seed Oil Safe: A New Standard for Consumer Packaged Goods; “You can be sure when you see the Seed Oil Safe badge that the product is free from: Seed Oils [using instead “quality oils and fats from vetted suppliers”], Soy, Artificial Sweeteners, Gums, Plant Lecithins, Natural Flavors, Dyes, Toxic Manufacturing Processes.” — Seed Oil Scout link
5. Mar 18, 2025 — The Facts About Seed Oils and Your Health — Sheramy Tsai, The Epoch Times link
6. Mar 15, 2025 — Seed oil vs butter; DEI grants get canned; Universities versus Trump — Dr. Vinay Prasad MD, MPH, YouTube video
7. Mar 13, 2025 — Is seed oil better than butter? A new paper says YES, but is the paper any good? JAMA IM publishes anti-MAHA research, but is it good science or dirty politics? — Dr. Vinay Prasad MD, MPH link
8. Mar 2, 2025 — Fast food chain says they’ve ‘RFK’d’ their fries, opted for healthier cooking — Fox Business link
9. Mar 1, 2025 — Atopic Dermatitis Linked to Higher Risk of Hyperparathyroidism; “Mitochondrial dysfunction, processed foods and environmental toxins contribute to eczema symptoms; reducing linoleic acid and avoiding endocrine disruptors may help.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
10. Feb 27, 2025 — Seed oil risks, RFK Jr, and the MSM; “The researchers, the mainstream media, and the organisations tasked with keeping us healthy seem to think that we shouldn’t be too fussed [about consuming omega-6 fatty acids] because it’s only an issue if we consume too much — particularly via seed oil-containing processed foods. Source. Okay, cool, nothing to see here then, right? Well… A study published in another BMJ journal found that processed and even ultra-processed foods constitute a huge proportion of the typical American diet: ‘nearly three in five calories (57.9%) came from ultra-processed foods’. Also: ‘Unprocessed or minimally processed foods contributed 29.6% of total calories, processed foods an additional 9.4%, and processed culinary ingredients the remaining 2.9%.’ Source.” — Raphael Latater BPharm, PhD link
11. Feb 18, 2025 — How to Undo Decades of PUFA Overload and Restore Metabolic Health; “Research shows that linoleic acid levels in human adipose tissue have increased by 136% over the last 50 years, directly reflecting the rise in dietary PUFA consumption. Unlike saturated fats, PUFAs are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, leading to inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and increased production of harmful byproducts. Lowering dietary PUFA intake can significantly reduce oxidative stress, but because stored PUFAs have a long half-life of approximately 680 days, restoring a healthier fat balance takes time… Prioritizing traditional animal fats while reducing PUFA intake can help restore metabolic health, aligning the body’s fat composition with that of our ancestors.” — Ashley Armstrong, Mercola.com link
12. Feb 16, 2025 — The Hidden Key to Boundless Energy; “Modern environmental factors including seed oils, endocrine disruptors, estrogens and EMFs allow harmful gut bacteria to proliferate, producing endotoxins that severely compromise mitochondrial function and reduce cellular energy production… Excessive consumption of omega-6-rich seed oils severely damages mitochondrial function and makes skin more susceptible to sun damage, making these processed oils one of the biggest threats to health… Restoring health requires systematically reducing exposure to environmental toxins while gradually reintroducing healthy carbohydrates to support mitochondrial function and maintain proper gut bacteria balance.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
13. Feb 3, 2025 — Are Seed Oils Bad for You? Here’s What You Need to Know — Dr. Mark Hyman MD link
14. Feb 2, 2025 — Cellular Health Revolution — Unveiling Hidden Threats and Empowering Solutions; “In my appearance on The Jimmy Dore Show, we discussed how mitochondrial dysfunction, caused by modern toxins, is at the root of many diseases. ATP production has decreased by up to 75% compared to a century ago. I shared insights from my latest book… including that seed oils, like soybean and corn oil, are major culprits in damaging cellular health.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
15. Jan 30, 2025 — Are Seed Oils Really That Bad? Let’s Break It Down — MindBodyGreen link
16. Jan 23, 2025 — Red Meat, Sugar, & Seed Oils – Good Or BAD For Your Health? — Dr. Will Cole 54-min video
17. Jan 17, 2025 — Getting Trans Fats Out of the Food Supply — Dr. Peter A. McCullough MD, MPH link and 7-min video
18. Jan 15, 2025 — The Real Villain Behind America’s Obesity: Seed Oils — David Gornoski, Dr. Robert Malone MD link
19. Dec 31, 2024 — Consumption of Seed Oils Linked to Colon Cancer — Natasha Hobley, The Vaccine Reaction link
20. Dec 12, 2024 — Trans Fats Are Worse Than You Think: A New Threat Beyond Cholesterol; “Eating trans fats is known to drive heart disease.” — Salk Institute, SciTechDaily link
21. Dec 4, 2024 — The Hidden Link Between Seed Oils and America’s Fentanyl Crisis; “There’s growing evidence suggesting that our government’s decades-long dietary shift towards seed oils could be exacerbating chronic pain, which in turn fuels the demand for pain relief.” — David Gornoski, Dr. Robert Malone MD link
22. Nov 24, 2024 — From Farm to Health – A Vision for Regenerative Agriculture and Metabolic Wellness; “PUFAs and phytoestrogens in modern diets interfere with thyroid function and estrogen detoxification, leading to metabolic disruptions. Armstrong promotes regenerative farming practices, producing low-PUFA eggs and freeze-dried egg yolks while advocating for sustainable agriculture over conventional farming methods.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
23. Oct 27, 2024 — Unlocking Optimal Health: The Science Behind Low-PUFA Diets and Sustainable Eating; “Ashley Armstrong, co-founder of Angel Acres Egg Co., advocates for low-PUFA dietary options and draws inspiration from Ray Peat’s bioenergetic medicine, challenging conventional nutrition teachings. Through personal health struggles, Armstrong discovered the importance of monitoring metabolic markers like body temperature. By shifting from restrictive diets to a metabolism-focused lifestyle she was able to regain her health. Cellular energy is the cornerstone of health, and low-carb diets fail to provide adequate fuel for optimal energy production and cellular function. High-PUFA diets promote ill health. Avoiding PUFAs such as linoleic acid (LA) and limiting your omega-3 intake is an important first step, as all PUFAs are highly susceptible to oxidation and disrupt glucose metabolism. Other key contributors to low metabolism and suboptimal energy production are estrogen and xenoestrogens from plastic, endotoxins and electromagnetic fields.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
24. Oct 22, 2024 — GM Soybean Oil Damages Liver and Kidneys; “A diet containing GM soybean oil damaged the liver and kidney of rats in a new 90-day feeding study conducted by Iranian scientists. The study provides further proof that GM soy is not substantially equivalent to non-GM soy, meaning that regulatory authorizations given on the assumption of equivalence are invalid, GMWatch reported.” — Sustainable Pulse link
25. Oct 21, 2024 — Fast Food is a part of American culture. “But that doesn’t mean it has to be unhealthy, and that we can’t make better choices. Did you know that McDonald’s used to use beef tallow to make their fries from 1940 until phasing it out in favor of seed oils in 1990? This switch was made because saturated animal fats were thought to be unhealthy, but we have since discovered that seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic. Interestingly enough, this began to drastically rise around the same time fast food restaurants switched from beef tallow to seed oils in their fryers. People who enjoy a burger with fries on a night out aren’t to blame, and Americans should have every right to eat out at a restaurant without being unknowingly poisoned by heavily subsidized seed oils. It’s time to Make Frying Oil Tallow Again.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., X link
26. Oct 18, 2024 — Polyunsaturated fats and endotoxins drive Alzheimer’s; “Tau protein protects brain cells from oxidative stress and toxic lipids by forming protective lipid droplets in glial cells. Amyloid beta accumulation may be a protective response in areas of high brain metabolic activity, not the primary cause of Alzheimer’s. Excessive consumption of PUFAs in seed oils and exposure to endotoxins disrupt gut health, leading to inflammation and oxidative stress in your brain. Leaky gut and disturbed microbiome contribute to chronic inflammation, metabolic dysfunction and neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. Holistic approaches focusing on gut health, mitochondrial function and addressing root causes is more effective than targeting tau and amyloid beta directly.” — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
27. Oct 17, 2024 — PUFAs and Endotoxins Drive Alzheimer’s While Tau and Amyloid Beta Protect Brain — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
28. Oct 17, 2024 — How Vegetable Oil May Affect Gut and Brain: When we see the word “vegetable” on a label, we might assume it’s healthy. But when it comes to oils and fats, it’s a different story. —  Sheridan Genrich, The Epoch Times link
29. Oct 14, 2024 — This One Crucial Health Concept Underpins All Health & Wellbeing w/ Dr. Joseph Mercola; “Seed oils… are everywhere, in virtually any processed food item sold at your local grocery store. Unfortunately… these seed oils are also essentially poisons, doing great harm to the body’s cellular health, specifically the mitochondria.” — The Jimmy Dore Show, YouTube link and 15-min video
30. Oct 6, 2024 — The Most Consumed Oil In The US Also Causes Brain Changes — Sarah Regan, MindBodyGreen link
31. Oct 5, 2024 — Seed Oil Converts to Plastic; “Citizen Science: What’s the best oil for making fries? Peanut, but I think tallow would be better.” — AvE, YouTube 20-min video
32. Sep 27, 2024 — The Hidden Dangers of Seed Oils in Processed Foods — Alliance for Natural Health link
33. Sep 23, 2024 — SHOCKING – How Seed Oils HACK Our Brains & Poison Our Bodies — The Jimmy Dore Show, YouTube 15-min video
34. Aug 27, 2024 — Get Your Ducks in a Row, Gentlemen: The Male Fertility Crisis You Need to Know About; “Male fertility is declining sharply, with sperm counts dropping over 50% in the last 50 years. The shift from saturated fats to polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in modern diets is linked to reduced sperm quality and testosterone levels. PUFAs are more prone to oxidative stress, which damages sperm and can contribute to miscarriages. Simple dietary changes, like reducing PUFA intake and opting for saturated fats, can improve reproductive health and testosterone levels.” — Ashley Armstrong, Mercola.com link
35. Aug 12, 2024 — “It’s Hiding In Your Food” – #1 Most Harmful Food Causing Obesity, Diabetes, Disease; Dr. Chris Knobbe MD, author of The Ancestral Diet Revolution: How Vegetable Oils and Processed Foods Destroy Our Health – and How to Recover — Ben Azadi, YouTube 1 hr 20-min video
36. Jul 28, 2024 — The Hidden Dangers of Seed Oils and Insulin Resistance; “Dr. Cate Shanahan explains that seed oils (vegetable oils) are highly toxic, promoting oxidative stress and damaging mitochondria, which are crucial for cellular energy production and overall health… Shanahan criticizes the American Heart Association for promoting vegetable oils as heart-healthy, arguing this has led to widespread health issues and suffering in the population. Returning to traditional, nutrient-dense whole foods, including raw dairy, bone broth and organ meats, while avoiding ultraprocessed foods and vegetable oils, supports optimal health.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link and video
37. Jun 10, 2024 — Why Reducing PUFA Intake During Pregnancy Is Crucial for the Health of Your Children; “Consuming the right types of dietary fats is crucial for cell membrane construction and overall health, particularly during pregnancy, as it significantly affects the health and development of your offspring. High intake of linoleic acid (LA) during pregnancy can negatively impact fetal development, influencing motor, cognitive, and verbal abilities in children, and may harm the placenta and have adverse effects on fetal organ development. LA, which constitutes 60% to 80% of omega-6 fats in modern diets, has detrimental effects on your mitochondrial function and metabolism, and need to be drastically reduced for optimal health. Too much omega-3 can also be problematic, as they too are PUFAs, and since most women are eating many times more LA than is ideal to begin with and are then told to significantly increase their omega-3 intake during pregnancy without radically lowering LA, all they’re doing is radically raising their PUFA load. Elevated LA intake also inhibits the availability of omega-3. Limiting LA intake to below 5 grams (ideally 2 grams) per day, avoiding adulterated oils, and choosing meats low in LA are recommended to prevent chronic diseases and support healthier pregnancy outcomes.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
38. Jun 2, 2024 — Seed Oils: On Vegetable Oils and Linoleic Acid — Lies are Unbekoming link
39. Apr 17, 2024 — Circulating Fatty Acids Associated with Metabolic Changes in Adolescents Living with Obesity — Branko Subosic et al, Biomedicines link
40. Apr 2, 2024 — Linoleic acid: A key contributing factor in rising cancer rates — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
41. Jul 17, 2023 — Linoleic Acid – The Most Destructive Ingredient in Your Diet; “Fats are the primary building block of your cell membranes. This is one of the reasons why eating the right types of fat is so important for your health and longevity… There are two basic types of fatty acids, based on how many of their carbon bonds are paired with hydrogen: saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are further subdivided into monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), depending on how many pairs of hydrogen atoms they are missing. Because your tissues are made up mostly of saturated and monounsaturated fats, your body requires more of them than PUFAs. The main dietary PUFAs are omega-3 and omega-6 fats, and while your body does need these, it needs them in relatively small quantities. The most pernicious toxin in the modern diet, and the fat you need to minimize consumption of, is the omega-6 fat linoleic acid (LA). LA makes up 60% to 80% of omega-6 fats and is the primary contributor to chronic disease.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
42. Jul 12, 2023 — Are Vegetable Oils Killing Us? We Swapped Them In for Animal Fats 50 Years Ago — Vital Signs, Epoch TV 9-min video
43. May 15, 2023 — The Ancestral Diet Revolution: How Vegetable Oils and Processed Foods Destroy Our Health – and How to Recover — Dr. Chris Knobbe MD & Suzanne J. Alexander book
44. Feb 23, 2023 — Are Seed Oils That Bad For You? Here’s How Nutritionists Think About Them — Jillian Kubala, MindBodyGreen link
45. Feb 13, 2023 — Avoid Seed Oils — Sally Fallon Morell, The Weston A. Price Foundation link
46. Jan 25, 2023 — Are Seed Oils Behind the Majority of Diseases This Century?; “Polyunsaturated fatty acids, also called PUFAs, found in vegetable oils, edible oils, seed oils, trans fat and plant oils, owe their existence to ‘roller mill technology,’ which replaced stone mill technology and removed their nutrients. Many people now consume 80 grams of PUFAs a day, which amounts to 720 calories and one-third of their caloric intake. Results from studies of tribal peoples and animals have demonstrated the deleterious effects of PUFAs in the diet.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
47. Jan 20, 2023 — Soybean Oil Linked to Genetic and Neurological Damage; “Whether partially hydrogenated, organic or genetically modified to be low in linoleic acid, soybean oil can cause dysfunction at a cellular level. Recent research warns soybean oil can cause neurological and metabolic changes associated with autism, Alzheimer’s, anxiety, depression, obesity, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease. The animal study compared the health effects of diets high in conventional soybean oil, GE soybean oil low in linoleic acid and coconut oil. Both types of soybean oil had pronounced effects on the brain. The soybean diets caused dysfunction in about 100 different genes in the hypothalamus, including one that is responsible for producing oxytocin, which has beneficial effects on your heart. Potential health hazards of soybean oil include the harmful health effects of unfermented soy, the potential hazards of GE soy, the harm associated with glyphosate-contaminated food, and high amounts of processed omega-6 skewing your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
48. Jan 3, 2023 — One of the Most Harmful Ingredients in Processed Foods; “Two of the most harmful ingredients in processed foods are high fructose corn syrup and soybean oil, whether partially hydrogenated, organic, or made from newer soybean varieties modified in such a way as to not require hydrogenation. Completely unnatural man-made fats created through the partial hydrogenation process cause dysfunction and chaos in your body on a cellular level, and studies have linked trans-fats to health problems ranging from obesity and diabetes to reproductive problems and heart disease. Besides the health hazards related to the trans fats created by the partial hydrogenation process, soybean oil is, in and of itself, NOT a healthy oil. Add to that the fact that the majority of soybeans grown in the U.S. are genetically engineered, and as a result saturated with dangerous levels of the herbicide glyphosate… When taken together, partially hydrogenated GE soybean oil becomes one of the absolute worst types of oils you can consume. — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
49. Jan 1, 2023 — How the Wrong Dietary Component Can Wreck Your Health; “Omega-6 linoleic acid (LA) is the most common fat in the American diet. Most people get 25 times more LA than they need… thanks to the fact that most processed foods and condiments are loaded with omega-6 seed oils. LA gets incorporated into your cell membranes where it causes inflammation. Its half-life is nearly two years, so ridding your body of stored LA completely can take up to seven years. Eliminating LA is a marathon, not a sprint… To stop the accumulation of LA in your cells, eliminate seed oils from your diet. Cook with beef tallow, butter, ghee or coconut oil, and avoid all processed foods, restaurant foods, condiments, and animals raised on grains, such as chicken and pork.Vitamin E, in a dose of about 2 IU – 3 IU for every gram of PUFA (not just linoleate) consumed daily may also be able to provide some protection against the inflammatory and endocrine (estrogenic, pro-cortisol) effects of linoleate and PUFA in general. To safely encourage the elimination of LA from your body, focus on building muscle and maximizing lean muscle mass with concentric exercise, and eat a balanced diet with a ratio of 2-to-1 healthy carbs to protein.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
50. Aug 12, 2022 — Seed Oils as a Driver of Heart Disease; “By the late 20th century, research had revealed that the susceptibility of LDL particles to oxidation wasa much better predictor of heart disease than changes in total cholesterol or LDL cholesterol levels. Numerous human clinical trials demonstrate that, like smoking, increased seed oil consumption increases LDL’s susceptibility to oxidation, posing a major concern when it comes to cardiovascular disease. Like smoking, seed oil consumption also induces oxidative stress, induces insulin resistance, damages the arterial endothelial wall, and increases oxidized LDL – a common mechanism that causes heart disease.” — Zero Acre link
51. May 15, 2022 — Are Seed Oils Toxic? The Latest Research Suggests Yes — Zero Acre link
52. May 1, 2022 — How Vegetable Oils Make Us Fat — Zero Acre link
53. Apr 22, 2022 — Omega-3 vs. Omega-6: The Key Differences Between These Fatty Acids; “A perfect balance of omega-3s and omega-6s promotes optimal cardiovascular health, cognitive well-being, and other vital physiological functions… Vegetable oils like canola and soybean fill many Americans’ diets and can result in a wildly unbalanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. While the perfect balance is a two-to-one ratio, Americans tend to consume 10 or even 20 times the amount of omega-6s.”  — Josey Murray & Ashley Jordan Ferira PhD, MindBodyGreen link
54. Mar 9, 2022 — Soybean Oil May Cause Irreversible Changes in Your Brain; “Vegetable oils and seed oils like soy, canola, sunflower, grapeseed, corn, safflower, peanut and rice bran oil are loaded with omega-6 linoleic acid (LA), which acts as a metabolic poison when consumed in excess. Anything over 10 grams a day will cause problems in the long run. Seed oils are incredibly proinflammatory and drive oxidation in your body. This oxidation, in turn, triggers mitochondrial dysfunction that then drives the disease process. Soybean oil has been shown to cause irreversible genetic changes in the brains of mice. This was true both for unmodified soybean oil and soybean oil modified to be low in LA. Both produced pronounced effects on the hypothalamus, which regulates metabolism and stress responses A number of genes in the mice that were fed soybean oil were not functioning correctly, including a gene that produces oxytocin, the “love hormone.” About 100 other genes also affected. These changes could have ramifications for energy metabolism, proper brain function and diseases such as autism and Parkinson’s disease.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
55. Jan 27, 2022 — The Worst Ingredient for Your Immune System; “There’s an even worse offender than sugar for your immune system and overall health: industrially processed seed oils, often referred to as “vegetable oils.” At the root of the harmful biochemical reactions triggered by seed oils is linoleic acid, the primary fatty acid found in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The dramatic increase in seed oil intake in recent decades is a key culprit behind the soaring rates of heart disease, cancer, age-related macular degeneration, diabetes, obesity and dementia. Unsaturated fat intake is associated with increased mortality from COVID-19, while saturated fat intake lowers your risk of death. Linoleic acid is found in most processed foods, including sauces and salad dressings, along with ‘healthy’ foods like chicken, pork and olive oil.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
56. Sep 19, 2021 — The $100 Billion Dollar Ingredient Making Your Food Toxic; “Why Vegetable Oils are bad for Health” — YouTube 28-min video
57. September-October 2021 — The Importance of Maintaining a Low Omega-6/Omega-3 Ratio for Reducing the Risk of Autoimmune Diseases, Asthma, and Allergies — James J DiNicolantonio & James O’Keefe, Missouri Medicine link
58. May 10, 2021 — Long-chain omega-3 fatty acid serum concentrations across life stages in the USA: an analysis of NHANES 2011–2012; “Over 95% of children and 68% of adults had circulating long-chain omega-3 concentrations below those associated with the DGA recommendation. Approximately 89% of adults had an Omega-3 Index in the high cardiovascular risk category.” — Rachel A Murphy et al, BMJ Journals link
59. Sep 3, 2020 — PUFA-Project: Scientific References on Seed Oil Toxicity — Dr. Catherine Shanahan MD (Dr. Cate) link
60. Apr 1, 2020 — Potential Adverse Public Health Effects Afforded by the Ingestion of Dietary Lipid Oxidation Product Toxins: Significance of Fried Food Sources; “Exposure of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-rich culinary oils to high temperature frying practices generates high concentrations of cytotoxic and genotoxic lipid oxidation products… These toxins.. readily penetrate into fried foods and hence are available for human consumption; therefore, they may pose substantial health hazards.” — Martin Grootveld, Nutrients link
61. Feb 19, 2020 — The Scourge of Soybean Oil; “All industrially processed oils are carcinogenic, especially soybean oil. But there’s a lot more that’s wrong with this ubiquitous food ingredient. Soybean oil also messes with your mind.” — Sally Fallon Morell, Nourishing Traditions link
62. Jan 23, 2020 — Omega-3 Versus Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in the Prevention and Treatment of Inflammatory Skin Diseases — Znamaria Balic et al, International Journal of Molecular Sciences link
63. Jan 17, 2020 — America’s most widely consumed oil causes genetic changes in the brain — University of California Riverside, MedicalXpress link
64. May 27, 2019 — The 3 Most Important Types of Omega-3 Fatty Acids — Healthline link
65. Apr 23, 2019 — You Are a Guinea Pig — Undisclosed GMO Soybean Oil Released; “A gene-edited soybean oil created by biotech company Calyxt was picked up by its first user — a Midwest company with both restaurant and foodservice locations, which is using it for frying as well as in dressings and sauces. Calyxt’s soybean oil, Calyno, contains two inactivated genes, resulting in an oil with no trans fats, increased heart-healthy oleic acid and a longer shelf life. Along with refusing to identify the buyer of its gene-edited high-oleic soybean oil, Calyxt is marketing its product as “non-GMO.” Although they’re genetically engineered, gene-edited foods are not marketed as GMOs, nor are they labeled as such. Because they contain no foreign genetic material, foods produced via gene-editing are not subject to regulation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — although an advisory board recommended gene-edited foods could not be labeled organic.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
66. Sep 25, 2018 — Omega-6 vegetable oils as a driver of coronary heart disease: the oxidized linoleic acid hypothesis; See paper for very long list of “Evidence implicating omega-6-rich vegetable oils as a causative factor in atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.” — James J. DiNicolantonio & James H. O’Keefe, BMJ Journals link
67. Jul 17, 2018 — Oxidative Stability of Selected Edible Oils — Magdalena Maszewska et al, Molecules link
68. Oct 20, 2017 — Impact of consumption of repeatedly heated cooking oils on the incidence of various cancers- A critical review — Kumar Ganesan et al, Critical Review in Food Science and Nutrition link
69. Jan 18, 2017 — Two lipids in the diet, rather than cholesterol, are responsible for heart failure and stroke; “For over 65 years, it has been thought that cholesterol in the plasma was responsible for heart failure. I have never believed that cholesterol causes heart failure. This perspective presents evidence that it is oxidized cholesterol and trans fat in the diet that are the causes. It is these two lipids in the diet, rather than cholesterol in the plasma, that are responsible for heart failure. The oxysterols change the structure of the coronary arteries so that they are more susceptible to calcification and increase the synthesis of thromboxane. The trans fatty acids inhibit prostacyclin synthesis that cause the blood to clot. I believe that removing these two lipids from the diet would prolong the lives of hundreds of thousands of people annually.” — Fred A. Kummerow, Clincical Lipidology link
70. Dec 5, 2016 — A Look at Calorie Sources in the American Diet; “Plant-based fats and oils” increased from 480 to 518 daily calories per person, accounting for 20% of calories. This category was defined as “fats and oils added to food during processing or preparation and do not include naturally occurring fats such as in meat, dairy, nuts and avocadoes.” — Sarah Rehkamp, USDA link
71. Apr 12, 2016 — Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73); “Evidence from randomized controlled trials shows that replacement of saturated fat in the diet with linoleic acid effectively lowers serum cholesterol but does not support the hypothesis that this translates to a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease or all causes. [There is]… growing evidence that incomplete publication has contributed to overestimation of the benefits of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid.” — Christopher E. Ramsden et al, The BMJ link
72. Aug 5, 2015 — The Major Role Soybean Oil Plays in Obesity and Diabetes; “Mice fed soybean oil had significant increases in weight gain, body fat, diabetes, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance compared to those fed coconut oil. The soybean-oil diet was also found to upregulate genes involved in obesity, diabetes, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and cancer. In one study when heart-disease patients replaced saturated animal fats with omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean oil it led to an increased risk of death.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
73. Jul 22, 2015 — Soybean Oil Is More Obesogenic and Diabetogenic than Coconut Oil and Fructose in Mouse: Potential Role for the Liver; “In mice a diet high in soybean oil is more detrimental to metabolic health than a diet high in fructose or coconut oil.” — Poonamjot Deol et al, PLOS One link
74. January 2014 — Omega-3 PUFAs improved endothelial function and arterial stiffness with a parallel antiinflammatory effect in adults with metabolic syndrome — Dimitris Tousoulis et al, Atherosclerosis link
75. May 2011 — Changes in consumption of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the United States during the 20th century; “The apparent increased consumption of LA, which was primarily from soybean oil, has likely decreased tissue concentrations of EPA and DHA during the 20th century.” — Tanya L. Blasbalg, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition link
76. September-October 2010 — The omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio: health implications — Artemis P. Simopoulos, OCL link
77. Nov 9, 2004 — Omega-3 fatty acids and major depression: A primer for the mental health professional — Alan C. Logan, Lipids in Health and Disease link
78. Sep 10, 1999 — Dietary intakes of polyunsaturated fatty acids and indices of oxidative stress in human volunteers; “There was a significant increase in… oxidative stress after consumption of the high PUFA diet.” — A. Jenkinson et al, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition link
79. 1998 — Dietary Intake of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids during the Paleolithic — S. B. Eaton et al, The Return of w3 Fatty Acids into the Food Supply link
80. Jan 1, 1989 — Test of effect of lipid lowering by diet on cardiovascular risk. The Minnesota Coronary Survey. — I.D. Frantz et al, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology link
81. Jun 12, 1965 — Corn Oil in Treatment of Ischaemic Heart Disease — G.A. Rose et al, British Medical Journal link

Fast Food is a part of American culture. But that doesn’t mean it has to be unhealthy, and that we can’t make better choices. Did you know that McDonald’s used to use beef tallow to make their fries from 1940 until phasing it out in favor of seed oils in 1990? This switch was made because saturated animal fats were thought to be unhealthy, but we have since discovered that seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic. Interestingly enough, this began to drastically rise around the same time fast food restaurants switched from beef tallow to seed oils in their fryers. People who enjoy a burger with fries on a night out aren’t to blame, and Americans should have every right to eat out at a restaurant without being unknowingly poisoned by heavily subsidized seed oils. It’s time to Make Frying Oil Tallow Again.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., X link

More Contamination: Pesticides, Dyes, Forever Chemicals, etc.

More Contamination: Sources by Date

1. Mar 31, 2025 — 212,268 Pounds of Egg Products Potentially Containing Bleach Recalled; “Cargill Kitchen Solutions is recalling… ‘liquid egg products that may contain a cleaning solution with sodium hypochlorite’… ‘The problem was discovered when the Food Safety and Inspection Service received a tip about the potential contamination of these products.’ According to a 2022 study, sodium hypochlorite, commonly known as bleach, is a main ingredient in cleaners… One of its uses is sterilizing food factories. Ingestion of the compound can result in vomiting, nausea, and burning sensations in the mouth. When large amounts are ingested, it results in ‘“’serious toxicity’.” — Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times link
2. Feb 16, 2025 — PFAS Contaminated Sewage Sludge Fertilizers Can Cause Cancer and Other Diseases – US EPA; “The EPA recently released a long-awaited draft report demonstrating that toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in sewage sludge applied to farmland can cause cancer and other diseases in people who live near farm fields where the sludge is applied, or consume tainted milk, beef or other foods from these farms.” — Sustainable Pulse link
3. Feb 13, 2025 — Toxic Chemicals in Girl Scout Cookies Expose; “Executive Director of Moms Across America, Zen Honeycutt,…discloses the alarmingly toxic findings from her organization’s testing of 13 types of Girl Scout Cookies. Find out what you can do to protect crucial regulations of harmful agrochemicals.” — The Highwire link and video
4. Jan 31, 2025 — FDA must set limits on PFAS in food, lawsuit says — Shannon Kelleher, The New Lede link
5. Jan 30, 2025 — Advertising sugary cereals to children needs regulation, report says — Carey Gillam, The New Lede link
6. Jan 16, 2025 — Why High-Fructose Corn Syrup Must Be Removed from Our Food — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
7. Jan 15, 2025 — Tallow and Beef Suet Tested for Toxic Phthalates; “A laboratory study of 13 tallow and beef suet products found that 62% contained phthalates, which are hormone-disrupting chemicals commonly found in plastics and fragrances. Raw beef suet showed no detectable phthalates, while products designated for personal care, including Bello Tallow and Traditional Nutrients Tallow, also tested free of contamination. The FDA currently allows 25 plasticizers as ‘indirect food additives’ in food manufacturing processes, despite some being restricted in children’s toys by other regulatory agencies.” — Mamavation, Mercola.com link
8. Jan 14, 2025 — USDA Documented Insects and Slime at Boar’s Head Plants, Records Show; “Reports from Boar’s Head plants… described multiple instances of meat and fat residue left on equipment and walls, dripping condensation falling on food, mold, insects and other problems dating back roughly six years. Last May, one inspector documented ‘general filth’ in a room at the Indiana plant.” — The Associated Press, NBC News link
9. Jan 11, 2025 — Are Your Protein Shakes Hiding Harmful Toxins?; “Recent findings highlight significant health concerns tied to protein powders, with a Clean Label Project investigation revealing heavy metal contamination in many products… Look for certifications like NSF Certified for Sport and avoid products with unnecessary artificial ingredients. By making informed decisions and prioritizing whole foods, consumers can safely incorporate protein powders into a balanced and healthy lifestyle.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
10. Jan 10, 2025 — Popular Seafood Contaminated With Microplastics That Leach From Common Household Products: Researchers found that tiny particles from our laundry, food packaging, tires, personal care products and other items end up in West Coast seafood we commonly eat — Pamela Ferdinand, U.S. Right to Know (Children’s Health Defense) link
11. Jan 7, 2025 — Environmental Groups Sue FDA over Refusal to Tackle Risky Plastic Packaging: Agency has either ignored petitions or ruled against taking action against chemical that presents serious health risks — Tom Perkins, The Guardian link
12. Dec 27, 2024 — Danger in the Dough: Unveiling the Toxic Contaminants in Girl Scout Cookies; “Consumer groups, GMOScience, Moms Across America, and supporters have commissioned the testing of Girl Scout cookies for toxic metals and glyphosate/AMPA (an herbicide and its byproduct)… 100% of the samples were positive for glyphosate. 100% were positive for toxic metals.” — Dr. Michelle Perro MD et al, GMO Science link
13. Nov 26, 2024 — Alarming Levels of Heavy Metals and Pesticides Found in US School Lunches — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
14. Nov 21, 2024 — RFK Artificial Dye Risks: Impact on Food Giants; “Kennedy, a vocal advocate for eliminating artificial ingredients from the food supply… has specifically criticized U.S. products like Froot Loops for using artificial dyes such as Red 40, Yellow 5, and Blue 1, contrasting them with the Canadian version, which uses natural colorings derived from blueberries and carrots… This movement may significantly affect several food and beverage companies as they may need to reformulate their products to align with changing consumer preferences and regulatory demands, potentially affecting their financial stability and market valuations.” — Patricia Miller, VTM (Value the Markets) link
15. Nov 21, 2024 — Are Food Recalls And Outbreaks On The Rise? FDA Says U.S. Food Supply Still “One Of The Safest In The World” — Alexander Tin, CBS News link
16. Nov 16, 2024 — Low Level Chronic Glyphosate Harms in Fetal Development and Reproductive Toxicity: 45 scientific papers to encourage you to stop buying conventional foods — Dr. Robert W. Malone MD link
17. Nov 13, 2024 — Why Your Multivitamin May Be Harming Your Health: Very few people understand that the multivitamins they buy at Costco or Walgreens are filled with highly toxic chemicals being passed off to the consumer as “nutrients.”; “When it comes to dietary supplements, all products are not created equal. A label can identify the presence of a specific ingredient without indicating if it’s from a natural, bioavailable and biocompatible source, or from a synthetic, inorganic source. This is despite the fact that our bodies may not recognize these synthetic ingredients as food… With certain ingredients, the material from which they are extracted is highly toxic, rendering a substance that can do more bodily harm than good.” — Sayer Ji link
18. Nov 12, 2024 — Over 20 Chemicals Used to Grow Food Linked to Prostate Cancer — The New Lede, Children’s Health Defense link
19. Nov 4, 2024 — Protestors Target Kellogg’s Over Cereal Dyes — Natasha Hobley, The Vaccine Reaction link
20. Oct 30, 2024 — Are Your Spices Filled with Heavy Metals, Lead, Arsenic and Cadmium? Consumer Reports tested 126 spice products for heavy metals, finding one-third had concerning levels of arsenic, lead and cadmium. Organic status didn’t predict safety, and thyme and oregano were consistently problematic. Heavy metals in spices can be particularly dangerous for children, affecting brain development and increasing health risks. Adults may experience reproductive problems, hypertension and decreased immune function.” — Mamavation, Mercola link
21. Sep 24, 2024 — Almost 200 Chemicals Linked to Breast Cancer Are Found in Food Packaging — Dennis Thompson, Health Day link
22. Oct 24, 2024 — Salmon Farming Is Wiping Out Wild Fish and Damaging Our Environment: Nick Measham — British Thought Leaders, Epoch TV 30-min video
23. Oct 18, 2024 —“Bought off doctors” defend toxic dyes in Froot Loops: So where is the FDA in all this? — Anne Dachel link
24. Oct 18, 2024 — 200-Plus Schools Received Food Likely Contaminated With Listeria Bacteria: FSIS — Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times link
25. Oct 9, 2024 — School lunch tests reveal dozens of pesticides on single items, heavy metals, other toxins — Lisa Fletcher, et al, NBC15 News link
26. Sep 24, 2024 — Runaway Pesticide Toxicity of Food Supply Shows Generational EPA Failure — Jefferey Jaxen link
27. Sep 24, 2024 — Double standards, double risk: Banned pesticides in Europe’s food supply — Pesticide Action Network Europe link
28. Sep 23, 2024 — Potential mammary carcinogens used in food contact articles: implications for policy, enforcement, and prevention; “76 potential mammary carcinogens have been detected to migrate from food contact materials sold in markets across the globe.” — Lindsey V. Parkinson, et al, Frontiers in Toxicology link
29. Sep 18, 2024 — Toxic Pesticides Found in Target’s Baby Food — Friends of the Earth link
30. Sep 10, 2024 — Dirty Dozen 2024 Exposes Scary Fungicide Risks in Popular Produce; “The Environmental Working Group (EWG)… highlights the 12 non-organic fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticide residues — with a frightening new reason to avoid pesticide-laden conventionally grown produce — fungicides.” — Leigh Smith, Organic Authority link
31. Sep 10, 2024 — ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Your Sparkling Water: Is It Safe to Drink? — Jill Ettinger, Organic Authority link
32. Jul 31, 2024 — Surprise! Foods you’d never guess contain artificial food dye — Ketura Persellin, EWG link
33. Jul 26, 2024 — Most Sea Salt Contains Plastic Fragments; “My favorite salt choice is Himalayan salt as the salt bed was produced thousands of years before plastics and toxins made their way into the environment; it may be the last source of salt uncontaminated by plastics.” [originally published Oct 4, 2017] — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
34. Jun 20, 2024 — Harming the Most Vulnerable: Testing Reveals High Levels of Toxic Heavy Metals in Baby Formula, and Toxic Chemicals in Gluten-Free Foods: As usual, the FDA has not been doing its job. Private organizations stepped in, did lab testing, and discovered the poisoning of our children. — Brucha Weisberger link
35. Jun 18, 2024 — Several infant formula brands are contaminated with not just one, but five toxic heavy metals — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
36. Jun 10, 2024 — Three Brands of Fruit Pouches Recalled for Toxic Lead Contamination — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
37. Jun 10, 2024 — Gluten-Free Food Test Results; “44 out of 46 of the samples came back positive for glyphosate. We had hoped to find that gluten-free foods that were also organic would be free of glyphosate and pesticides. They were not. The prevalence of glyphosate and agrochemicals in our food supply, even in organic and even in foods made for people with ADA recognized disability, such as Celiac disease, is disturbing for many reasons. This contamination is avoidable. As the EU has done, all our policymakers need to do is disallow the spraying of glyphosate and other agrochemicals as a drying agent on crops. The result would be that 80% of our exposure to glyphosate would be eliminated from food consumption. We urge.. better regulation of the food supply.” — Zen Honeycutt, Moms Across America link
38. Jun 6, 2024 — U.S. Buying ‘Safe and Delicious’ Fukushima Fish Banned by Other Countries: Japan last month completed its fifth release into the Pacific Ocean of treated contaminated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The U.S. committed to buying seafood from Japan despite scientists’ warnings that the water threatens human health and the environment. — Brenda Baletti PhD, Children’s Health Defense link
39. Jun 5, 2024 — Are Your Vegetables Sprayed With Chemicals? 10,000 Stores in U.S. Use Antimicrobial Sprays: One of the antimicrobial sprays used on fresh produce contains hypochlorous acid, a form of free chlorine, at a concentration of 6,000 parts per million. The CDC limit for free chlorine concentrations in drinking water is only 4 ppm.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
40. Apr 19, 2024 — Study finds high microplastic levels in Mediterranean fish despite low chemical contaminants; “In a recent study published in the journal Foods, researchers from Italy, Albania, and Montenegro conducted biomonitoring campaigns on fish and cephalopod species in the Mediterranean Sea to assess contamination levels of cadmium, microplastics, and antibiotics. They found negligible contamination by cadmium and antibiotics but high levels of microplastics in the stomach and gut of Sparus aurata (Gilt-head bream) and Dicentrarchus labrax (European seabass).” — Dr. Sushama R. Caphalkar PhD, News Medical link
41. Apr 14, 2024 — Vaccinating Poultry is “Part of the Problem”: Ineffective and dangerous strategy emerged over past twenty years; “It has been ‘game-on’ for mass vaccination (traditional and genetic) of poultry around the world over the last 20 years. Otherwise flock outbreaks were managed with culling supported by government subsidies. Among major poultry producers, there appears to be no attempt to allow natural immunity from infection to settle. If avian flu is detected on a poultry farm, the farmer will be reimbursed by the government for culling his flock, but NOT for his losses from natural mortality. Thus, the farmer is incentivized to ‘depopulate’ his flock instead of letting the flu run its course to propagate herd immunity.” — Dr. Peter A. McCullough MD, MPH link
42. Apr 9, 2024 — Do We Really Want a Food Cartel? Mergers and acquisitions have created food oligopolies that are inefficient, barely regulated, unfair, and even dangerous. — Eric Schlosser, The Atlantic link
43. Apr 9, 2024 — More Microplastics Are Showing Up in Our Food; “Recent news from a study led by Madeleine Milne with Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto showed that 90 percent of the items that they tested, items we find in our fridges and grocery stores—from burgers and steaks to chicken and even plant-based foods—contain those seemingly ubiquitous tiny particles of plastics, often referred to as microplastics.” — Michael Rennie, Newsweek link
44. Mar 22, 2024 — Abnormal Levels of Toxins Found in General Mills ‘LOADED’ Cereal: Report; “Trix LOADED cereal is literally loaded with high levels of heavy metals and agrochemicals… Testing by Moms Across America (MAA) found the artificially flavored creme-filled breakfast food contains measurable levels of aluminum, cadmium, arsenic, lead, glyphosate, and pesticides shown to be harmful to humans.” — Megan Redshaw, The Epoch Times link
45. Mar 5, 2024 — 90% of U.S. Cheese Contains GMO Made by Pfizer: Rennet is used as a clotting agent to curdle the milk into cheese, separating the liquid parts of milk from the solids. Pfizer makes a genetically modified rennet, but because of a labeling loophole, cheese containing Pfizer’s rennet does not have to be labeled as containing a genetically modified organism. — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
46. Mar 4, 2024 — Pork Peril: RNA Vaccine Injected Into U.S. Pork Livestock Kills 1 in 31 Pigs, Raising Meat Safety Concerns: Republican state senators reportedly refuse to ban RNA vaccines in food supply, opt to facilitate the novel technology’s use in their state—despite apparent lack of food safety data. — Jon Fleetwood link
47. Feb 23, 2024 — “Concerning” Level of Plastic Chemicals in Food – Even Organics — Alliance for Natural Health link
48. Feb 22, 2024 — Pesticide Linked to Reproductive Issues Found in Cheerios, Quaker Oats, and Other Oat-based Foods — Patricia Harrity, The Expose link
49. Feb 20, 2024 — Forever Chemicals Found in 88% of Kale Tested; “Conventionally grown and organic kale may be contaminated with toxic PFAS. Out of eight kale samples purchased in four U.S. states, only one had no detectable PFAS. The highest level of total PFAS was found in conventionally grown kale purchased in a Georgia Publix store. Overall, PFAS levels were higher in organic kale samples than conventional samples… Concerning levels of PFAS have also been found in peanut butter, pasta sauce, freshwater fish, cooking oil and many other consumer goods.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
50. Feb 16, 2024 — 80% of Americans Positive For Dangerous Chemical Found in Cheerios, Linked To Infertility: Study; “[The video covers] a new report connecting a chemical on oat-based products [chlormequat] with infertility and other health issues.” — The Hill 9-min video
51. Feb 6, 2024 — Teabags and Processed Meats May Be Key Dietary Sources of PFAS — Leo Bear-McGuinness, Technology Networks link
52. Jan 22, 2024 — The Dubious Strategies of the Artificial Sweetener Companies: Critics warn consumers to be on the lookout for ways the artificial sweetener industry bends advertising rules to reach a growing market. — Amy Denney, The Epoch Times link
53. Jan 9, 2024 — Now Scientists Find 90% of all Burgers, Steaks, Chicken and Plant-Based Foods Contain Cancer-Causing Microplastics — Nikki Main, Daily Mail link
54. Jan 8, 2024 — It’s Not Just Seafood: New Study Finds Microplastics in Nearly 90% of Proteins Sampled, Including Plant-Based Meat Alternatives — Dr. Chelsea Rochma, Ocean Conservancy link
55. Jan 6, 2024 — Plastic Chemicals Causing Infertility, Diabetes Found ‘Widespread’ in Common Food Items: Report; “Many of the foods consumed by Americans are contaminated with harmful plastic chemicals that contribute to health complications such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and infertility, according to a recent report by the nonprofit group Consumer Reports… Researchers examined the foods for the presence of plasticizers—a chemical used to boost the durability of plastics… They found that these chemicals remained ‘widespread’ in our food products despite ‘growing evidence’ of health risks… 79 percent of tested samples had bisphenols, while 84 out of 85 items had phthalates.” — Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times link
56. Jan 4, 2024 — The Plastic Chemicals Hiding in Your Food; “Plasticizers—the most common of which are called phthalates—show up inside almost all of us, right along with other chemicals found in plastic, including bisphenols such as BPA. These have been linked to a long list of health concerns, even at very low levels.” — Lauren F. Friedman, Consumer Reports link
57. Oct 17, 2023 — FDA Faces Pressure to Act Nationwide on Red Dye in Food — Allison Aubrey, NPR link
58. Oct 12, 2023 — 100% of Fast Food Samples Tested Positive for Heavy Metals, Lead, and Cadmium — Zen Honeycutt, Moms Across America link
59. Sep 7, 2023 — The Mechanisms of Plastic Food-Packaging Monomers’ Migration into Food Matrix and the Implications on Human Health — Celia Muzeza et al, Foods (PubMed) link
60. Mar 26, 2023 — Testing Shows Substantial Glyphosate in Foods and Population — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
61. Mar 25, 2023 — Is This Why Strawberries Don’t Taste Good Anymore? “Farming practices on conventional farms are highly reliant on pesticides, fungicides and herbicides to protect commonly planted monocrops. A 2023 study offers insight into why you may have noticed a difference in the flavor and sweetness of your store-bought strawberries. Data revealed two commonly used fungicides dramatically reduced the fruit’s soluble sugars, nutrients, flavor and aroma. As the paper demonstrated, organically grown heirloom varieties have better flavor and greater nutrition. Traditional farming practices are under threat. While globalists are buying premium farmland that is not being used for organic, biodynamic or regenerative farming practices, the federal government has been keeping under a microscope since 2015 Amos Miller’s organic farm, where produce is grown without pesticides, GMOs, gasoline or fertilizer. Regenerative farming practices help protect the land and human health but do not support the financial gain of the food industry. As more people recognize the need to steer clear of pesticides, the demand for organic seeds has grown. Take care to purchase organic seeds harvested from organically grown plants.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
62. Sep 29, 2022 — Breaking News: 95% of School Lunches Test Positive for Glyphosate: How do we get this poison out of the food supply? — Jennifer Margulis link
63. May 10, 2021 — Synthetic Dyes in Popular Kids’ Foods Linked to Hyperactivity, Learning Disorders; “Synthetic dyes used as colorants in many common foods and drinks can negatively affect attention and activity in children, according to a comprehensive review of existing evidence published this month.” — Nate Seltenrich, Children’s Health Defense link
64. May 14, 2019 — The Weed-Killing Chemical involved in a Monsanto Lawsuit was found in Cheerios and Quaker Oats Products. — Aria Bendix, Business Insider link
65. Mar 28, 2018 — Soon, Many Americans Will Be Too Brain-Damaged To Even Discuss Chemicals In Common Foods; “Medical doctors go to college for at least eight years to study how different prescription medications can or cannot be combined, due to the dangers of blood toxicity or brain damage, but they never study food chemicals. In fact, they don’t even study how food chemicals affect prescription drug chemicals… Some food chemicals are more dangerous than the chemicals found in medications and vaccines. Aspartame and monosodium glutamate (MSG) are both genetically modified neurotoxins and should be classified as narcotics, but they’re not. These food toxins cause brain fog, headaches, anxiety and depression, but MDs don’t even mention them when prescribing dangerous SSRIs for anxiety and depression.” — Natural News, Think About It link

Apeel

Apeel is a chemical formulation that may be put on organics and cannot be washed off.

Apeel: Sources by Date

1. Oct 17, 2024 — Protecting Organic Integrity: A Closer Look at Apeel and Its Coatings — Alliance for Natural Health link
2. May 15, 2024 — Apeel: On Extending Shelf Life; At What Cost? — Lies are Unbekoming link
3. Mar 30, 2024 — Is Bill Gates’ Apeel Really Safe? — Dr. Eric Berg 5-min video
4. Mar 22, 2024 — How do I Know if APEEL Is On My Produce? — Go See Christy 4-min video
5. Mar 8, 2024 — The Shocking Truth About Bill Gates’ Apeel “Organic” Coating and McDonald’s Partnership — Dr. Josh Axe 9-min video
6. Aug 18, 2023 — How Corporations CORRUPTED Nutrition Guidelines In The USA — Breaking Points 10-min video
7. Apr 28, 2023 — Peeling back Apeel — Alliance for Natural Health link

Industrial Agriculture / Factory Farming

Industrial Ag / Factory Farming: A Few Key Points

1. Industrial Agriculture is at the Root of Many of Humanity’s Crises — “Conventional, chemical and energy-intensive farming is also depleting fresh water supplies, while toxic agricultural chemicals pollute air, soil and waterways, thereby threatening the entire food chain from top to bottom. Answers to pressing global problems hinge on the widespread implementation of regenerative farming and decentralized food distribution.”
2. Mechanization of Agriculture Has Increased the Use of Poisons & Devastated the Health of Food & Communities — “The modernization and mechanization of agriculture accelerated the loss of diversity of American farms. It became a common practice to no longer raise livestock on the same farms where crops were grown. Without animal manure to provide nutrients to crops, synthetic fertilizer was needed. Today, most farms grow crops or raise livestock, not both; only a small percentage produce more than four crops. When a farmer grows only a single crop year after year, more chemicals are required to keep the soil fertile. The result is a specialization in a few commodities destined for the production of processed food, animal feed, and ethanol, and it’s all dependent on synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides that sink into the soil, transferring into the food we eat. Ms. Matte encourages her patients to develop relationships with local farmers. “Ask them questions about their farming philosophies. Because of the various farming styles, some need less pesticides and fertilizers than others.”
3. Despite Horrific Downstream Consequences, Farm Animals Routinely Given Antibiotics for Prevention & Growth — “As of 2020, 69% of the U.S. antibiotic supply was bought up by the meat industry, and most of these antibiotics are given to animals that aren’t sick; rather, they’re used for prophylactic and/or growth promotion purposes… When animals are given antibiotics, it causes unnatural growth by altering their gut microbiome. In the process, some of those gut bacteria become antibiotic-resistant. Contaminated meat can then become a source of drug-resistant infections. The death toll attributed to drug-resistant infections is thought to be around 4.95 million annually… Natural antimicrobials that do not appear to promote drug resistance include garlic, ginger, echinacea, goldenseal, myrrh oil, thyme oil, oregano oil, clove extract, olive leaf extract and colloidal silver.”
4. The Takeover Hasn’t Stopped. US Factory Farms “Wreaking Havoc” & Continuing to “Get Bigger and Bigger” — “‘Enough is enough…’ Critics of factory farming renewed demands for U.S. policy reforms… The USDA’s new data show that without policy changes, factory farms will continue to get bigger and bigger, wreaking havoc on public health, the environment, and the climate.”

Industrial Ag / Factory Farming: Sources by Date

1. Feb 16, 2025 — PFAS Contaminated Sewage Sludge Fertilizers Can Cause Cancer and Other Diseases – US EPA; “The EPA recently released a long-awaited draft report demonstrating that toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in sewage sludge applied to farmland can cause cancer and other diseases in people who live near farm fields where the sludge is applied, or consume tainted milk, beef or other foods from these farms.” — Sustainable Pulse link
2. Feb 6, 2025 — How Industrial Dairy Industry Corrupts Health Benefits of Milk: Modern science confirms that dairy fats, which are naturally high in saturated fat and low in polyunsaturated fats, are beneficial to human health. But Big Dairy has developed “rumen-protected fats” that bypass the cow’s natural digestive processes, which increases polyunsaturated fatty acid content and decreases beneficial saturated fats by up to 20%. —  Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
3. Feb 4, 2025 — Study Reveals Growing Industrial Practice of Altering Milk’s Natural Fat Composition; “Cows naturally convert plant materials into nutrient-dense milk through their rumen, which contains microorganisms that transform unsaturated fats into stable, saturated fats… The dairy industry has developed ‘rumen protected fats’ that bypass the cow’s natural digestive processes, allowing more unsaturated fats to reach the milk and increasing polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content while decreasing beneficial saturated fats by up to 20%. For over 7,000 years, dairy products have maintained a specific natural blueprint with higher proportions of saturated fats and modest linoleic acid levels (1% to 2%), but modern industrial practices can triple the linoleic acid content. Research shows that natural dairy fats have neutral or positive effects on cardiovascular health, may protect against diabetes, and have been linked to increased lean body mass and reduced body fat. Industrial feeding practices using oilseeds like soybean, cottonseed, and canola can overwhelm cows’ natural conversion systems, leading to higher PUFA levels in milk that make it more prone to oxidation and degradation.” — Ashley Armstrong, Mercola.com link
4. Jan 22, 2025 — Big Business’ Latest ‘Solution’ – Engineering Cow Digestion for Profit; “Big Ag pushes a new synthetic additive Bovaer to ‘fix’ cow burp methane emissions while sidelining sustainable farming solutions. With Bovaer, cows are consuming a daily dose of silicon dioxide, petroleum-derived propylene glycol, and synthetic compounds — but at what cost?… Altering cow digestion disrupts an ancient, balanced carbon cycle… Let’s look deeper at what’s really driving this ‘innovation.'” — Ashley Armstrong, Mercola.com link
5. Jan 14, 2025 — ‘Forever chemicals’ in sludge may taint nearly 70 million farmland acres; “This contamination stems from the widespread use of sewage sludge as fertilizer. The practice remains largely unregulated, despite mounting evidence it could contaminate food and water.” — Jared Hayes, EWG link
6. Dec 4, 2024 — Arla’s Bovaer food additive is not food, it is a drug; “Arla has launched [a project] to feed cattle with Bovaer which contains silicon dioxide, propylene glycol and 3-nitrooxypropanol (“3-NOP”). According to the FDA, Bovaer is not a food, it is a drug. There has been an enormous public backlash with the public boycotting Arla products and Arla’s partners… Considering it is what can only be described as an experiment on both animals and humans, it’s not surprising farmers and the public are outraged.” — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
7. Nov 1, 2024 — Proposed factory farm ban divides California county — Shannon Kelleher, The New Lede link
8. Oct 29, 2024 — How Big Ag Is Killing Insects — and Why It Matters — The New Lede, Children’s Health Defense link
9. Sep 18, 2024 — Why is the Military-Industrial Complex Running Our Agriculture and Food Industries?; “What does it say about the global food system that the biggest corporate players have roots in the military-industrial complex and futures in technologies created for bioweapons and pharmaceuticals?” — James Lyons-Weiler PhD link
10. Aug 21, 2024 — The Attack on Food and Farming, and How to Fight Back — Dr. Meryl Nass MD link
11. Jul 17, 2024 — The global food system is owned by an ever smaller number of companies – it’s damaging our health, our communities and the planet — Liam Keenan, The Conversation link
12. Jul 17, 2024 — Control the Food and you Control the People; “In 1850, 64% of American workers worked on farms. In 1900 there were still 6 million US farms, with an average size of 150 acres. By 1920, 30% of US workers still did farm work. But after World War 2, the US government adopted policies to reduce the number of farmers and expand the size of farms—for more efficiency, it was said. Today, only 1% of Americans work on farms and the number of farms has dropped by 2/3. Most US farmland belongs to farms that are over 2,000 acres in size, or more than 3 square miles. But along with efficiency came worsening food quality. The so-called ‘Green Revolution’ allowed farmers to apply chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides while ignoring the overall fertility, quality and texture of their soils.  Depleted soils subsequently produced less nutritious foods, while accumulating low levels of neurotoxins and carcinogens.” — Dr. Meryl Nass MD link
13. May 23, 2024 — Local Food Movement Under Attack by New EPA Rule: A new EPA regulatory rule that will force small meat and poultry producers to invest heavily in new water filtration systems while letting industrial factory farms off the hook is an attack on the local food movement and domestic agriculture, critics say. — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
14. May 15, 2024 —  ‘Drop Monoculture and Industrial Thinking’: Study Shows Diversified Farming Pays Off for People and Planet: A new study of diverse agricultural operations worldwide found that farms and pastures can achieve significant social and environmental benefits by working “less like factories” and “more like healthy natural ecosystems.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
15. May 6, 2024 — Factory Farming Contaminates Water in More Ways Than One — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
16. Apr 8, 2024 — EPA Threatens Locally Produced Beef: Mission Creep: Proposed EPA Rule Shuts Down Small Meat Producers — Dr. Robert Malone link
17. Mar 28, 2024 — WORLDWIDE WAR ON FARMS: The Ultimate Attack on the Food Supply, in LOCKSTEP: WWIII is upon us, but it’s not country vs country, this is farmers vs the government. He who controls the food supply controls the population.; “Azure Organic Farms has been attacked by US government for not using chemicals… Amos Miller Organic Farm attacked by US government… We absolutely must support our local farmers and ranchers, or, if you don’t have a local ranch or farm, order online from a family business. I found over 100 family farms that offer online ordering… We need to take our money out of Amazon, Walmart, etc and put it into the hands of the growers and livestock-raisers.” — Agent131711 link
18. Mar 13, 2024 — Modern Agriculture Drives Hunger, Obesity and Disease While Simultaneously Threatening Food Chain; “Conventional, chemical and energy-intensive farming is also depleting fresh water supplies, while toxic agricultural chemicals pollute air, soil and waterways, thereby threatening the entire food chain from top to bottom. Answers to pressing global problems hinge on the widespread implementation of regenerative farming and decentralized food distribution.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
19. Apr 13, 2021 — Modern Agriculture Is Militarized; “In 2019, Iowa had 3,963 large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) — which refers to those with 1,000 animals or more — up from 789 in 1990… Northwest Iowa’s watersheds are burdened by nitrate pollution — the result of unconstrained CAFO expansion. In December 2020, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch sued the state for not protecting residents’ right to clean water and arguing that the increasing number of hog farms, with few pollution restrictions, were contaminating the Raccoon River with manure and fertilizer runoff. By acting on an individual level to be agents of change, we can all make waves that push agriculture away from industrial militarization and toward regenerative practices that have true potential to feed the world and heal the planet.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
20. Sep 24, 2020 — How Does Nutrient-Depleted Soil Impact Our Food, and What Can We Do to Fix It?; “The plants we eat require soil to grow, and the animals we eat require plants to grow. Soil is vital for human survival, yet modern farming and agricultural practices are quickly destroying it. Worldwide, one-third of the Earth’s soil is at least moderately degraded, and over half of the land used for agriculture has some level of degradation.” — Katie Melville PhD link
21. Jun 12, 2018 — The Factory Farm Toilet; “Manure from industrial agriculture is the primary source of nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways. Much of the nitrates devastating the Mississippi river are coming from Iowa, a state with well over 14,000 CAFOs… While Iowa is one of 12 states that committed to a nutrient-reduction strategy to try to stop the nitrate-driven Gulf of Mexico dead zone from worsening, this can only occur if Iowa’s CAFO-driven nitrogen pollution is reduced.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
22. Jan 27, 2015 — How Factory Farms Destroy Drinking Water Worldwide; “Agriculture uses the majority—70 percent—of the world’s fresh water supply. Large-scale factory farms not only deplete aquifers of valuable drinking water, they also pollute what little water remains. Modern agriculture is also responsible for the destruction of topsoil.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
23. May 15, 2013 — Ag-Gag Laws: What Is Modern Agriculture Trying to Hide? “Undercover videos filmed by animal rights groups have exposed some of the most inhumane and unsanitary agricultural conditions imaginable… Ag-gag laws make it illegal to take undercover photos or videos, requiring anyone applying for a job at a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) to disclose affiliations with animal rights groups, and other measures. Ag-gag laws are being heavily promoted by lobbyists for the meat, egg and dairy industries to essentially prevent anyone from exposing animal cruelty and food-safety issues at CAFOs. Five states have ag-gag laws already in place, and another 10 have introduced their own anti-whistleblower laws this year. Industrial food producers are also encouraging their ‘farmers’ to change the terms they use for their horrific practices to less-offensive sounding words, such as swapping ‘gestation crates’ with ‘individual maternity pens.’ Corporations primarily use the CAFO system because efficiency and profits are valued above all else, even though this frequently violates natural laws and increases the risk to people eating the food they produce.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
24. May 13, 2010 — The Problem with Factory Farms; “The book Animal Factory, by David Kirby, takes a close look at factory farms and the problems they cause… Among the problems Kirby notes: ‘You’re often no longer feeding animals what they’re genetically designed to eat. CAFO cows eat a diet of milled grains, corn and soybeans, when they are supposed to eat grass. The food isn’t natural because they very often put growth hormones and antibiotics in it. That becomes a problem when you put that manure on the ground.’ Animal Factory also looks at the fate of the Neuse River in North Carolina, where waste runoff from pig farms caused massive fish die-offs.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link

Genetically Engineered / GMO “Foods”

Definitions

• Genetic Modification — “A deliberate alteration of an organism’s genome. By inserting the genes of one or more species into the genes of another through a modern genetic recombination technique (also called DNA recombination technique), a brand-new variety is produced.” [source]
• GMO — Genetically modified organism
• GM — Genetically modified
• Hybridization / Cross-Pollination / Selective Breeding — “A practice [that has existed for] thousands of years… cross-pollinates two species to create a new one in a completely natural process. The process can then be cultivated over time for a desired outcome. Hybridization also occurs naturally in nature—no humans needed.” [source]

GMOs: Sources by Date

1. Jan 27, 2025 — The U.S. Is Dumping More Than Tariffs on Mexico: The U.S. is again exporting cheap, genetically modified corn to Mexico. [Glyphosate is typically used with GMO corn.]; “One definition of the unfair trade practice known as dumping is exporting a commodity at prices below what it costs to produce it. The more common definitions are when a country exports surplus goods at below their own domestic prices, or when a country exports to one country at prices significantly lower than it does to other countries. These are all unfair trade practices because they have the effect of undercutting domestic producers or other exporters to gain market share… In the GM corn dispute, the Mexican government defended its food sovereignty admirably, presenting a raft of scientific evidence that demonstrated the risks to public health and the environment from GM corn in a vulnerable population and ecosystem. It also took bold new initiatives to support small-scale food producers in a transition toward agroecology and more sustainable farming practices.” — Timothy A. Wise & Steward A.L. James, TruthDig link
2. Jan 14, 2025 — New scientific analyses underpin Mexico’s restrictions on GM corn and glyphosate due to health risks — Stacy Malkan, U.S. Right to Know link
3. Jan 10, 2025 — GM corn and glyphosate science: Documents from Mexico-US trade dispute — Stacy Malkan, U.S. Right to Know link
4. Dec 16, 2024 — Federal Court Overturns 2020 Decision, Rules GMOs Must Be Regulated: The Dec. 3 ruling overturns the 2020 rule overhaul… that had eliminated most government oversight over GE crops, trees and grasses. The court held that the previous regulations violated the Plant Protection Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. — Center for Food Safety, Children’s Health Defense link
5. Dec 12, 2024 — New Zealand media’s go-to source for expert opinions supports a bill to deregulate the use of genetic modification; Dr. Guy Hatchard responds; “Guy Hatchard, PhD, was formerly Director of Natural Products at a global food safety testing and certification company. He presented to the original Royal Commission on Genetic Modification in New Zealand in 2000 which helped to clarify the safety ground rules and labelling requirements for GMOs… Dr. Hatchard is retired and has no financial interest in the outcomes of the current legislative initiative to deregulate biotechnology experimentation. The following is his formal response to the Science Media Centre (“SMC”) – an “independent” source of information for the media on all issues related to research, science and innovation – which has published expert opinions in support of the bill.” — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
6. Dec 4, 2024 — GMO Corn, Glyphosate Pose Unacceptable Health Risks, New Scientific Analysis Shows: The 200-page document with 1,200 references, prepared by Mexico’s National Council for Humanities, Science and Technology underpins Mexico’s 2023 decree to restrict the use of GM corn in tortillas and other minimally processed corn products, and to phase out the use of glyphosate in Mexico. — Timothy A. Wise & Stacy Malkan, U.S. Right to Know (Children’s Health Defense) link
7. Dec 3, 2024 — Mexico Plans to Modify its Constitution to Ban Toxic US Genetically Modified Corn — Tracy Beanz & Michelle Edwards, The Highwire link
8. Nov 27, 2024 — Leading scientist defends Mexico’s food sovereignty from GM corn and glyphosate — Stacy Malkan, U.S. Right to Know link
9. Nov 11, 2024 — US Approves GMO Wheat Grown with Neurotoxic Herbicide; “The USDA recently approved the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) wheat, raising concerns about its long-term effects on health and the environment… Its cultivation relies heavily on the herbicide glufosinate ammonium, for which it has been engineered for increased tolerance. This chemical has been banned in several countries, including those in the European Union, due to its known health and environmental effects… To protect your health, prioritize non-GMO, organic foods in your diet, and be aware of common GMO ingredients hiding in many foods. Resources are available below to help you find reputable organic and regenerative farmers for chemical-free produce.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
10. Oct 22, 2024 — Groundbreaking judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal in ACB vs Monsanto/Bayer and the State: Commercial approval of GM drought-tolerant maize set aside; “After nine long years of arduous litigation… a full bench of five judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal in… South Africa has today set aside several layers of decision-making regarding the approval of the application by Monsanto, now Bayer, for commercial release of its drought-tolerant genetically modified maize, MON87460.”  — African Centre for Biodiversity link
11. Oct 21, 2024 — Australian Gov’t Classifies Self-Replicating mRNA (samRNA) Vaccines as GMOs, FOIA Documents Reveal — Jon Fleetwood link
12. Sep 30, 2024 — How GMOs, Pesticides and Processed Foods Contribute to Common Bowel Disorders — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
13. Sep 26, 2024 — U.S. Approves GMO Wheat Grown With Neurotoxic Herbicide: The world’s first genetically modified wheat… is grown with glufosinate ammonium, a dangerous agrotoxin banned in the European Union. — Sustainable Pulse, Children’s Health Defense link
14. Sep 24, 2024 — CSOs ask FG to Ban GMO Importation to Nigeria (In Nigeria, a coalition of organisations opposed to GMOs, is calling for the commercialisation of GM crops to be suspended, following the announcement of field trials of GM potatoes.) — Abel Abogonye, Lafia link
15. Sep 23, 2024 — Cutting the Crap on Gene Editing: 4 Myths Used to Gaslight the Public; “In a referenced article, ‘Let’s cut the crap on gene technology,’ molecular biologist Jack Heinemann says society should ask itself why it needs to trade the security of its GMO regulations for unsecured promises from the speculative visions of genetic engineers.” — Claire Robinson, GMWatch (Children’s Health Defense) link
16. Sep 8, 2024 — Babies at risk from Undisclosed GE proteins in Infant Formula — GE-Free New Zealand link
17. Sep 6, 2024 — Genetically edited food to be deregulated in Australia and NZ — Kate Mason link
18. Sep 2024 — Scientific Dossier On Genetically Modified Corn And Its Effects; Effects of GM corn on human health, the environment and biodiversity, including the biocultural richness of native corn in Mexico — Gobierno De Mexico link
19. Aug 30, 2024 — “Gene-Edited” vs “Genetically Modified” – What’s the difference? — Kit Knightly, OffGuardian link
20. Aug 26, 2024 — EFSA is wrong: New GM plants can’t be assumed to be as safe as conventional plants — GMWatch link
21. Aug 26, 2024 — The Genetic Modification Of Our Food Compared To The Modification That Happens Naturally In Nature: Are you concerned about Genetically Modified Foods? Many people are. We hear about the benefits, but we don’t hear about the concerns that have been associated with them for many years. — Arjun Walia, The Pulse link
22. Aug 14, 2024 — ANH News Beat (week 33/2024); “The dangers of meddling with nature is once again front and centre in a recent study published in Nature Genetics. The study shows how the use of gene editing using ‘genetic scissors’ causes unintended (off-target) changes in plants altered using the technique. The new study directly counters claims that such techniques merely mimic nature’s random mutations and that such changes are perfectly safe. Sustainable Pulse takes a detailed look at the study and its implications… The EU has approved the import of maize, genetically engineered using ‘gene scissors’ (CRISPR/Cas) to produce an insecticide and be resistant to herbicides despite ongoing warnings about the dangers presented by such organisms.” — Alliance for Natural Health link
23. Aug 12, 2024 — American biotech lobbyist drives GMO deregulation discussions in UK, EU — GM Watch link
24. Aug 2, 2024 —All Things Bugs: Bill Gates, U.S. Military Among Investors in GMO Insect Protein for Humans: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012 funded All Things Bugs, a project to “develop a novel food product made from insects to treat malnutrition in children from famine stricken areas of the world.” The company has since expanded into developing genetically modified insects, with help from the U.S. Department of Defense. — Michael Nevradakis PhD, Children’s Health Defense link
25. Aug 1, 2024 — ANH News Beat (week 31/2024); “In the EU, two strains of maize, genetically altered using ‘new genomic techniques’ (NGTs) have been approved to be imported into the EU. The maize has been changed to produce insecticides (note: plants have their own natural chemical defence systems) and to be resistant to chemical herbicides. This is the first time plants altered using NGTs have been approved by the EU. The toxins contained by the plants have not been a part of the food chain previously.” — Alliance for Natural Health link
26. Jul 25, 2024 — Frankengreens are Coming — Alliance for Natural Health link
27. Jul 15, 2024 — Gene Editing Causes Unintended Genetic Changes with Implications for Food and Agriculture — Sustainable Pulse link
28. Jul 4, 2024 — Genetic engineering of livestock and crops will contaminate our food with novel genetic sequences which will have unknown consequences for health — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
29. Jun 27, 2024 — Do genetically modified foods cause epigenetic changes which affect our bodies and our minds?; “Dr. Maavak delves into genetically modified food and its impact potentially for two or three generations after the person who consumed it.” — Rhoda Wilson, The Epoch Times link
30. Jun 7, 2024 — Another GMO ‘Vanity Product:’ Bayer to Sell Gene-Edited Salad Greens in U.S. Stores — Brenda Baletti, PhD, Children’s Health Defense link
31. May 24, 2024 — Is GMO Corn Safe to Eat? Understanding the US–Mexico Corn Trade Dispute: Mexico banned the import of GMO corn—most of which comes from the United States. Why has the country banned it? — JoJo Novaes & Shan Lam, The Epoch Times link
32. May 4, 2024 — Trojan Tomato: A New GMO Is Designed to Infiltrate America’s Gardens; Gardeners can buy a new seed, a genetically modified tomato the FDA barely looked at and GMO proponents hope will win Americans over to more modified foods. — Sina McCullough, The Epoch Times link
33. Apr 29, 2024 — “A Victory for Farmers”: Supreme Court Halts Genetically Modified Rice — Colin Todhunter, OffGuardian link
34. Mar 19, 2024 — ‘Clear Scientific Evidence’ of Harms from GMO Corn, Glyphosate, Mexico Tells U.S.: Mexico issued a 189-page rebuttal to U.S. claims that Mexico’s limits on genetically engineered corn and glyphosate violate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, citing more than 140 scientific studies supporting concerns about health problems, especially in kids, related to consuming GMO corn and glyphosate residues. — Carey Gillam, Children’s Health Defense link
35. Mar 14, 2024 — Frankenfoods v2: Exploiting the Bioequivalence Principle: Powerful forces are trying to shift our food system away from the soil-based farming systems and towards genetically engineered, lab-grown food. We can’t let them succeed. — Alliance for Natural Health link
36. Mar 5, 2024 — 90% of U.S. Cheese Contains GMO Made by Pfizer: Rennet is used as a clotting agent to curdle the milk into cheese, separating the liquid parts of milk from the solids. Pfizer makes a genetically modified rennet, but because of a labeling loophole, cheese containing Pfizer’s rennet does not have to be labeled as containing a genetically modified organism. — Dr. Joseph Mercola, Children’s Health Defense link
37. Jan 23, 2024 — The Potential Harmful Effects of Genetically Engineered Microorganisms (GEMs) on the Intestinal Microbiome and Public Health — Aaron Lerner et al, Microorganisms link
38. Jan 16, 2024 — Bayer’s Modified Soil Microbes Could Trigger a Genetically Engineered Doomsday; “Ginkgo’s SEC filing makes clear how unleashing Frankenmicrobes into the environment might wreak havoc, but if that doesn’t do it for you, this chilling true story from Dr. Elaine Ingham will. (You can also watch a short film about it at Protect Nature Now and read the original 1999 scientific publication here.)” — Alexis Baden-Mayer, Mercola.com link
39. January 2024 — Use of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)-Containing Food Products in Children; “Glyphosate, the principal herbicide used in the production of GMO food crops, has been classified as “’robably carcinogenic to humans.’ … Measurable quantities (residues) of glyphosate and other herbicides are now found in many GMO foods. Prenatal exposures to glyphosate are reported to be associated with increased risk of preterm birth and in utero endocrine disruption in children.” — Dr. Steven A. Abrams MD et al, American Academy of Pediatrics link
40. Nov 21, 2023 — Genetically Altered Food – Beware! — Rhoda Wilson, The Expose link
41. Jul 13, 2023 — The False Promise of Lab-Grown Meat; “As much as the food industry doesn’t want you to know this, the process of creating lab-grown meat relies on ‘genetic engineering’ or GE. While the NIH wants us to restrict the GE term to ‘laboratory-based technologies [that] alter the DNA makeup of an organism,’ we believe it should be just as applicable to gene-editing techniques that involve the deliberate alteration of the genetic makeup of pluripotent cells like stem cells.” — Alliance for Natural Health link
42. Jul 13, 2023 — Pig Beans – The Latest GMO Frankenfood; “One of the latest GMO Frankenfoods is Piggy Sooy, a soybean genetically engineered to contain pig protein. One or more undisclosed pig genes are spliced into conventional soya to create a soybean with 26.6% animal protein.” — Dr.Joseph Mercola link
43. Mar 13, 2023 — Genetically Engineered Food – the Lie That Won’t Die; “Biotech industry promised genetically engineered foods would reduce pesticide use, increase the nutritional content of food, boost farmers’ profits and feed the world by increasing yields. In reality, GM crops have turned glyphosate into one of the most widely and recklessly used herbicides in history and monoculture has led to a loss of biodiversity. GM crops have also failed to live up to expected increases in crop yields and, nutritionally, GMOs primarily provide cheap, unhealthy ingredients for ultraprocessed ready meals, prepackaged foods and fast food restaurants. More than 40,000 people in the U.S. have filed lawsuits alleging exposure to Roundup is the cause of their cancer… The agricultural biotech industry continues to advance with a new suite of genetic engineering technologies known as gene editing, which includes techniques such as CRISPR as well as synthetic biology…” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
44. Jan 18, 2023 — Genetically Modified Soybeans: Bad for Your Health? — Jingduan Yang, MD, The Epoch Times link
45. Oct 12, 2022 — Do Claims About GMOs Hold Up to Reality? How Do GMO Crops Rate Across 3 Key Measures?; “Nowadays, you could be eating GMO food without even knowing it. For example, GMO forms of vegetable oil, potato chips, and soybeans often go by undetected… GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are touted as being environmentally friendly and a potential solution to the world’s food production shortages. But how do GMOs really measure up across the domains of production, nutrition, and herbicide resistance?Genetic modification is by no means a modern phenomenon. Farmers have been cross-breeding for millennia. However, GMOs are unimaginably deepening the extent to which genes can be manipulated, and with those exciting possibilities come very serious ethical, environmental, and health concerns.” — Vital Signs, Epoch TV 6-min video
46. Dec 6, 2019 — Buyer Beware: GMO Stevia Is Everywhere — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
47. Jul 11, 2019 — GMOs – human saviour or nature’s enemy? — Alliance for Natural Health link
48. Nov 27, 2018 — Beware of GMO Potatoes! “Any product made with potato will be subject to added scrutiny before it can receive The Non-GMO Project’s verification stamp due to widespread prevalence of genetically engineered potato in the U.S. food supply The [genetically engineered] potato developed by J.R. Simplot and branded simply as White Russet™, was approved by the USDA in 2014 and entered the U.S. marketplace the following year. — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
49. Jan 5, 2016 — Stop Subsidizing Monsanto’s Corn; “U.S. prairies are being wiped out so fast to plant corn and soybeans that some ecologists say they’re now among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth – even more so than tropical rain forests. Since the U.S. government began requiring ethanol in fuel in 2007, more than 1.2 million acres of grassland have been lost to corn (and soy) crops. The excessive amount of genetically engineered corn grown in the U.S., along with the production of ethanol, is draining aquifers, polluting waterways, increasing erosion and contributing to the release of carbon into the atmosphere.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
50. Apr 19, 2015 — GMO Awareness Campaign Continues; “We are raising public awareness among people who previously didn’t even realize there were genetically modified organisms in their food. Over 90 percent of Americans now want to know what’s in their food. More than a dozen states have GMO labeling initiatives on their agenda this year. Meanwhile, industry is pushing a bill that would ban states from adopting GMO labeling laws of their own.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
51. Sep 16, 2014 — Pro-GMO Industries Increase Spending and Launch Attack to Discredit World-Famous Environmentalist in an Effort to Thwart GMO Labeling in the US — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
52. Jan 8, 2013 — Act Now to Stop Genetically Engineered Fish from Receiving Approval; “The FDA is getting closer to issuing final approval of the first genetically engineered food animal—a salmon designed to grow up to five times faster than normal… The environmental risks are also tremendous. In a previous Purdue University computer model that tracked the effects of releasing just 60 ‘Frankenfish’ into a population of 60,000, there was a complete extinction of the normal fish in just 40 fish generations.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
53. Sep 15, 2012 — How Can the Wealthiest Industrialized Nation be the Sickest? The health dangers of genetically engineered (GE) foods are masterfully presented in this documentary by Jeffrey Smith, one of the world’s leading authorities on GE foods — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
54. Aug 27, 2011 — 19 Studies Link GMO Foods to Organ Disruption — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
55. Oct 20, 2010 — GMO Poisons Found in Indiana Waterways — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
56. May 29, 2010 — GMO: Why has this Common Food Been Dumped in Europe… Yet, is Still Rampant in the US? — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
57. Jan 9, 2010 — The Health Hazards of GM Corn — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
58. Jun 25, 2009 — The Genetic Conspiracy – Are Genetically Engineered Foods Dangerous? — Dr. Joseph Mercola link

Videos

Solutions: Regenerative Farming & More

As made clear by the evidence above, the industrialized food system has these problems:

1. A food system and “regulatory” environment that is corrupted, betraying humanity and planet.
2. A system dominated by fake and highly processed foods that harm people and the planet.
3. Poisons in food, water and packaging that make people chronically sick in body and mind.

Factory farms characterized by unsustainable practices, animal cruelty, monoculture and pesticide use that have resulted in the devastation of soil, waterways, pollinators and ecosystems, causing sickness in people, animals and the environment.

Solutions include:

1. Reclaiming food sovereignty, de-centralizing systems.
2. Developing localized food networks.
3. Healing soil.
4. Supporting regenerative farming.
5. Rewilding dead, dying, and imbalanced spaces.

The Industrialized Food System is Toxic; Awareness is Necessary to Choose Real, Nourishing Food

Unbeknownst to many people, the foods we buy have a lot of toxic additives lurking in them. This means they’ve been altered in ways that actually make you hungrier and hijack the brain to worsen your emotional eating habits. As a Harvard-trained nutritionist, I always remind people to read the food labels. – CNBC

Maine Town Declares Food Sovereignty

Sedgwick, Maine has done what no other town in the United States has done. The town unanimously passed an ordinance giving its citizens the right “to produce, process, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing.” This includes raw milk, locally slaughtered meats, and just about anything else you can imagine. It’s also a decided bucking of state and federal laws. – Mar 15, 2011

Food Solutions: Sources by Date

1. Jan 28, 2025 — Apprenticeships Bring a Fresh Generation to Small Dairy Farms: Pasture-based dairy farms struggle to compete with industrialized dairies. The Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship aims to help them thrive. — Daniel Walton, Civil Eats link
2. Jan 19, 2025 — From Farm to Health – A Vision for Regenerative Agriculture and Metabolic Wellness — Dr. Joseph Mercola & Ashley Armstrong link
3. Jan 16, 2025 — Big impacts from small-scale fisheries: New research shows small-scale fisheries contribute 40% of the global catch and contribute to the livelihoods of nearly 500 million people worldwide. Experts discuss how small-scale fisheries connect to environmental and human health, gender equity, and more. — Josie Garthwaite, Stanford University link
4. Jan 12, 2025 — Full R-Future 2025 Presentation (with transcript and captions available): Designing Bio-cultural Refugia : Seeding Ancient Wisdom in the Fertile Soils of Modern Regenerative Knowledge; “I explore terms like ethnoecology and talk about pathways to intentionally create regenerative counter-cultures (aka “ethnogenesis”) and how we might each explore ancestral wisdom and apply ancient regenerative worldviews in our modern gardens and designs.” — Gavin Mounsey link
5. Jan 7, 2025 — Regenerative Ocean Gardening, Kelp Farming and Marine Permaculture: This post explores the potential of Oceanic Food Forest Design, Seaforestation and ancient regenerative mariculture technologies. — Gavin Mounsey link
6. Jan 5, 2025 — Designing Bio-cultural Refugia : seeding ancient wisdom in the fertile soils of modern Regenerative knowledge: Exploring the potential of creating refugium for regenerative cultural seeds nested within biological refugium for rare, endangered, ethnobotanically pertinent and/or practical plant species — Gavin Mounsey link
7. Dec 26, 2024 — ‘The dead zone is real’: why US farmers are embracing wildflowers: Strips of native plants on as little as 10% of farmland can reduce soil erosion by up to 95% — Rachel Cramer, The Guardian link
8. Dec 18, 2024 — Homesteading 101: Regenerative Farming and the American Farmer: Our heritage deserves celebrating — Dr. Robert Malone MD link
9. Dec 13, 2024 — Artifical lights at night do more harm than you realise: here’s how to light your garden responsibly — Molly Blair, Gardens Illustrated link
10. Nov 30, 2024 — Fermented Gardens Redefine Sustainable Farming; “The documentary ‘Into the Soil: The Wisdom of Regenerative Farming’ introduces Brigid LeFevre, who grew up in an Irish Camphill community practicing biodynamic farming; families lived with individuals with special needs and operated without monetary transactions. The documentary advocates separating food from market economics, arguing that forcing farmers to compete financially undermines sustainable land management and community well-being. LeFevre runs a CSA in Sweden focusing on fermented foods, which support gut and mental health while preserving harvest throughout the year for community members. The film emphasizes biodiversity’s importance in farming, contrasting it with harmful monocultures that deplete soil nutrients and increase pest problems in modern agriculture. Regenerative farming is presented as an alternative to industrial agriculture, emphasizing holistic practices, community involvement and long-term environmental stewardship over short-term profits.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
11. Nov 26, 2024 — Bumblebee population increases 116 times over in ‘remarkable’ Scotland rewilding project: ‘The sound of traffic and a uniform sea of barley have been replaced by the most beautiful meadows, full of wildflowers, young saplings and the buzz of bees’; “The bumblebee population has made an impressive comeback in a developed area by increasing to 116 times what it was two years ago thanks to a nature restoration group. Rewilding Denmarkfield, a 90-acre project based just north of Perth, has been working to restore nature to green spaces in an increasingly built up area for the past two years.” — Katharine Hay, The Scotsman link
12. Nov 13, 2024 — Goats help mix forest, pasture; “The math is simple for Nolden, who has a master’s degree in agroecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is now a full-time farmer in southern Wisconsin. Between a goat’s birth at 8 pounds in May and its sale at Christmas time, each of Nolden’s goats needs to gain 49 pounds. They do so in her woodlands – at a benefit to the farm’s landscape and their own health.” — Jacob Swanson, Agri-View link
13. Nov 8, 2024 — ‘The Regenerative Agriculture Solution’: A Book of Hope — Vandana Shiva, Children’s Health Defense link
14. Oct 17, 2024 — ANH News Beat; “Planting different genetic strains of crop plants together, encourages biodiversity and improves the ability of plants to withstand insect attacks, reducing the need for pesticide use. The approach, known as associative resistance, is described in a new paper published in Nature Communications.” — Alliance for Natural Health link
15. Oct 15, 2024 — How Regenerative Farming Can Help Solve America’s Metabolic Disease Problem: Mollie Engelhart — American Thought Leaders, Epoch TV 32-min video
16. Oct 14, 2024 — Farmers and businesses joining together to protect the world’s most precious resource: soil — Judith Magyar, Fast Company link
17. Oct 7, 2024 — Reducing herbivory in mixed planting by genomic prediction of neighbor effects in the field; “In terrestrial ecosystems, plant genotypic diversity can increase plant resistance to natural enemies as the number of plant genotypes in a contiguous group of plants, namely a stand, increases.” — Yasuhiro Sato, et al, Nature Communications link
18. Sep 30, 2024 — Dr. Mary Cole delivers an incredible speech on organic farming, including the use of rock dust……. and Saharan dust in the earth’s atmosphere becomes an unbelievable mass of life-sustaining minerals for the ocean. — Ian Brighthope link
19. Sep 6, 2024 — The Revolution Disguised As Homesteading featuring Takota Coen; “Ever wondered how to turn a traditional farm into a regenerative powerhouse? In this episode, we sit down with Takota Coen, a pioneer in regenerative agriculture and homesteading. Takota shares his journey from a conventional farm structure to a thriving, sustainable ecosystem, offering valuable insights into the homesteading revolution and how it can empower us to become less dependent on failing systems.” — Alec Zeck, The Way Forward 2-hr 22-min video
20. Aug 30, 2024 — Sustainable Agricultural Systems for the Northern Great Plains; “This research conducted… chemical analyses relevant to nutrition to study more than 1,500 compounds in the meat of Black Angus cattle from two common commercial US beef finishing systems: grass-fed on pasture and grain-fed in a feedlot… Grass-fed beef samples… had lower markers of oxidative stress and improved mitochondrial function compared to grain-fed animals… Pasture-finished cattle displayed improved markers of metabolic health and potentially beneficial compounds for consumers.” — Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, USDA (Organic Consumers Association) link
21. Aug 29, 2024 — Mad Markets buys Timeless Seeds to bridge ‘missing middle’ in regenerative ag; “A new effort aims to bring regenerative agriculture to the food ingredients market. A new venture by a Colorado-based company aims to become a ‘go-to source’ of regenerative organic ingredients for consumer packaged goods and other buyers across the food industry.” — Nathan Owens, Agriculture Dive link
22. Aug 20, 2024 — How can you tell if soil is healthy? Just listen to it. First-of-its-kind research shows how “ecoacoustics” can help scientists monitor the health of soils – using underground critter concerts. — Ayurella Horn-Muller, Grist link
23. Aug 14, 2024 — ANH News Beat; “Farmers in Africa are eschewing chemical sprays and reverting to biocontrols to deal with mealybug, which is devastating papaya crops. Introduction of a parasitic wasp has brought mealybug infestations under control and stopped the economic losses being suffered by the farmers as well as significantly reducing pesticide use.” — Alliance for Natural Health link
24. Aug 2, 2024 — Wasps help farmers fight mealybug pest in Kenya — SciDev.Net, Phys.org link
25. Aug 1, 2024 — Sixty Percent of Native Pollinators at Risk of Vanishing as New York Restricts Neonicotinoids; “All insects, to some degree, are threatened by pesticide use” — Rebecca Raney, U.S. Right to Know link
26. Aug 1, 2024 — Beekeepers Continue to Lose Hundreds of Thousands of Honey Bee Colonies, USDA Reports; “Pesticides may have affected 270,000 colonies, according to respondents” — Rebecca Raney, U.S. Right to Know link
27. Jul 25, 2024 — How to Save Vegetable Seeds: Seed-Saving 101 Guide for Gardeners — Catherine Boeckmann, Almanac link
28. Jul 8, 2024 — Top Alternatives to RoundUp and Glyphosate for Your Garden — ION link
29. Jul 5, 2024 — It’s the bee’s needs: Study finds best plants for bee health, conservation; “The researchers recommend emphasizing roses… clovers… red raspberry… tall buttercup… and Tara vine… in wildflower restoration projects, citing their ideal protein-to-lipid ratios in pollen for wild bee nutrition. The research found that bees require a diverse diet from multiple plant sources to obtain a balanced intake of fatty acids and essential amino acids, as no single plant species provides the optimal nutrition. With many bee species facing significant threats, the researchers say they hope these findings can inform conservation efforts from policy changes to individual actions like planting native flowers and reducing pesticide use.” — Liz Kimbrough, Mongabay link
30. Jun 27, 2024 — Rainforest Alliance cites the rising importance of its regenerative agriculture approach: Operating in 62 countries and supporting more than 7.5 million farmers and workers, the global nonprofit aims to reach 100 million by 2030 by propelling the adoption of regenerative agriculture and driving large-scale landscape transformation. — The Packer link
31. Jun 21, 2024 — WATCH: Regenerative Agriculture – #SolutionsWatch — OffGuardian link
32. May 14, 2024 — Diverse Agriculture Benefits People and the Environment at the Same Time; “Agricultural diversification may be the age-old ‘secret’ to not only increase crop yields and improve food security but also protect the planet. Diversified agriculture had ‘win-win outcomes’ for both society and the environment, according to data from 24 studies in 11 countries, spanning 2,655 farms. On farms using diversification strategies, social benefits, including human well-being, crop yields and food security, were noted, along with environmental gains, including improved biodiversity. The study revealed that livestock integration increases the amount of food the farm produces, reduces damage to soil and decreases environmental pollution. The benefits were greatest when multiple diversification strategies were used at once, and applied to all different types of farms.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
33. May 14, 2024 — Multiple Studies Demonstrate the Importance of Strengthening Organic in the Farm Bill — Beyond Pesticides link
34. May 13, 2024 — Long-term study finds organic farming leads to adaptations in the genetic material in plants — Johannes Seiler, Physorg link
35. May 13, 2024 — How do we reduce pesticide use while empowering farmers? A more nuanced approach could help — Jessica Knapp, The Conversation link
36. May 8, 2024 — Deep genotyping reveals specific adaptation footprints of conventional and organic farming in barley populations—an evolutionary plant breeding approach; “[Barley seeds were] divided into two sets and sown one in organic and the other in conventional managed agro-ecosystems, without any artificial selection for two decades… This long-term experiment highlights for the first time that… difference[s] between the conventional and organic populations grew with subsequent generations. Further, the organic-adapted population showed a higher genetic heterogeneity. The data indicate that adaptations towards new environments happen in few generations.” — Michael Schneide, et al, Springer link
37. May 1, 2024 — How One Woman’s Mission to ‘Rewild’ Urban Spaces Is Saving Native Bees; “With 35% of the world’s crops and 75% of flowering plants dependent on honeybees and other pollinators to reproduce, this type of advocacy is without a doubt one of the most crucial movements we should actively support A 2022 study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives estimates the loss of food production due to lack of pollinators led to 427,000 excess annual deaths worldwide There are small but impactful practices that you can do to help save the bees and other pollinators — more tips below.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
38. Apr 18, 2024 — Homesteading: A Journey of Self-Sufficiency: It doesn’t take 40 acres, mule and a plow to start — Dr. Robert W. Malone MD link
39. Apr 14, 2024 — How to Use Regenerative Farming Principles to Grow Healthier Food in Your Own Garden; “The challenge facing most farmers today is that conventional agriculture has decimated the topsoil with tilling and synthetic fertilizers, which disrupt and destroy the microbial life necessary to grow nutrient-dense food. Few agricultural areas have a deficiency in phosphorus and most farmers do not need to apply this synthetic fertilizer. A significant amount of the phosphorus applied ends up running off. Only minute amounts actually go into the plants the year it’s applied. The rest leaches into the watershed and feed algae blooms. Mycorrhizal fungi grow in healthy soils and are responsible for nutrient transfers between plants and soil biology. The most critical thing in a plant’s life is its relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, which is why tillage and synthetic chemicals should be avoided. The five basic principles for building a healthy soil ecosystem are: not disturbing the soil microbiome, protecting the soil surface with cover crops, diversification, maintaining living roots in the ground as long as possible and integrating livestock and insects.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
40. Apr 3, 2024 — Building Local Regenerative Communities with Marc Angelo Coppola; “In this episode I talk to entrepreneur and farmer Marc Angelo Coppola. We discuss his more than a decade long experience building a local community on his 88 acre farm just outside Montreal, QC.” — Collective Evolution with Joe Martino link
41. Mar 21, 2024 — 6 Toxic Foods You Should Cut Out of Your Diet Right Now: Ultra-processed foods are everywhere, and they come with some serious health risks. — Vigilant News Network link
42. Mar 19, 2024 — Infant Formula Heavy Metal Testing Project; “Bioremediation involves using living organisms to remove or neutralize contaminants from soil. Several methods of bioremediation can effectively remove heavy metals from soil: phytoremediation… microbial remediation… bioaugmentation… composting… phytostabilization… These bioremediation methods offer sustainable and cost-effective approaches to remediate heavy metal-contaminated soil, providing environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional remediation techniques. Let’s dispel the notion that heavy metal contamination of our soil and the contamination of resultant products cannot be eradicated.” — Dr. Michelle Perro MD, GMOScience link
43. Mar 17, 2024 — How to Produce the Healthiest Foods Imaginable; “Armstrong’s farm produces some of the highest quality eggs I’ve ever come across, and the feed recipe I use for my own chickens came from her. But I recently discovered something that could make them even better, and that is to allow the chickens to scratch for their own food. Their ideal food is insects fresh from the ground… Unfortunately, in places where the ground freezes, chickens will not be able to sustain themselves on insects, and you definitely do NOT want to feed your chickens dehydrated bugs. Why? Because the bugs are raised on corn and soy, making them very high in linoleic acid (LA).“ — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
44. Feb 11, 2024 — How Animals Impact Regenerative Agriculture Efforts; “His farm is a great demonstration of how you can convert conventionally farmed land to a healthy, thriving farm based on regenerative methods. Conventional chemical agriculture typically involves the growing of a single crop, such as corn — a strategy that decimates the soil. Harris… is in the process of implementing regenerative principles to rebuild the soil and make it productive again… By using regenerative land management that incorporates livestock, you can increase organic matter in the soil back to healthy levels… Good animal welfare includes creating an environment in which the animals can express instinctive behavior. Cows were born to roam and graze. Chickens were born to scratch and peck.” [Originally published Jul 10, 2016] — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
45. Jan 3, 2024 — In Brazil’s Caatinga, adapted agroforests are producing food from dry lands; “The model known as Agrocaatinga has proven to be the most productive and effective in increasing food security for families, generating income and preserving native vegetation. Previously degraded lands now produce around 50 types of food, thanks to the combination of an agroforestry system with rainwater harvesting techniques. “— Xavier Bartaburu & Rafael Martins (video), Mongabay link
46. Sep 1, 2023 — 1 Year Ago We Bought Abandoned Land, This Happened — The Dutch Farmer (YouTube) 25-min video
47. Aug 31, 2023 — Accountant Quits Day Job and Starts a Chicken Farm — Dr. Joseph Mercola, The Epoch Times link
48. Aug 15, 2023 — Zach Weiss – On a mission to train thousands of people in key water restoration techniques — Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food, YouTube 1.25-hr video
49. May 9, 2023 — Regenerative Agriculture — The Next Big Thing; “Regenerative agriculture was the buzz term at the 2018 organic trade show. Regenerative agriculture is a return to what organic originally was all about — the protection of biodiversity and rebuilding of topsoil. Conventional food brands lost more than $19 billion in revenue between 2009 and 2014, as consumers have become increasingly aware of the many problems associated with conventional food and farming. The organic sector was projected to reach $107.7 billion in sales by 2019. However, traditional organic has developed a number of pressing problems, thanks to manipulation by conventional food companies. There are a number of efforts to create standards and certifications for regenerative agriculture… It’s important to remember that without actual certification, regenerative claims on food products are nothing but a clever marketing ploy, like ‘all-natural’ before it.” [Originally published Mar 27, 2018] — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
50. Apr 8, 2023 — Imagining a Greater Organic Reset; “We need to set a goal of 25% of farmers being organic by 2030, or as soon as possible. Only 17,000 of the US’s two million farms are now certified organic, while another 10-15% could eventually be certified as organic. OCA and Regeneration International, working with leading organic certifiers across the world, have developed a plan to multiply the number of certified organic farmers, land managers, communities, and districts. One of RI and HC’s flagship projects, with enormous global potential is the Billion Agave Agroforestry Project in Mexico, especially suited for small farmers in the 40% of the world’s that are arid or semi-arid.” — Ronnie Cummins, Mercola.com link
51. Apr 6, 2023 — How Regenerative Grazing Supports Our Health and Our Ecosystem, with Ridge Shinn and Lynne Pledger — Chris Kresser link
52. Mar 31, 2023 — Livestock, methane, and climate change: reframing the debate; “One of the biggest myths in the vegan and plant-based diet community is that there’s no way to raise cows for food that doesn’t contribute to climate change. On the contrary, several recent studies have shown that regenerative livestock production can have a positive impact on the climate. A study published in May 2022 highlighted the issues with most assessments of livestock’s role in climate change. Most of them do not take a holistic approach and consider the full life cycle and benefits of diverse livestock systems, including ‘supporting livelihoods, providing high-quality nutrition, enhancing biodiversity, protecting landscapes, and sequestering carbon.’ Check out my recent podcast with Ridge Shinn and Lynne Pledger to learn more about how regenerative grazing supports our health and ecosystem.” — Chris Kresser link
53. Feb 19, 2023 — Dirt to Soil: A Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture; “The challenge facing most farmers today is that conventional agriculture has decimated the topsoil with tilling and synthetic fertilizers, which disrupt and destroy the microbial life necessary to grow nutrient-dense food. Mycorrhizal fungi grow in healthy soils and are responsible for nutrient transfers between plants and soil biology. The most critical thing in a plant’s life is its relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, which is why tillage and synthetic chemicals should be avoided. The five basic principles for building a healthy soil ecosystem are: not disturbing the soil microbiome, protecting the soil surface with cover crops, diversification, maintaining living roots in the ground as long as possible and integrating livestock and insects. For change to occur, farmers must decide they want to change, and consumers must demand nutrient-dense foods produced in a regenerative manner that benefits the ecosystem as a whole. The farm program keeps farmers trapped in the conventional model, which destroys soil — an essential resource — and locks them into a monocrop system with dwindling financial returns.” — Dr. Joseph Mercola link
54. Jan 31, 2023 — 4 reasons growing your own food ensures food security — Jim Gale, Food Forest Abundance (Unite) 1-min video
55. Jan 11, 2023 — Freedom Leaders take a tour of Galt’s Landing; “A huge part of health sovereignty is about growing your own food and Food Forest Abundance is here to show you how.” — Jim Gale, Food Forest Abundance (Unite) 22-min video
56. Nov 9, 2022 — Farm-free food and farming: are these the only options for planetary health?; “The Soil Sisters offer a different perspective, arguing that a transition from industrial farming, not to farm-free foods, but to agro-ecological farming, holds the key to planetary and human survival.” — Rob Verkerk PhD, Alliance for Natural Health link
57. Sep 14, 2022 — Chickens – The Permaculture Gateway Animal; “This article covers how to incorporate chickens as part of a permaculture property, the design of “chicken gardens” and how to provide as much food as possible from your farm or garden for your chickens. I’ll also touch on a few factors that affect the egg production of hens.” — Graham Towerton, Food Forest Abundance link
58. May 27, 2022 — Livestock, methane, and climate change: The politics of global assessments; “The article argues for a holistic systems approach that takes account of diverse livestock systems—both intensive and extensive—including both positive and negative impacts. In particular, the potential benefits of extensive livestock systems are highlighted, including supporting livelihoods, providing high-quality nutrition, enhancing biodiversity, protecting landscapes, and sequestering carbon. By failing to differentiate between livestock systems, global assessments may mislead. Inappropriate measurement, verification and reporting processes linked to global climate change policy may in turn result in interventions that can undermine the livelihoods of extensive livestock-keepers.” — Ian Scoones, WIREs Climate Change link
59. May 20, 2022 — Regeneration International COP15 Side Event: Greening the Desert; “Precious Phiri, Oliver Gardiner and André Leu give presentations about multiple benefits of Regenerative Agriculture to regenerate degraded arid and semi-arid landscapes.” — Regeneration International, YouTube 55-min video
60. Dec 22, 2021 — Brittany Shows Us Around Main Street Food Forest in Bastrop, TX — John Bush 23-min video
61. Aug 4, 2021 — Community Gardens Are Growing Health, Food, & Opportunity — Ocean Robbins, Food Revolution Network link
62. Jun 24, 2021 — Eating All Parts of the Plant is Essential; “Just as the human being has a head or nervous system, a rhythmic or chest system, and a metabolic/limb region, the plant is divided into root, leaf/stem and flower/fruit regions. In essence, the plant is an upside-down person, with its sense organs fixed in the soil and its reproductive system reaching to the sky. A healing and complete vegetable diet takes advantage of this correspondence between the plant and human, meaning, each day we eat roots, leaves and fruits.” — Dr. Tom Cowan link
63. Sep 24, 2020 — How Does Nutrient-Depleted Soil Impact Our Food, and What Can We Do to Fix It?; “The plants we eat require soil to grow, and the animals we eat require plants to grow. Soil is vital for human survival, yet modern farming and agricultural practices are quickly destroying it. Worldwide, one-third of the Earth’s soil is at least moderately degraded, and over half of the land used for agriculture has some level of degradation.” — Katie Melville PhD link
64. Jan 9, 2015 — What is Food Security? “Food Security means that all people at all times have physical & economic access to adequate amounts of nutritious, safe, and culturally appropriate foods, which are produced in an environmentally sustainable and socially just manner, and that people are able to make informed decisions about their food choices. Food Security also means that the people who produce our food are able to earn a decent, living wage growing, catching, producing, processing, transporting, retailing, and serving food. At the core of food security is access to healthy food and optimal nutrition for all. Food access is closely linked to food supply, so food security is dependent on a healthy and sustainable food system.” — Over Grow the System, Resilience link
65. No Date — Study: Pesticides, Toxic Heavy Metals Lower in Hydroponic Vegetables Than in Conventional Samples; “A recent study comparing the presence of chemical contaminants in conventionally and hydroponically grown produce found pesticide residues in a larger number of conventional samples than in hydroponic samples, as well as significantly higher levels of lead and cadmium in conventionally grown produce. Phthalate levels were consistent between conventional and hydroponic samples… 84% of conventionally grown vegetables contained pesticides… [and were] in… 30% of the hydroponic samples… 51% of the conventionally grown samples contained two or more pesticide residues, compared to 7% in the hydroponic samples. The frequency of detection of insecticides was significantly higher for conventional samples (57%) than that of hydroponic samples (12%), as well as for fungicides (40% of conventional versus 5% of hydroponic samples). The researchers explain that this is due to the decreased need for pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides in hydroponic operations, as the absence of soil in the cultivation of hydroponic crops means there are no soilborne hazards to control.” — Food Safety Magazine link
66. No Date — Best Management Practices for Farmers Using Seeds Treated With Neonicotinoid Insecticides; “Do not use seed treated with neonicotinoids unless there is a specific pest problem that can be effectively managed with a neonicotinoid seed treatment. When the use of neonicotinoids is not warranted, purchase seed that is not treated with this group of chemicals.. If seed selection is limited, contact your seed company’s field representative to request increased selection and availability of seed that is not treated with neonicotinoids… Before planting with seeds treated with neonicotinoids, notify any nearby beekeepers, so that they can protect their bees. Also remove flowering plants from the field and field edges by mowing or tillage…” — Dr. Kimberly Stoner link
67. No Date — Leading the Regenerative Revolution in Mind, Body & Planet; “Big farming encourages practices that harm the soil, waste fertilizer and boost herbicide use, which all increase the emissions of greenhouse gas. At the same time, conventional agriculture discourages practices that could improve soil health and offset dangerous emissions… That’s why we are dedicated to… Regenerative Agriculture, Nutrition and Climate Health… Here are a few ways we focus on carbon sequestration at our farms: No-till farming… natural grazing… cover crops & crop rotations… [and] reducing plastic usage.” — Ancient Nutrition link
68. No Date (Mar 13, year unknown) — The Difference Between Fertilizer And Compost; “People who are practicing permaculture or other sustainable agriculture methods are always wanting to avoid the use of synthetic chemicals, whether for fertilizer or for pest and weed control. Is there a way to manage soil fertility without the use of chemical fertilizers? The answer is most definitely ‘yes.'” — Graham Towerton, Food Forest Abundance link

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