Doctor Warns: Eat This and You’ll Look 5 Years Older

By Dr. Mercola

In the early 1990's, soy and soy products exploded onto the supermarket scene with promises of bountiful health benefits.

This "new miracle food," soy, was supposed to lower cholesterol, take the heat out of hot flashes, protect against breast and prostate cancer and offer a filling alternative to earth-loving vegetarians.

The problem with these claims?

Most of them are false.

Sadly, most of what you have been led to believe by the media about soy is simply untrue.

The sudden upsurge in the recommendation of soy as a health food has been nothing more than a clever marketing gimmick to further reduce the cost and nutritional content of your food.

For you vegetarians out there staring at the screen in open-mouthed shock, fear not.

There are plenty of other healthy vegetarian alternatives, which I will discuss later in this article.

What was once considered a minor industrial crop back in 1913 now covers over 72 million acres of farmland.

But first, let's examine the dangers and side effects of soy protein isolate and GMO foods.

Soy Protein Isolate -- What is It, and How is it Getting in My Food?

The Soyfoods Association of America has a soy protein "fact sheet" defining soy protein isolate as the following:

"Soy protein isolate is a dry powder food ingredient that has been separated or isolated from the other components of the soybean, making it 90 to 95 percent protein and nearly carbohydrate and fat-free."

Soy protein isolate can be found in protein bars, meal replacement shakes, bottled fruit drinks, soups and sauces, meat analogs, baked goods, breakfast cereals and some dietary supplements.

Bodybuilders beware: because many weight gainer powders, bars and shakes contain this dangerous ingredient and it can cause troubling side effects such as diminished libido and erectile dysfunction -- and this is just the start. You'll find out more about these disturbing health effects later on in this article.

Even if you are not a vegetarian and do not use soymilk or tofu, it is important to become a label reader. There are so many different names for soy additives, you could be bringing home a genetically modified soy-based product without even realizing it. Dr. Daniel offers a free Special Report, "Where the Soys Are," on her Web site. It lists the many "aliases" that soy might be hiding under in ingredient lists -- words like "boullion," "natural flavor" and "textured plant protein."

Here are a few other names soy tends to hide under:

• Mono-diglyceride
• Soya, Soja or Yuba
• TSF (textured soy flour) or TSP (textured soy protein)
• TVP (textured vegetable protein)
• Lecithin
• MSG (monosodium glutamate)

Not all textured vegetable protein is made from soy, but a great deal of it is. Lecithin can be made from soy, eggs, sunflower or corn. Be sure to contact the manufacturer to find out which is in your product if the label doesn't reveal this information.

GMO -- Making Soy Even Worse

One of the worst problems with soy comes from the fact that 90 to 95 percent of soybeans grown in the US are genetically modified (GM), and these are used to create soy protein isolate.

Why the genetic tinkering?

Genetically modified soybeans are designed to be "Roundup ready." That's right, they are chemically engineered to withstand heavy doses of herbicides without killing the plant! What does this mean for your health and the health of your unborn or yet-to-be-conceived children? Read on.

GM Soy Can Lead to Hormonal Disruption and Miscarriages

The active ingredient in Roundup herbicide is called glyphosate, which is responsible for the disruption of the delicate hormonal balance of the female reproductive cycle.

"It's an endocrine buster," says UK pathologist Stanley Ewen, "that interferes with aromatase, which produces estrogen."

What's more, glyphosate is toxic to the placenta, which is responsible for delivering vital nutrients from mother to child, and eliminating waste products. Once the placenta has been damaged or destroyed, the result can be miscarriage. In those children born to mothers who have been exposed to even a small amount of glyphosate, serious birth defects can result.

In an excellent summary of glyphosate-related effects by the Pesticide Action Network, Dr. Andres Carrasco of the Embryology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine in Buenos Aires, simply and expertly explains the serious risks for unborn children exposed to Roundup-laden GMO soy products.

Amphibian embryos were exposed to a tiny concentration of glyphosate (diluted 5000 fold) and showed the following effects:

"Effects included reduced head size, genetic alterations in the central nervous system, increased death of cells that help form the skull, deformed cartilage, eye defects, and undeveloped kidneys. Carrasco also stated that the glyphosate was not breaking down in the cells, but was accumulating.

The findings lend weight to claims that abnormally high levels of cancer, birth defects, neonatal mortality, lupus, kidney disease, and skin and respiratory problems in populations near Argentina's soybean fields may be linked to the aerial spraying of Roundup."

The long-term effects of the human consumption of genetically modified soy and soy-based products are staggering.

In April 2010, researchers at Russia's Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Association for Gene Security found that after feeding hamsters GM soy for two years over three generations, by the third generation, most lost the ability to have babies! Now, let's take a close look at some of the health risks to YOU as a result of eating genetically modified soy.

Infertility in Women

Do you want to start a family? Have you had any trouble conceiving, perhaps due to irregular menstrual cycles or endometriosis? Have you ever experienced a miscarriage?

If so, what you're about to read will shock you.

A Brazilian study published in 2009 looked at the impact of soy on the reproductive system of female rats. Female rats fed GM soy for 15 months showed significant changes in their uterus and reproductive cycles, compared to rats fed organic soy or no soy.

Extrapolating the findings to people, women who eat genetically modified soy products, such as the soy protein isolate in processed vegetarian fare, may be more likely to experience severe hormonal disruptions, including an overabundance of estrogen, a hair-growth stimulating hormone, and damage to the pituitary gland.

According to Dr. Stanley Ewen, the female rats fed GM soy probably had an increase in progesterone, which could cause an increase in the number of eggs released during each ovulation cycle.

You might think this would lead to an increase in fertility. However, as discussed in an article by Jeffrey Smith, women who consume genetically modified soy products are at increased risk for developing retrograde menstruation (the menstrual cycle backs up into the body instead of outward), causing endometriosis, which can lead to infertility.

The consumption of soy protein isolate and other soy-based products can also lead to abnormally heavy or longer menstrual periods. This is called menorrhagia and, ironically, some commercials have been popping up with a new pill that supposedly offers the "cure" for this "mystery syndrome."

When in reality the real cure for some women is as simple as removing soy and soy-based products from the diet. The negative effects of soy are not restricted to women, however.

Loss of Libido & Erectile Dysfunction in Men

Guys, do you enjoy protein bars or use a weight gainer shake? If so, be sure to read the label to see if the products you use contain any soy ingredients. Did you know that celibate monks living in monasteries and leading a vegetarian lifestyle find soy foods quite helpful for dampening libido?

Another drawback: Soy has also been linked to erectile dysfunction. The two natural drugs found in soy, genistein and daidzein, mimic estrogen so well that they have been known to cause a variety of alarming side effects in men:

• Breast enlargement (gynecomastia)
• Decreased facial and body hair growth
• Decreased libido
• Mood swings and frequent crying jags
• Erectile dysfunction
• Lowered sperm count

For example, one recent study documented a case of gynecomastia in a 60-year-old man as a result of his soy consumption. Another study showed that juvenile rats exposed to daidzein showed impaired erectile function at maturity.

Men, if you've experienced one or any of these symptoms, soy could be the culprit. Remove it from your diet, but be sure to consult a trusted physician if your symptoms do not improve or get worse as this could be a sign of another serious condition.

The Healthy Aspects of Soy: Fermented vs. Unfermented

In order to back up the claim that soy is a health food, privately funded "researchers" have been quick to point out that Asians, who consume a diet high in soy, have less risk of breast, uterine and prostate cancer. Unfortunately, they leave out two very important points:

• Asians, especially the Japanese, while having a decreased risk of the above-mentioned cancers, have a much higher risk of developing cancer of the esophagus, thyroid, stomach, pancreas and liver!
• Asians also consume a diet rich in fermented soy, which is the only type of soy to offer health benefits.

The reason Asians have an increased risk for some cancers is the same reason they do not develop others: unfermented soy. The soy marketing and promotion gurus left out this critical piece of information. Would you rather have one cancer over another? Isn't that like asking whether or not you'd like to be whacked in the head with a two-by-four vs. a wooden stick?

You might be asking yourself what the big difference is between consuming a fermented soy product such as, say, tempeh, vs. tofu or a veggie burger. I'm here to tell you, the difference is night and day.

Unfermented AND fermented soy contains hormonal mimics in the form of isoflavones which can not only disrupt delicate hormone systems in your body, but also act as goitrogens, substances that suppress your thyroid function. When the thyroid is suppressed, a host of health problems result, namely:

• Anxiety and mood swings
• Insomnia
• Difficulty losing weight
• Difficulty conceiving children
• Digestive problems
• Food allergies

And so much more. No wonder soy can lead to thyroid, esophagus and stomach cancer! Unfermented soy is also chock full of phytic acid, an "antinutrient" responsible for leeching vital nutrients from your body. Phytic acid also blocks the uptake of essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc especially.

Now, fermented soy products do provide health benefits.

As I mentioned in my previous article, some examples of healthful fermented soyproducts are as follows:

• Tempeh, a fermented soybean cake with a firm texture and nutty, mushroom-like flavor.
• Miso, a fermented soybean paste with a salty, buttery texture (commonly used in miso soup).
• Natto, fermented soybeans with a sticky texture and strong, cheese-like flavor.
• Soy sauce, which is traditionally made by fermenting soybeans, salt and enzymes; be wary because many varieties on the market today are made artificially using a chemical process.

For those of you who enjoy tofu, I'm sorry to say it didn't make this list because tofu is an unfermented soy product.

So, What Are The Health Benefits of Fermented Soy Products?

The claim that soy products can prevent osteoporosis, decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia and protect you from cancer of the prostate, lung and liver is actually true, but ONLY if the soy is fermented.

How?

The process of fermenting soy destroys the above-mentioned dangerous substances, thereby making it fit for consumption. Also, fermented soy products such as those listed above are a rich source of vitamin K2, a vitamin that works in harmony with vitamin D to keep you healthy. Vitamin K regulates your body's blood clotting ability and helps prevent cancer, osteoporosis and heart disease. And vitamin D is essential to the function of every system in your body.

Warning to Vegetarians about the Risk of Mineral Deficiency

Since phytic acid or phytates sap the nutrients from your body, if you're eating a vegetarian diet that has replaced meat with mostly unfermented soy such as veggie burgers containing GMO soy protein isolate, you are at risk for severe mineral deficiency.

In addition to this nutrient loss, many processed veggie burgers and the like are packed with harmful artificial flavorings, particularly MSG and textured vegetable protein products to give them their strong "meat" flavor.

What's even worse is the process soy has to go through to become soy protein isolate. Acid washing in aluminum tanks, which is designed to remove some of the antinutrients (but the results often vary widely), leeches aluminum into the final product. Aluminum can have adverse effects on brain development and cause symptoms such as:

• Antisocial behavior
• Learning disabilities
• Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia

As I mentioned in a previous article about soy, this makes processed vegetarian fare more palatable, but far from nutritious. Vegetarians have plenty of options for well-rounded, nutritious meals without needing to eat soy or soy-based products.

• Beans are an inexpensive, protein-rich food that can be eaten alone, added to salads or served as a side dish. Be sure to purchase organic dried beans and cook them at home to avoid the adverse health effects of eating canned food. Ideally is it also best to soak them for at least 12 hours before cooking them.
• Nuts are also an excellent source of protein. For optimal health benefits, reach for organic nuts such as almonds or walnuts, instead of overly processed mixed nuts.
• Quinoa is a gluten free grain that can be enjoyed as a cereal, side dish or added to homemade vegetable stews as a thickener.
• Flaxseed, which is rich in essential omega 3 fats like ALA, is an excellent source of protein. Add it to salads or sprinkle it over yogurt to infuse your meal with vital nutrients. However, it is important to grind flax seeds just prior to eating them because100 percent of commercially ground flaxseeds are rancid. Hemp seeds are also an excellent source of protein.

Hope for the Lactose Intolerant

If you suffer from lactose intolerance and have been replacing milk with soy, you have three more healthful options: Almond milk, and now hemp milk. All are nutritious alternatives to soy, and almond milk has a richer, heartier flavor. Hemp milk is a very creamy, high protein alternative to soymilk, and it's easy to blend your own by whizzing up hemp seeds and water in a high-speed blender.

Babies -- Birth Control in a Bottle

As stated in a number of previous articles, soy formula is one of the most dangerous foods you can feed your baby!

"In 1998, investigators reported that the daily exposure of infants to isoflavones in soy infant formula is 6 to11 times higher on a body-weight basis than the dose that has hormonal effects in adults consuming soy foods. Circulating concentrations of isoflavones in infants fed soy-based formula were 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than plasma estradiol concentrations in infants on cow's milk formula."

What does this mean? Feeding your infant soy-based formula can cause a host of health problems including:

• Behavioral problems
• Food allergies and digestive distress
• Early puberty and fertility problems (including the inability to menstruate)
• Asthma
• Precocious puberty for girls and gynecomastia (man boobs) for boys
• Thyroid disease
• Cancer

As I concluded in my article on infant formula, babies who are fed exclusively from the breast from birth to six months enjoy health benefits such as:

• Lower risk of respiratory tract and middle ear infections
• Lower risk of eczema
• Lower risk of obesity
• Added protection against heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and allergies
• Improved brain function and immune system function

Soy formula is also laden with toxic chemicals such as aluminum and manganese, which can cause both physical and mental health problems, learning disabilities, brain damage and behavioral problems. If, for some reason, you are unable to breastfeed or have adopted a baby, look into these recipes for homemade infant formula.

School Lunch -- Children's Nutrition Left Behind

In order to comply with new US Government standards, soy products are now being used to replace whole, nutritious foods in school lunches. Due to the decreased fat content of soy, it is touted as a healthful alternative to the meat and dairy of yesterday's hot meal.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Soy added to your child's hot lunch depletes the necessary nutrients needed for healthy growth and has been linked to learning disabilities. I encourage you to watch this sobering video to learn more about the dangers in your child's school lunch. Do your children a favor and send them to school with a healthy, home-packed meal.

Senior Citizens -- Aging Less Gracefully

According to a study done by Dr. Lon White of the Hawaii Center for Health Research, senior citizens who consumed a lot of tofu in mid-life were more likely to experience accelerated brain aging and a more pronounced loss of cognitive function.

"What's more," said Dr White, "those who ate a lot of tofu, by the time they were 75 or 80, looked five years older."

If you're heading toward your golden years and are looking to avoid soy protein, become a label reader. Meal replacement drinks like Ensure are filled with soy protein and are best avoided. As you can see, unfermented soy is anything but a health food.

Do your own research, try eliminating it from your family's diet and judge the results for yourself. Remember, an educated consumer is an armed consumer. Big companies can only produce and sell these harmful products as long as you're buying them.

Vote with your wallet by spending your money on healthier alternatives!

The top 10 breakfast cereals most likely to contain Monsanto's GMO corn

(NaturalNews) By now, nearly everyone interested in healthy living is aware of the recent research linking Monsanto's GMO corn to cancer tumors and an increase risk of premature death in both men and women. News of the research is spreading like wildfire across the 'net, and support for Proposition 37 -- which seeks to label GMOs in foods -- is growing by the day.

But the media has not yet reported on the everyday foods being sold in grocery stores right now and made with Monsanto's genetically modified corn (GM corn). Which foods are most likely to contain Monsanto GM corn? To answer this question, I visited a local grocery store in Austin, Texas and purchased 10 breakfast cereals made with high levels of non-organic corn.

According to the Center for Food Safety, up to 85% of the corn grown in the United States is genetically modified. This means corn-based cereals that use non-organic corn have a very high likelihood of containing GM corn.

The following list presents the top 10 popular breakfast cereals most likely to contain Monsanto's genetically modified corn. For the record, none of these cereals claim to be GMO-free, nor made with organic corn. The exact GMO content of these cereals remains a mystery precisely because manufacturers of these cereals refuse to label them with their GMO content. This lack of full disclosure by the food industry underscores the urgent need for a labeling law so that consumers can make an informed decision.

Legal note: In no way are we claiming these cereals will cause cancer tumors to grow in your body or that they pose an immediate risk to your health. Those studies have not yet been done on humans. GM corn is an experimental crop with unknown long-term effects of humans. Breakfast cereals made with GM corn may turn out to pose a significant long-term risk to human health, but that has not yet been determined. This article is presented in the public interest, reflecting reasonable caution over a common food ingredient which French scientists have now convincingly linked to cancer and premature death in studies conducted on rats.

The top 10 popular breakfast cereals most likely to contain Monsanto's GM corn

Cocoa Puffs and Corn Chex


Frosted Flakes and Honey Graham Oh's


Honey Nut Chex and Kashi Heart to Heart


Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Kellogg's Corn Pops


Kix and Barbara's Bakery Puffins Peanut Butter

Which cereals contain no GMOs? Nature's Path

There is only one brand of breakfast cereal I know of that's 100% non-GMO and 100% organic across their entire product line. That company is Nature's Path:

If you buy breakfast cereal, and you don't want to eat Monsanto's GM corn, always choose cereals from Nature's Path. This is my No. 1 most highly trusted cereal company.

Many "natural" brands that appear to be healthful and natural are actually not organic or GMO-free. For example, "Barbara's Bakery" cereals are not organic. Although they are positioned in store shelves alongside other organic cereals, they are actually made with conventional crops grown with pesticides which may include Monsanto's Roundup.

You may also notice that most of the cereals most likely to contain GM corn are children's cereals. It is the children in America who are being fed the most GMOs. This represents a highly unethical food experiment being conducted on an entire generation, and the long-term effects of human consumption of GMOs are simply not known.

What we do know is that rats fed this very same Monsanto GM corn developed shockingly large cancer tumors.

The photo released by the French research team, showing large cancer tumors growing at a strongly heightened risk in rats fed a "lifetime" of Monsanto's GM corn, is shown below. According to that study, 70% of females died premature and showed significant damage to their liver, kidneys and other organs.



Pretty crazy, huh?

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/037315_Monsanto_GM_corn_breakfast_cereals.html#ixzz2FQlWb0Yq

The Terrific Thanksgiving Turkey

  

Why we like Gingerbread

Salad Stats: The Financial Impact of a Fresh Favorite

(NaturalNews) The root of good and bad health resides in the gut. This is a centuries old maxim of both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and India's Ayurvedic medical practices.

Over the last few decades, renegade MD's, holistic practitioners, chiropractors, and alternative health nutritionists have realized this basic truth as well. This ancient health maxim has even been determined to affect mental health, where the gut is tagged as a second brain.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has embraced this wisdom and developed the GAPS (gut and psychology syndrome) diet, which has a proven track record of returning autism spectrum children to normalcy. For starters, she experimented on her autistic son and cured him.

Dr. Campbell-McBride and others have determined that high fiber foods wind up feeding pathogenic bacteria if they greatly outnumber probiotic bacteria. This is the case with Candida overgrowth and other parasitic or pathogenic bacteria situations.

Once there is a serious intestinal flora imbalance, fibers feed the bad guys. Then, initially abstaining from plant fiber foods is recommended.

When the beneficial probiotic bacteria to pathogenic bacteria balance is restored to around 80/20, then a high fiber diet is a good idea again. If that's not an issue and you're doing okay using a diet with various fibrous plant foods, disregard abstaining from high fiber foods.

All this requires paying attention to your body's reaction to the foods you eat.

Five food suggestions for healing the gut

[1] If you think your gut bacteria ratios are heavily out of whack, eliminating high fiber beans and grains may be necessary for a while. One way to reduce fibers is to rely heavily on soups, good dairy, free range eggs, and meats from grass-fed livestock.

But you can stick with veggies by juicing often with a slow speed masticating juicer that separates the liquid from the pulp.

[2] At first, it may be necessary to use high quality probiotic supplements. But fermented foods and beverages should be added with gusto. Miso, Kimchi, live yogurts, kombucha, water kefir, and milk kefir are excellent sources of beneficial bacteria.

Amazingly, probiotic microbes also chelate heavy metals and eliminate them with the stool. Just make sure you use water that's been de-chlorinated and de-fluorinated for water-based beverages.

Though not required, raw milk is ideal for milk kefir and homemade live yogurts. Fermented foods and/or beverages are vital additions to anyone's diet. Read more here: (http://www.naturalnews.com/027554_kefir_water_grains.html) and/or here: (http://www.naturalnews.com/033675_fermented_foods_probiotics.html)

[3] Intestinal villi are tiny tubular protrusions on your gut's inner lining responsible for absorbing nutrients from food particles. Leaky gut syndrome and Celiac disease nullifies them. Here's an easy, tasty Ayurvedic remedy to recover your intestinal villi.

A couple hours after your last daily meal, take a tablespoon of organic raisins mixed with a tablespoon of organic raw sesame seeds. Chew the mixture well before swallowing on a daily basis. That's it.

[4] Coconut oil, preferably organic cold pressed, contains medium chain fatty acids that are easily converted into energy. It is also anti-microbial and anti-fungal, another remedy for getting rid of your gut's bad guys.

When it comes to fats, another source recommends trying for 1:1 omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid balance. Chia seeds form a soothing soluble fiber gel while providing omega-3, and of course krill and fish oils do also. Cold pressed virgin olive oil is a great source of omega-6.

[5] High quality marine phytoplankton in liquid form is probably the most nutrient packed green micro-algae superfood around, even outdoing chlorella and spirulina.

You'll get plenty of protein and more from any of those even while avoiding or restricting high fiber foods. But the right phytoplankton is the most super superfood according to Health Ranger Mike Adams. (http://www.naturalnews.com/023853_marine_phytoplankton_microalgae.html)

Sources for this article include:

Dr. Campbell-McBride http://www.gaps.me/

The Paleo approach http://paleoparents.com/2012/what-should-you-eat-to-heal-a-leaky-gut/

More food suggestions http://chriskresser.com/9-steps-to-perfect-health-5-heal-your-gut

History and Concepts of food quality and safety in Organic

History and Concepts of food quality and safety in Organic

Organic agriculture is a multifaceted phenomenon in the field of agriculture and food production. On the one hand, it is a low external input production technique originating from both traditional and alternative farming practices developed in the late 19th and early 20th century and from European and

USA contexts of intensive agriculture. On the other hand, it reflects societal debates on the sustainability of agriculture, on food quality and nutritional habits and on ethical issues like animal welfare. A growing number of scientists and policy makers qualify organic agriculture as an efficient and holistic approach to reach the multiple goals of agriculture including food security, sustainable use of natural resources and the dignity of creatures (Jaber, 2000).

Organic farming is a food production method defined at great length in many international (e.g. Codex Alimentarius), supranational (e.g. EU Regulation on Organic Farming) and national (e.g. the US National Organic Program (NOP), the Japanese Agricultural Standard for Organic Products (JAS) or the Swiss Regulation on Organic Farming) standards.

In the developed world, crop production was intensified in the 19th and first half of the 20th century by the use of commercial fertilizers. Soluble phosphorus and nitrogen triggered a first increase in yield levels. The next step in the intensification of agriculture was the widespread use of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides, a practice that also made many conventional farmers feel uncomfortable. The pursuit of yield increases also took hold in livestock husbandry, leading to changes in feeding regimes, industrialized methods for keeping animals and increasing use (and misuse) of veterinary medicines (e.g. antibiotics, anthelmintics) and growth hormones. The arrival andcontinuous expansion of organic farming has to be seen against this background of continuous intensification of food production and the associated negative impact on environment and biodiversity (Stolze  et al., 2000; Stoate  et al., 2001; Pyček  et al., 2005).

Although it is perceived by the public as a rather uniform and regulated farming method, organic farming has had a range of origins and a multifaceted development until standardization started in Europe in the late 1980s. The most important of these historical food and farming concepts are described in this chapter. Although in some cases only of historical interest, these concepts reveal the background of modern organic farming and food processing and help to elucidate some of its characteristics.

Lately, the progress in organic farming has been dominated by standard setting, their harmonization and the introduction of equal certificates. These activities were driven  by (a) fears among organic farmers that organic standards and principles may be compromised by competing strategies like integrated pest management (IPM) or integrated production (IP), (b) consumers who wanted protection from deceit and (c) emerging markets (in particular supermarket chains) in search of certified quality standards. In food markets worldwide, organic foods represented the first food standards, which defined, audited and certified a specific food production process (tracking) rather than specific product properties (e.g. size or colour of vegetables) or composition of the end product (tracing). Such a process-oriented approach in quality management was necessary as organic and conventional foods were difficult to distinguish.

History of different food concepts of organic farming

One of the earliest sources of inspiration for organic farming was the concept of naturalness  of foods. It derived from different ecosocial movements of the early 20th century like the ‘naturalist’, the ‘vegetarian’ and the ‘reform’ philosophies. Of particular influence was the German  Lebensreform  movement, which became important during the time of the Weimar Republic (1919 to 1933). Deteriorations in the living conditions of people during the transition from an agrarian to an industrialised society were correlated with the ‘unnaturalness’ of the living conditions of the cities (Vogt, 2000). Back to nature was seen as an escape and alternative. Medical doctors and nutritionists

like Werner Kollath, Max Bircher-Benner or Stefan Steinmetz propagated whole food (raw vegetables and fruits, whole meal bread or muesli). In this context, the pioneers of ‘natural’ husbandry and gardening, the Germans Julius Hensel, Heinrich Bauernfeind, Ewald Könemann or the Swiss Mina Hofstetter, experimented – among other farming and gardening techniques – with different rock powders as natural fertilizers to cure the negative effects of mineral sources of nutrients (Vogt, 2000). It can be concluded that ‘natural’ husbandry was the first concept of organic farming in Europe, which developequickly from lifestyle movements in the 1920s to an alternative farming method based on the emerging soil and agricultural sciences and on practical farming and gardening experience in the 1930s.

Such idealistic ‘back to nature’ movements also developed in other parts of Europe. Almost contemporaneously, a group of British writers including Harold John Massingham, Adrian Bell and Rolf Gardiner, promoted their vision of a revitalised countryside (Moore-Colyer, 2001). Central to this vision was an agriculture based on organic principles and this movement became one of the origins of Soil Association which was founded in 1946.

The concept of the vitality of food was raised for the first time by Rudolf Steiner in his seven lectures in 1924 (Steiner, 1929). The emphasis of his lectures was less ecological or agronomical, but focused on describing his views on the deterioration of modern food quality. As part of a wider ‘holistic’ philosophy called anthroposophy which covered education, art, social theory and science, Steiner developed a spiritually based plant, animal and human nutrition theory, where the real quality of food was not linked to compounds and their metabolisms, but to the spiritual forces which are supposed to ‘bound’ to them. Many agricultural practices he introduced (e.g. biodynamic preparations, the consideration of lunar or cosmic rhythms when cultivating, sowing or harvesting) aimed to influence these spiritual forces, which were in Steiner’s thinking vital for all organisms (Endres and Schad, 1997). Subsequently, anthroposophic scientists introduced the term ‘vital quality’ (Balzer-Graf and Balzer, 1991; Bloksma  et al., 2001).

The efficacy of the specific biodynamic agronomic measures introduced by Steiner has been studied extensively over the last 75 years, but focused mainly on investigations into the way that lunar cycles and biodynamic preparations affect yield, the composition and the nutritional quality of crops. The relative efficacy of these measures is often considered to be less than that of other agricultural measures like variety choice, the intensity of organic fertilization, soil tillage and/or other permitted plant protection measures. To conclude, the improvements achieved by these specific biodynamic techniques are small, often not reproducible and therefore, from a scientific point of view, obsolete. However disenchanting the lack of activity of these specific measures might be, the overall management approach taken by biodynamic farming as a whole is a surprisingly effective and efficient one. In addition, long-term biodynamic soil management has been shown to achieve greater improvements in soil biological activity, structural stability and inherent fertility than more ‘mainstream’ organic management practices in the long-term field trial DOK where bioDynamic, Organic and conventional (in German Konventionell) plots have been compared since 1977 (Mäder et al., 2002).

Since Steiner’s aim was to improve ‘immaterial’ qualities of foods, anthroposophic scientists have developed analytical methods, which aim to visualize this kind of ‘inner’ quality. This is done by preparing watery solutions of the plant, meat or milk (= juices) which are then brought into reaction with metallic salts like copper chloride (copper chloride crystallization method) or silver nitrate (two different capillary picture methods). The quality of the pictures is either interpreted by visual evaluation or by computerized image texture analysis (Meier-Ploeger  et al., 2003). Both interpretations are reproducible and the results are often correlated with standard food analytical quality parameters (e.g. for a case study comparing organic and conventional apples, see Weibel et al., 2000). The main concept of analysing the pictures created by such methods is that crops grown under optimal biodynamic conditions should have a higher degree of ‘order’ and should be better organized and structured. However, there are currently no sound scientific data that validate and calibrate such methods against standard food composition and metabolic profiling analyses and no studies that demonstrate that consumption of food showing a greater level of ‘order’ when assessed by ‘picture forming methods’ results in improved animal or human health. Another important concept introduced by Steiner was that of ‘holism’ or ‘integrity’  of food and farming (Steiner, 1929). Steiner saw a farm as an organism with an inner structure and functionality and not purely as a business with different lines of production. He stressed greatly the common bonds between physiological processes in soils, plants and livestock. This was one reason why organs of cattle (e.g. cow horns or bovine peritoneum) played an important role in the production of biodynamic preparations which aimed to improve soil fertility and plant quality. He believed that, like an organism, a farm has to be managed as a whole unit in its full complexity and integrity.

Steiner was influenced by the theory of ‘emergent properties’ which was developed in the 19th century and which is still used today to characterize very complex systems and phenomena, in nature, physics or engineering (Fromm, 2004). An emergent property can appear when a number of simple subsystems operate as a collective and show more complex and often unexpected behaviours which cannot be explained by adding up the behavior of the single subsystems. As a consequence, biodynamic farmers are very sceptical about isolated partial interventions (e.g. phytomedical treatments) and rely very much upon preventive and long-term strategies of farm management.

The concept of self regulating and healthy systems was introduced by the English pioneer Sir Albert Howard who stated in the 1930s: ‘[E]vidence for the view that a fertile soil means healthy crops, healthy animals, and healthy human beings is rapidly accumulating. At least half of the millions spent every year in trying to protect all three from disease in every form would be unnecessary the moment our soils are restored and our population is fed on the fresh produce of fertile land’ (Howard, 1942). Lady Eve Balfour, the founder of the Soil Association in Great Britain later described the same concept: ‘The health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible’ (Balfour, 1943). To some extent this concept of a self-regulating nature dovetailed with the idealisation of nature by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In Albert Howard’s words:

The crops and livestock look after themselves. Nature has never found it necessary to design the equivalent of the spraying machine and the poison spray for the control of insect and fungus pests. There is nothing in the nature of vaccines and serums for the protection of the livestock. It is true that all kinds of diseases are to be found here and there among the plants and animals of the forest, but these never assume large proportions. The principle followed is that the plants and animals can very well protect themselves even when such things as parasites are to be found in their midst. Nature’s rule in these matters is to live and let live (Howard, 1943).

 

Source: Handbook of organic food safety and quality

Edited by

Julia Cooper, Urs Niggli and Carlo Leifert

2007, W OODHEAD   PUBLISHING   LIMITED

Cambridge, England