GMO's and Starbucks

[KaraBenNemsi]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

I'm not sure I follow your post.

I wasn't talking about taste.

I was just saying that natural food isn't as good for you as modified food (not taste - I mean health). Personal Opinion. I just don't see how food not modified can be as good as you food not modified. Again, personal opinion. Modified food just seems far more healthier to me.

The word 'natural' is not clearly defined.

For some it could mean 'non-processed', like in a so called 'raw food' diet. Which would encourage using more chewing and more digestive activity by having more natural fibers, less added sugars, no food additives like coloring or preservatives, etc.

For others it means growing something on a range versus in a greenhouse. Some companies only slap the word on a package to give the appearance of a small farm and a healthy environment. The GMO industries claim that it just takes undesirable features out of an otherwise 'natural' crop.

Your interpretation would describe non-modified versus any modified crop. Crops and domestic animals are nearly all modified through cross or selective breeding. And have therefore more desirable features ( higher yield, better taste). Nobody opposes or demands labeling for those. I.e. wild apples are not really digestible, tiny, and quite sour if one is even able to find them. Wild tuna can contain high levels of mercury.

'Natural' doesn't therefore automatically mean better. Yet trust in the word 'modified' would also be a blanket statement which may not hold up over time. We know now that many food improvements did not work out that great. Also particular diet fads are often smug marketing campaigns with some scientific reasoning attached.

Sugar for instance is marketed as natural sugar, raw sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, pure sugar, high fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice (my favorite!), sucrose, etc.

We know more and more now that ANY sugar is processed and pretty bad for us. Modification doesn't make it healthier, just cheaper and more prevalent in ever more food products. Honey, in a raw form, is perfectly preserved and sweetens without ruining our insulin production system--it's expensive. Modified honey on the store shelves is mostly corn syrup, overheated or not honey at all, watery, coloring, and ...cheap.

I am a big sceptic towards the 'organic' industry because contamination for e-coli, molds, is not or very spotty enforced. Farmers cut corners, and when small enterprises get automatic certification it can be outright dangerous with what corners they cut to make some profit. 'NAtural' could be outright dangerous there.

All very confusing and I don't envy the FDA for the job to give 'Natural' a definition. But it has a strong marketing pull and needs regulation.