Omnivore's Dilemma Summary

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Do you know what's in your bag of potato chips? Or the cereal you ate this morning?  In Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan many issues about our food system are brought up. GMOs processed food, and fast food could be America's three biggest problems with the food system.  GMOs, fast food, and processed are extremely dangerous to our health causing a host of issues such as heart disease, cancer, depression, and many more.



GMO's are foods that have DNA inserted into them from a completely different organism. For example a scientist may put DNA from a fish into a tomato to make the crop have a larger yield. This may seem like it benefits humans at first, but GMO's can cause massive health risks to humans, the most prevalent one being cancer. …show more content…

It is very hard to avoid GMO's completely because Monsanto owns 80% of the corn market and nearly 93% of the soybean market. These genetically modified foods are in nearly everything we eat and could be slowly killing us. Qutab has also said " Contamination can be a catalyst for dramatic economic losses for farmers who face rejection from export markets that ban GMOs. Organic farmers suffering contamination can lose their organic certification and the premium they earn for their organic crop. As consumer demand for non-GMO products expands, farmers are looking for opportunities to diversify into non-GMO markets that pay higher prices. However, the inability of companies to properly separate GMOs from conventional varieties continues to threaten these options for farmers. "(Qutab)"“Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with genetically modified (GM) food (AAEM 2009),” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. The AAEM has asked physicians to advise all patients to avoid GM foods.[1]" (Smith …show more content…

Processed foods can be processed in the mechanical sense, such as grinding peanuts into peanut butter or freezing meat. These are still whole foods, so they usually don’t have a negative effect on our health. When a food is chemically processed is when problems tend to arise. For example when whole corn is made into corn chips, or when wheat is made into cereal can be extremely unhealthy. An example of the effects of processed foods is "The added salt in many processed foods is primarily a negative point when there is so much salt in everything else we eat. This can result in cramping, water retention and in extremes – heart damage." (Cranston1) The salt is only one example of the dangers of processed food. Other problems would be the various chemicals and trans fats. Cranston also says "Unfortunately the very existence of processed foods, and the fact that they are so easy and convenient to eat, means that people in a rush or low in cash will often choose processed foods rather than think of creative ways to eat fresh foods more cheaply and easily. The fact that it is ‘all too easy’ to take this easier route means that many people aren’t getting the proportion of fresh foods in their diet that they need." (Cranston2) Processed foods have unhealthy amounts of fat salt and calories, and in some cases very few micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. This causes countless adverse health effects, and has

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