I have to confess, I’m not a beer drinker, but there’s someone in my household that loves it, so I had to figure out the truth. Is beer really healthy? Why are the ingredients not listed on the label? Which brands can we trust? Which brands are trying to slowly poison us with cheap and harmful ingredients? All of these questions were going through my head at once at lightning speed. So a year ago, I started to research what was really in beer and after questioning several beer companies, reading books about food science, and talking to experts, the information I discovered was downright shocking.
I see it all the time. Someone who eats organic, makes the right choices at the grocery store, is fit and lives an extraordinarily healthy lifestyle but then drinks beer like it is going out of style.
Caring about what you eat doesn’t necessarily translate into caring about what you drink and this is a HUGE MISTAKE.
Before we get into what exactly is in beer that you should be worried about, let’s talk about how body reacts to alcohol in general.
Alcohol is metabolized by the body differently than all other calories you consume. Alcohol is one of the only substances that you consume that can permeate your digestive system and go straight into your bloodstream. It bypasses normal digestion and is absorbed into the body intact, where it goes straight into the liver.
Your liver is your main fat-burning organ. If you are trying to lose weight or even maintain your ideal weight, drinking alcohol is one of your worst enemies. The liver is going to metabolize alcohol first vs. the fat you want to get rid of – making weight loss even harder. Additionally, one of the primary functions of the liver is to remove environmental toxins from your body – if it is overtaxed with alcohol, the normal removal of these toxins becomes extremely diminished and can result in rapid aging, loss of libido, and other diseases.
The one thing that has gotten me before and I’m sure many of you – is the health marketing claims on alcohol products making drinking them seem like a good idea and an added “benefit” to your health. The low alcohol content of beer makes it appear as an innocuous beverage and something people throw back without even thinking about it. Who hasn’t seen those studies that say a beer a day is great for you (I want to ask who ever stops at just one beer?)?
So, inherently, alcohol by itself is not a healthy person’s best friend – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Beer, especially American beer, is made with all sorts of ingredients beyond the basic hops, malt and yeast. There are numerous other ingredients used to clarify, stabilize, preserve, enhance the color and flavor of beer.
When you drink beer, there is almost a 100% chance that you don’t know what you are drinking (unless you quizzed the beer companies like I did). The ingredients in beer are not required by law to be listed anywhere on the label and manufacturers have no legal obligation to disclose the ingredients. For regular beer, calorie levels and percent alcohol are optional and for light beer calories are mandatory but alcohol levels are optional.
Michele Simon, a public health lawyer, author of Appetite for Profit, and president of Eat Drink Politics told me the reason that beer companies don’t disclose ingredients is simple: they don’t have to.
“Ingredient labeling on food products and non-alcoholic beverages is required by the Food and Drug Administration. But a whole other federal agency regulates beer, and not very well. The Department of Treasury – the same folks who collect your taxes – oversees alcoholic beverages. That probably explains why we know more about what’s in a can of Coke than a can of Bud. You can also thank the alcohol industry, which has lobbied for years against efforts to require ingredient labeling.”
I figured if the beer companies aren’t required to tell us the exact list of ingredients, I needed to investigate this for myself and asked them the pointed questions until I got the truth.
First of all, I was able to obtain a baseline list of “legal” additives allowed in beer from the book “Chemicals Additives in Beer” by the Center of Science and Public Interest. This list allowed me to ask specific questions about each beer I investigated. For example – beer sold here in America can contain several of the following ingredients:
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Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) – alcohol is already addictive with some people, but with MSG?! Holy smokes.
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Propylene Glycol (an ingredient found in anti-freeze)
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Calcium Disodium EDTA (made from formaldehyde, sodium cayanide, and Ethylenediamine)
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Many different types of sulfites and anti-microbial preservatives (linked to allergies and asthma)
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Natural Flavors (can come from anything natural including a beavers anal gland)
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High Fructose Corn Syrup
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GMO Sugars – Dextrose, Corn Syrup
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Caramel Coloring (Class III or IV made from ammonia and classified as a carcinogen)
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FD&C Blue 1 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)
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FD&C Red 40 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)
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FD&C Yellow 5 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)
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Insect-Based Dyes: carmine derived from cochineal insects to color their beer.
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Animal Based Clarifiers: Findings include isinglass (dried fish bladder), gelatin (from skin, connective tissue, and bones), and casein (found in milk)
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Foam Control: Used for head retention; (glyceryl monostearate and pepsin are both potentially derived from animals)
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BPA (Bisphenol A is a component in many can liners and it may leach into the beer. BPA can mimic the female hormone estrogen and may affect sperm count, and other organ functions.)
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Carrageenan (linked to inflammation in digestive system, IBS and considered a carcinogen in some circumstances)
During my investigation, I couldn’t get a single mainstream beer company to share the full list of ingredients contained in their beer. But I did get some of them to fess up to the use of these ingredients in writing so I’m going to share this information with you now.
Carcinogenic Caramel Coloring
Newcastle, a UK brand, confessed to using what I would consider one of the most controversial food additives. Toasted barley is usually what gives beer its golden or deep brown color, however in this case, Newcastle beer is also colored artificially with caramel color. This caramel coloring is manufactured by heating ammonia and sulfites under high pressure, which creating carcinogenic compounds. If beer companies were required by law to list the ingredients, Newcastle would likely have to have a cancer warning label under California law because it is a carcinogen proven to cause liver tumors, lung tumors, and thyroid tumors in rats and mice.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Many of the beers I questioned contained one or more possible GMO ingredients.
- High Fructose Corn Syrup (Guinness – unable to provide an affidavit for non-GMO proof)
- Corn syrup (Miller Light, Coors, Corona, Fosters, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Red Stripe)
- Dextrose (Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch Light, Michelob Ultra)
- Corn (Red Stripe, Miller Coors Brand, Anheuser-Busch Brands)
Most beers brewed commercially are made with more GMO corn than barley. Many of the companies I contacted dodged the GMO question – however Miller Coors had a very forthcoming and honest response. They stated “Corn syrup gives beer a milder and lighter-bodied flavor” and “Corn syrups may be derived from a mixture of corn (conventional and biotech.)”, admitting their use of GMOs.
Pabst Blue Ribbon responded saying their corn syrup was “special” and “made of carbohydrates and some simple sugars like dextrose and maltose. The sugars are fermented into alcohol and CO2, and the carbohydrates, both from the corn syrup and the malt, remain in the beers as flavor, color and body components.”
Dextrose and maltose can come from a variety of substances that are sweet, but likely are derived from GMO corn because it is super cheap for a company to use corn instead of fruit or other non-GMO sources. With cheap beer – you are not just getting a cheap buzz, you are getting the worst of the worst. Just like with cheap fast food – if you don’t invest in your beer – you will be drinking a lower quality product like Pabst Blue Ribbon that is made from GMO Corn and Corn Syrup.
In 2007, Greenpeace found unapproved and experimental GMO Rice strain in Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser, Bud Light) beer. Anheuser-Busch responded saying their US-grown long-grained rice “may have micro levels” of a genetically engineered protein called Liberty Link, but added that the protein is “substantially removed or destroyed” during the brewing of beer sold domestically. Don’t you think it’s hard to trust any beer company that gets caught using experimental food made in a laboratory? GMOs have not been tested long term on human beings and one of the main pesticides (Roundup) they spray on GMO crops are linked to inflammation, cancer and other diseases.
High Fructose Corn Syrup & Fish Bladders
Speaking of trusting companies, let’s get one thing straight, Guinness beer is no longer owned by the Irish, they are now owned by a large beer conglomerate called Diageo and manufactured in over 50 different countries. No matter how many St. Patty’s Day celebrations you’ve had with this dark stout, it’s time to stop because they use high fructose corn syrup in their beer (4/2/14 Update: Guinness Beer claims they do not use high fructose corn syrup any longer, but refuses to disclose ingredient affidavits or full of list of ingredients.) But, Guinness beer also contains isinglass, a gelatin-like substance produced from the swim bladder of a fish. This ingredient helps remove any “haziness,” solids, or yeast byproducts from the beer. Mmmmm… fish bladder sounds delicious, doesn’t? The sneaky thing this beer company does like many of the companies mentioned here today is create an illusion of using the best ingredients when in actuality what they tell you publicly on their websites is a complete farce. On Guinness FAQ’s – they have a question that states: “What are the key ingredients in Guinness” and the answer doesn’t reveal the whole picture – it only states “Our key ingredients – other than inspiration – are roasted, malted barley, hops, yeast and water.” What BS, right? You have to call, email, question and know the right things to ask to even have a chance at getting the truth. This is insanity.
So What Beers Are Additive and GMO Free?
If you enjoy the occasional beer and wish to maintain your healthy lifestyle, choosing one without GMOs and additives is ideal. Unfortunately, most of the mainstream beers available have additives, but luckily, there are a few that don’t. For example, Sierra Nevada, Heineken, and Amstel Light (7/31/13 UPDATE: It has come to my attention that Heinken USA has changed their formula to use GMOs – I called their customer service line 1-914-681-4100 to confirm and asked for the list of ingredients – the man told me “water, yeast, malted barley and hops” – then I asked if their beer contained any genetically engineered material and he confirmed “YES,” but wouldn’t tell me what ingredients are genetically engineered. They recently changed their formula after my initial research that started in late 2012.) (8/1/13 Update: Heineken reached out to me personally to say their customer service department made an error in telling me and others who called their beer has GMOs. I met with a head brew master and have viewed affidavits from the company and confirmed Heinken and Amstel Light do not contain GMOs – they apologize for the confusion.) appear to be pretty clean (but these companies still wouldn’t disclose the full list of ingredients to me. They did say they use non-GMO grains, no artificial ingredients, stabilizers or preservatives).
German Beers are also a good bet. The Germans are very serious about the purity of their beers and enacted a purity law called “Reinheitsgebot” that requires all German beers to be only produced with a core ingredient list of water, hops, yeast, malted barley or wheat. Advocates of German beers insist that they taste cleaner and some even claim they don’t suffer from hangovers as a result.
An obvious choice to consider is also Certified Organic Beers. They are required by law to not include GMOs and other harmful additives. Organic beers also support environmental friendly practices and reduce the amount of pesticides and toxins in our air, support organic farmers – which is a huge plus. (To this day, the beer drinkers in my family haven’t found one they love so if you have suggestions, please let us know in the comments!)
Craft & Microbrews Beers – For certain local craft and micro beers, you can ask those companies for a list of ingredients and many of them will be up front with you. However, companies like Miller Coors are slowly closing in on craft beers and buying them up one by one… like they did when they created the unique popular variety called Blue Moon (the beer you drink with an orange) and Anhesuer-Busch did this with Rolling Rock and Goose Island Brewery. Make sure your favorite craft and microbrew is still independently owned and controlled before taking a sip.
In the end – if you decide to drink beer, you are definitely drinking at your own risk for more reasons than just the crazy ingredients that could be in them. The key point to remember is – if you like to drink beer and want to be healthy, drink it infrequently and quiz the beer companies for the truth. Find a beer that you can trust and stick with it.
For your reference, here are some important questions to ask your favorite beer company:
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What are the ingredients in your beer – all of them from start to finish?
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Are any of your ingredients GMO?
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Do you use any soy, corn, or rice processing ingredients? (Examples include: dextrose, corn syrup, etc.)
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Do you add any natural, artificial flavors or colors to the beer? (Examples include: yellow #5, caramel coloring, red #40, MSG, natural flavors)
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Are there any additional preservatives, stabilizers and/or clarifying agents added to your beer during processing? (Examples include: propylene glycol, Calcium Disodium EDTA, anything ending in “sulfite” like sodium metabisulfite, Heptylparaben, isinglass)
If you know someone who drinks beer – share this post with them.
These ingredients are no joke. We must inform and protect each other from these industrial chemicals, untested and potentially harmful ingredients and it starts by sharing your knowledge with the ones you love.
Bottoms up!
Food Babe
Absolutely! “What we have here is a failure to communicate!”
Here is an author who does not understand beer ingredients or brewing techniques, jumping on the GMO-panic bandwagon with some scaremongering to get more hits on her blog. She is holding up the beers that craft brewers despise (because of their ingredients and techniques) and attempting to damn the entire industry. Sensationalism at its worst.
The only really valid points she brings up that might be news to anybody is that some beers do use artificial colouring (but again, not quality craft brews, just macroswill) and that the dextrose or grains used may not be 100% GMO-free (although she fails to point out that this is due to the suppliers not being required to label their products. Something that GMO labeling legislation would settle, if we can ever get it passed.
i’m against gmo but still love beer…what you know about yuengling? that and their light beer are one of my favorites…
–cheo
I know they use corn grits, but haven’t been able to see their affidavit on whether it is GMO free or not.
So sad we can’t even enjoy anything anymore without someone playing Dr.frankenstein
I agree. I don’t know why I keep reading this site because it always makes me upset. Haha but I can’t stop.
I made beer for years and have been digging PBR while in Raleigh, and that is what I was weaned on, however for bottom lines of USA beer companies I am not surprised so this guy goes back to maybe Leinenkugel I assuem or EU beers like Pilsner Urquell my #1 best to make it yourself and stay away from GMO crap,mexican corn tortillas taste way different than USA made mexican tortillas for sure so….
Does she say that she’s trying to damn the entire industry?? She gives alternatives LIKE independent craft beers, foreign, and certified organic as alternatives. She is not saying “Don’t drink any beer ever again.” If she did, you’d have cause to complain.
Just how many times can you use the words “may”, “possible” or “could contain” and still try to pass it it off as fact?
And if you drink Newcastle Brown Ale, you deserve all you get anyway.
UTB
Grand Rapids Brewing Company is the midwest’s first USDA certified organic brewery, and I can say they have AMAZING beer. I am not a beer aficionado by any means, but I have tried a few in my day and GRBC beer is definitely at the top of my list for flavor. I love their beer, the fact that it is certified organic is just a big plus. Grand Rapids is home to quite a few very good breweries (Founders, Short’s, New Holland, Bell’s, just to name a few) and as far as I know most of them are still independent. GRBC is very highly rated in a town that was voted Beer City USA in 2012 in a nationwide vote.
gthanks for the tip
Bell’s beer in Kalamazoo may not be certified organic (I don’t know), but they’re a proudly independent microbrewery who cares about the purity/integrity of their recipes.
They’re also a good supplier of homebrewing equipment and ingredients.
Interesting. As homebrewer and beer judge I can tell you that bladder may sound disgusting, but I know of no known problems with it health-wise. Obviously mega brewers often, not always, cut corners: not always in the best ways.
You did miss formaldehyde in Heineken. Last I knew they used it.
Still I appreciated the effort.
Tiny little thing but can we all stop calling it St Pattys day? Where the hell did that come from? I literally don’t know anyone in Ireland or Britain that would ever call it that. Its St Patrick or St Paddy, every irishmen I know goes into a rage when they hear anyone call it that. Sorry rant over!!!
Great article, its not just Guiness that use fish bladder its a very common ingredient in most beers and brings up huge issues for the countless vegetarians who oblivious to it. Also whats wrong with MSG? Its a natural occuring chemical that lends great umami taste, when produced in a lab its essentially the same as many of the natural glutamates we eat in high savoury foods. Its only in the West that we have issue with it, the rest of Asia have no problem with it all.
The MSG that is added to food is not the same nor in the same minute quantities that is found naturally. MSG bypasses the blood-brain barrier and changes the chemicals in your brain to make you believe the food taste better. Really, can’t they just make a good product to begin with?? I’m a Dietetic Technician and learned this from an RD while in school.
MSG is a natural product, and has been made since the beginning of prepared food. The Greeks and Chinese developed a simply way of manufacturing it. ROTTING fish in sealed vats for many many months. It’s not a big huge evil chemical, but is still a potent compound that can be completely organic.
Thanks for the comment. Please remember, ROTTING FISH is not the way MSG is produced in the US. This was an old and, perhaps, safer and organic way to produce MSG.
The FDA has admitted that MSG or processed free glutamic acid found in reaction flavors, which are produced from a combination of specific amino acids, reducing sugars, and animal or vegetable fats or oils, and optional ingredients including hydrolyzed vegetable protein, is carcinogenic (Lin, L.J. Regulatory status of Maillard reaction flavors. Division of Food and Color Additives, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, FDA. August 24, 1992; Food Chemical News. May 31, 1993, p 16).
The information above was taken from the TRUTH IN LABELING CAMPAIGN at http://www.truthinlabeling.org.
This is just one of the hazard concerns with using MODERN made MSG. There are many more and MSG does have a cumulative effect, even if you don’t notice anything as you consume it. To each his own but, my wife and I don’t eat it nor do our 3 children, unless it’s hidden in some ingredient we’re not aware of.
My husband loves Samuel Smith Organic Lager! Thanks for the great info!
I was going to say thank you for the idea of asking what’s in your ingredients, because I forgot to on my previous post. Then I go back and don’t see my previous post. I guess my post with the exact reply from Guinness contradicts your blog and you didn’t like that. I firmly believe in GMO labeling and try to avoid GMO’s when I can, but don’t approve of misinformation. I am sure this will be deleted before anyone can see it.
Crazy Bob – I didn’t delete your comment.. but if you are looking for proof from guinness. Here is the email I received from them:
Thank you for taking time to contact Guinness. Your feedback is important to us.
In regard to your inquiry, our key ingredients in Guinness Draught are roasted, malted barley, hops, yeast and water. Regarding our ingredients list as a whole, while we appreciate your interest in Guinness, it is our policy not to provide proprietary information to external parties for private or commercial purposes. Public information regarding our company and brands is available on our website: http://www.diageo.com
Guinness Draught does contain barley and does contain high-fructose corn syrup, but does not contain soy. I don’t currently have information on whether the product contains dextrose, but if you request it I will be happy to forward the inquiry. There are no GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in Guinness Draught. If there is anything else we could help you with now or in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Once again, thank you for contacting Guinness.
Sincerely,
Steve R.
Guinness Consumer Representative
I looked for my original comment and couldn’t find it. So we both got a different response from Guinness so how do we know which was correct? Thank you for the info.
Where do you live? There are different formulations for different countries…
recipes for different countries? My god get your facts straight
From what I have learned, there are different formulations based on a variety of banned ingredients in a variety of countries. How about trying to learn something instead of being so stubborn about being right.
Just so you know, the insect coloring is in pretty much everything that requires artificial coloring. If you start thinking too much about what’s in your food or where it came from… you’ll starve to death. :I
No, you won’t.
You will, however, get to know some really nice people at your local farmer’s market. You will also pay the /actual/ cost of your food, not the subsidized-through-massive-pollution-and-socialized-risk cost that you pay for the crap “food” at the local slop trough, er, mainstream, low-end grocery store.
PS, NOTHING “requires” artificial coloring. Hello?
For the record, it is common knowledge for anyone who takes the time to research it, NO corn except blue corn is uncontaminated by GMO’s now. Even the farmers in Mexico who try very hard to isolate their unique strains of heirloom corn have had their crops contaminated.
true dat, For companies like monsanto its simply all about getting the majority of the market share, the health of our food supply is an after thought. Once GMO crops infect the corn, Monsanto and company can sue on basis of patent rights infringement, now tell me where did the world you once knew go?
There are also GENETICALLY MODIFIED YEASTS.
So be aware that many wines are going to be GMO too. THANK YOU FOOD BABE FOR BRINGING THESE ISSUES TO PUBLIC AWARENESS!
I am curious if anyone has information on Red Wine or Wine in general????? in this regard as what foodbabe has shared…. ??? thanks! from the Pacific Northwest! WA
Wolavers organic beer is my favorite organic beer. We stop at their brewery in vt as often as we can. What people should get out of this is go local with your beer as often as you can it tastes better than that gross mass produced stuff anyway. Btw their IPA is my favorite.
Wolavers is great! Best beer I’ve had. Just took a trip to their brewery in VT last weekend (I’m from NY) and it was awesome. Oatmeal Stout and Wildflower Wheat are my favorites =)
Any Idea on the Genessee Brewing Company, out of Rochester, N.Y. Or Utica Club, out of Utica, N.Y. I like Geneseee, Genny Light, and Saranac brewed by Utica Club.
What about Canadian beer?
I find it hilarious that people are inventing things to be upset about in this day and age. GMO is one of the most important and life-saving inventions of all time, we can’t even feed the entire planet without the technology, no major scientific organization in the world has a position against it, but there are million of people fighting it and some even fearmongering over it’s presence in beer! If people really knew how wrong and pointless their fearmongering and obsession about “purity” in food really was they would be extremely embarrassed…
Joey, you need to do your homework on GMO. It is certainly not needed to feed the world and this type of food manipulation is extremely dangerous to all animals. These products are ALIEN LIFE FORMS never before seen on this planet. Our digestive and immune systems have not had any time (as in millions of years) to adapt through evolution. GMOs cause tumors and infertility just to name a few. You have been brainwashed by the propaganda.
No negative effects have ever been found with GMO. Not when you are talking about credible science that has been peer-reviewed and replicated with sufficient sample size. People have been taking small, poorly done studies by biased people and using them to fearmonger about tumors for decades, all the while never being able to reproduce the effects or prove any of their fears. You just inject this idea that GMOs are dangerous because of evolution, while forgetting that everything in the world is genetically modified, do you realize how old the modern banana is? Oh please no! We must ban bananas! They’ve only existed for 200 years! And you wonder why you’re the laughing stock of modern science? GMO foods have an incredible potential to help end poverty and mitigate the effects of global warming by creating seeds that can cope with the new environment, there is no shortage of expert people fighting your stupid conspiracy theories in public because the stakes are so high. There are no major scientific organizations in the modern world, such as Health Canada, or the American Medical Association, that believe there is any risk with gmo foods. And you take this nearly complete picture as evidence or a global coverup I guess!
HA! The leader of the GMO movement, Jeffery Smith, his greatest scientific training comes from the Maharishi cult! Yeah he’s a yogic flyer! Expert in science! HA!
So what would you say accounts for the steep rise in cancer rates, asthma, autism, degenerative diseases? Serious question. When I see the double blind placebo controlled studies in peer reviewed journals that convince me of the origins of these diseases, then I will drop my suspicion about GMO’s and LOTS of other things. Until then, I am at liberty to be suspicious of whatever I choose. And you are at liberty to be trusting of whatever you choose.
There is no increase in autism rates, there is an increase in diagnosis, this has been well-debunked for a decade now as part of the part to debunk anti-vaccine campaigns. The rate of cancer diagnoses has declined since 1998, no idea what you’re on about there. Your central premise is flawed. There is actually a field devoted to this called Etiology, and they have lots of research that shows just what causes disease most of the time. We know that it’s not GMO. We know it for a fact.
I personally do not care if you do not eat it. But I care that hysterical, paranoid people are scaring others into not accepting it. It has the potential to save and improve the quality of many millions of lives as the population swells to 10 billion around 2050 (where it will reverse).
If it wasn’t for Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution, cross-breeding strains in the last generation to fight famine and increase production, hundreds of millions of people alive today would not be, he is known as “The Man Who Saved A Billion Lives” Guess what, a bunch of environmental loons tried to say his cross-breeding methods were too dangerous! Imagined we listened to them? Now if you go ask him, or Bill Gates, it’s time for another revolution to stave off another disaster. Go ahead, stand in front of it and fight it because you claim a right to your paranoia, but good luck looking at yourself in the mirror. A lot of people have said such threats that millions can be saved from death and disease are part of a conspiracy to help the companies make money or something, feel free to believe that claptrap too. Cheers.
Sorry this won’t let me reply in order for some reason so I have to hit the reply button from an earlier post. Anyway, the better detection theory just doesn’t hold up if you take the time to dig into it. Autism was virtually NONEXISTENT in medical literature 70 years ago for all intents and purposes. I doubt people were that good at hiding their autistic relatives from science and doctors. Now one in 150 are being detected. That isn’t just a rise…its steep, and it qualifies as an epidemic. Your cancer rate of decline since 1998 comment is not correct. I have no idea who told you that, but it is simply false….I just wrote a longish reply to someone else…it applies here too so hope you don’t mind me just responding with it…have to get on with the day, but here it is: “Thanks for the response. I think some of what you said accounts for a fraction of the answer. I should have a citation, you’re right. My career field is spent in cancer detection and treating other degenerative diseases of the GI tract. And right now I’m just too lazy to look one more thing up. But you are absolutely correct that that would add to the credibility of my argument. Maybe later today. The things you mention account for a relatively small increase in rates of cancer and degenerative diseases. Lets make the age cutoff for our rise in rates 50 years old…better detection in people 50 years and younger will account for a relatively small number of cases detected. DNA is important with regard to our predisposition to acquire certain diseases, but DNA can not account for an epidemic. A genetic epidemic is not possible. A virus can cause an epidemic because it is communicable by other people. DNA is not communicable if that makes sense. So there have to be things, or combinations of things, that are specific to our era that account for a large portion of the very steep rise in rates. The trajectory of the rise is that in a short amount of time ONE in ONE people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime. And that is just cancer. If you combine that with the top 20 other lovely degenerative diseases people are experiencing such as MS, Parkinson’s, Lupus, Rhumatoid arthritis, take your pick, then we will have more than one scary battle on our plate in our lifetimes. With all that said, I am not convinced that “fear mongering” is the issue so much as just having legitimate things to be worried about. But thanks again for your response. These discussions are one of the best ways to keep making forward progress in each of our thinking processes. I just wish people didn’t act so angry and defensive about being proven right or wrong. That really stunts progress. What do you think about all this I’ve said? Anyone else have ideas?”
Autism didn’t exist in the medical literature because they never codified a disorder until then. I don’t know what you think medicine was like before the 1930s. Autism was used to describe a wide range of issues including what we see today since the 1900s, and it’s not like they didn’t have children with developmental problems before 1900, that’s just the weakest argument, I can’t believe people think it sounds serious.
You cannot deny that increased diagnosis is a factor, it’s simply a fact of history that more and more doctors were trained on it and more advanced codification was produced for it over time. It’s hard to say exactly that it’s 100% of the rise. Advanced age of the mother and diabetes during pregnancy is a factor, we all know that people have been having babies and getting fatter over the last decades. We can’t rule out anything, but to say that these numbers are part of something nefarious and the numbers don’t lie, that is hysteria, that is anti-vaccine camp fearmongering.
Where did I get my numbers on the decrease of Cancer in the US? From the CDC, the page on their website is “Many Cancer Rates Continue to Decline” The numbers go up to 2008 but the study was done in 2012, it is an annual report. It’s says right there, overall numbers of diagnoses decreased in both male and females. But you tell me that is simply false and then don’t give me a cite to back up an increase?. I wonder where you get your information on disease prevalence if not from the CDC and the NIH like I do?
Then you say that in a short period of time every person will get cancer in their lifetime? Wow where do you get your information from? Natural News? whale.to? It’s decreasing and it sits at 45% for men and 38% for men! Lifetime Risk of Developing or Dying From Cancer
, the article is on cancer.org
Y’know, I think it’s important to remember we’re not debating baseball or the proper way to grill a steak, we’re talking about life and death, and the suffering of millions of people. I think it’s wrong to enjoy proving the other person wrong or to want to put people down, but if you aren’t frank and you don’t treat the situation seriously, that stunts progress too. Hey look at the bright side! I’ve just shown that life is at least 50% less scary than you thought it was! 😀 Less work to do when we finally cure this terrible disease with nanotechnology or something… 😉
Cheers.
As a victim of Morgellons and having taken 8 months off work to fight this, I totally agree with you and any rational person would question why we are being sprayed by chemtrail, poisoned by Monsanto , and crap in our beer. And it all leads to Agenda 21 and has since the 50,s when they started flouridating (fluorosilic acid not fluoride) our water supply
This must only allow one reply per post or something. Out of order again. Thanks for the post and humor! Definitely need some cheering up about this situation. I will give some better citations for my fearmongering later. I agree that spouting misinformation is annoying and totally disclose that I just don’t want to do it right now. I think it would be a good experiment to meet halfway about our autism disagreement….being at complete extreme opposite ends of the argument on this probably means we r both wrong. I still think I’m right. But id be willing to consider that there was large scale undrerdiagnoses even 40 years ago. It was codified and recognized. It was just so rare that seeing a case of it while training to be a doctor was unlikely. We r so far apart on this that the truth is most certainly in the middle.
” If people really knew how wrong and pointless their fearmongering and obsession about “purity” in food really was they would be extremely embarrassed…”
Yeah, they said pretty much the same thing about DES in the 50s. They gave that to women to prevent miscarriages. Since then they have found the daughters have a high risk of cancer or fertility problems, and the newest concern is that these problems are passed on to all their children, male and female alike.
My sister was only 28 when she developed cervical cancer. I spent 3 years going through infertility studies in the early 80s, was pregnant six times, and only had one child. (The tests in the early 80’s, btw, are horrible compared to what they do today.) Since then I have developed so many issues that go back to that one little white pill, that I am begging for financial help to pay for the doctor bills, medicine and equipment I need,
But DES was the be all know all wonder drug that prevented miscarriages.
Only time will tell if you’re right, or the fear-mongers are. And my money isn’t on you.
This isn’t the 1940s. I think medical science has improved a tad since the time doctors were still prescribing women cigarettes for anxiety. That is a drug, we’re talking about food, genetic modification happens all the time in nature. They’ve been testing gmo’s since the 1980s, still zero credible evidence they are dangerous, how long should we wait before time will tell?
from the WHO, “Q: Are the number of cancer cases increasing or decreasing in the world?
A: Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and the total number of cases globally is increasing. ”
It took a thousand years before people figured out mercury was toxic and not to be used as medicine. Heroin was sold in cough syrup for 15 years. Bloodletting, also around for thousand years.
Honestly now, why would you be looking at the global numbers when it’s the US that has been eating the most GMO foods since the 90s? Look at an article on the CDC website “Many Cancer Rates Continue to Decline” For both men and women we see a significant decline in diagnoses. Starting around the time GMOs really hit the mainstream. If your theory is correct, it should be the opposite.
It’s 2013, science progresses like the computer chip, faster and faster, more and more robust, doubling every 18 months or so. You’re not going to win many science-minded converts by fearmongering about bloodletting and mercury in this day and age, sorry.
You might have a point if there wasn’t extremely robust testing on these products going on for several decades now, or if they weren’t going to keep testing it with the same rigor into the future. Or if the only benefit was to some corporation’s bank account. In reality we are talking about the well-being and safety hundreds of millions of people over the next several decades, at some point we have to choose to act on the best available evidence, I’m sure glad I didn’t have my sign out protesting Norman Borlaug’s cross-breeding back in the day, man would that be embarrassing.
umm.. if you think genetic modification happens all the time in nature .. perhaps you need to understand the technology a little better.. because what is happening in labs.. never happens in nature.. ever..
nature does not slice its own genes apart.. insert a piece of these genes into a virus and then use this virus to carry that gene slice into another completely unrelated organism and there by creating an organism that never before existed in the history of the plant.. for example to spider-goat.. (call me silly but i really cant see those two species ever mating and producing offspring in nature, nature has established its own checks and balances that completely prohibits breeding across species barriers, could you begin to imagine if this was not the case)
genetic mutation happens in nature.. which is a far cry from genetic manipulation.. mutations take many many many generations to develop into a distinct species (provided offspring survive and are able to produce their own offspring) and even then they remain in the same genetic family tree as it progenitors
two very different scenarios.. like apple and oranges and yet some might argue they are both fruit
lol, yes human technology doesn’t exist in nature. Genetic modification does. Let me share a story, it’s from Discover Magazine.
“Sixty million years ago, a lemurlike animal—an early ancestor of humans and monkeys—contracted an infection. It may not have made the lemur ill, but the retrovirus spread into the animal’s testes (or perhaps its ovaries), and once there, it struck the jackpot: It slipped inside one of the rare germ line cells that produce sperm and eggs. When the lemur reproduced, that retrovirus rode into the next generation aboard the lucky sperm and then moved on from generation to generation, nestled in the DNA. ”
OOH that sounds nasty!
There are many other ways similar things happen in nature, but I’m not going to go into it. Suffice to say, we understand these things, they aren’t much different from what we already see in nature….
Joey,
First off we still don’t know the total number of issues DES causes. They are still working on what all it has caused. And as I said, they recently discovered it is effecting our children, it’s been 60-70 years now since DES was used. We don’t even know what may happen to our grandchildren because of DES.
Secondly, drug or food, we are ingesting them and they do have effects on the body.
There is a difference between what nature does and what man does as far as genetic modification. In nature it can take 100s of years, with man it’s usually overnight. In nature any modifications are made to plants that will make it better. With man, we do whatever the he!! we want, whether it makes sense or not.
GMOs weren’t in so many items back in the 90s. Very little of the population was exposed. So you really can’t say we’ve been using it long enough to know what side effects we may experience.. How long should we wait? As long as it takes.
So, how many shares in Monsanto do you have?
The difference that we know that drugs have effects on the body. We have never, ever seen a GMO cause anything but a completely normal response in the body. So there is that. The foods are tested for every known harmful substance known to man, and people are tested for allergic reactions of any kind, nothing has never been found.
Actually the vast majority of effects in evolution are detrimental. Positive mutations are extremely rare and random. Next-generation effects happen all the time. Viruses can enter the genome of other organisms. Cross-breeding can take place, natural methods do not guarantee positive results. The WHO states “When new foods are developed by natural methods, some of the existing characteristics of foods can be altered, either in a positive or a negative way” “Indeed, new plants developed through traditional breeding techniques may not be evaluated rigorously using risk assessment techniques.”
Well I think we can agree that some effects should start showing up comparing EU and the US seeing as those people are just absolutely nuts against GMO (to the absolute dismay of most of their prime ministers and environment ministers whose job it is to discern the facts from the hysteria.) I don’t see the US giving it up so we should have our data eventually, no worries! And all you have to do to escape GMO is move to Europe! 🙂
I didn’t buy Monsanto, I should have when I read that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation bought 500 000 shares in 2010. Article says cost was 23m, so that means they were in at 46, and what’s it now? 104! And you know they staggered their way into that one… smooth move Billy! Way to go saving millions of lives as your day job.
seriously.. is it that there isnt enough food in the world to feed everyone.. or that there isnt the will to feed the hungry people who dont have the money to buy said food..
if there wasnt enough food in the world to feed everyone..
then why is there food going bad on grocery store shelves every day.. when people living right down the streets from said grocery stores are going hungry? keeping in mind that many (if not almost all) of these hungry people are holding down jobs and they still can not afford the price of food
why is india exporting record amounts of rice when its own population is going hungry?
logic dictates it is the lack of will to feed the poor rather than a lack of food available to be eaten.. but if the powers that be were to admit to this then they would also have to admit to being part of the problem and they really want to be viewed as part of the solution, even when it really isnt true..because it is much better for the bottom line.. what a sad case of smoke and mirrors, that has potentially devastating consequences for our ecosystem in ways that we are too short sighted to even imagine..
Giving people free food is not a permanent solution to anything. The only way to lift people out of poverty is to give them the tools to do it themselves, anyone who is involved with foreign aid knows this.
Being more giving and less wasting is never bad but honestly climate change is happening, the population isn’t going to stop until ten billion, and we’re stretching our production to the max.
These are complex problems, and can’t just be shifted onto the nefarious, shadowy, non-existent “Powers that Be”, we have elected politicians and we are free to give money to whatever aid agencies we want at any time. I wish the world would give up it’s superficial obsessions and focus on ending poverty other places until at least a universal level is reached, but humans evolved to be in small groups, it’s hard to get through to people. Like Bill Gates didn’t even really know how screwed up the rest of the world was until he got much older.
Joey,
First off we still don’t know the total number of issues DES causes. They are still working on what all it has caused. And as I said, they recently discovered it is effecting our children, it’s been 60-70 years now since DES was used. We don’t even know what may happen to our grandchildren because of DES.
Secondly, drug or food, we are ingesting them and they do have effects on the body.
There is a difference between what nature does and what man does as far as genetic modification. In nature it can take 100s of years, with man it’s usually overnight. In nature any modifications are made to plants that will make it better. With man, we do whatever the he!! we want, whether it makes sense or not.
GMOs weren’t in so many items back in the 90s. Very little of the population was exposed. So you really can’t say we’ve been using it long enough to know what side effects we may experience.. How long should we wait? As long as it takes.
So, how many shares in Monsanto do you have?
Joey,
If we would stop paying farmers and farming corporations to NOT grow something, and have them grow what we need, we wouldn’t need GMOs. If we stopped shipping food out to other countries and used it here instead we could feed a lot. So we aren’t producing food to the max yet.
And the bees are dying. Without them there is no pollination and no new seeds, They are working on studies now that connect that to GMOs.
It would be nice if the researchers spending all this time and money on GMOs used it instead to find safer, more natural ways to feed the world population.
There are no studies that say bees are being killed by GMO. The people who have looked at it say it’s extremely unlikely. The links are on the wikipedia page to the information, It’s the least likely scenario. I don’t get any of my news from infowars or naturalnews which are the only kind of sites I get when I search for information on this… a problem.
What is your suggestion? Stop paying them not to farm but tell them they are only allowed to grow food for overseas aid? Who would do that when they would be working for nothing at those prices? Do you realize how expensive it would be to grow food for overseas aid in the US and ship it overseas? We don’t need any food or anything here, most of what we import is seasonal, seafood, or stuff that they can grow for cheaper elsewhere, less than a fifth of our total consumption. The US is not the problem. We need to help farmers double or triple their yields if they are going to be able to build sustainable communities and strong economies in the future, it is all about agriculture when it comes to solving poverty, which is why Bill Gates throws hundreds of millions of dollars at gmo research.
If there was a safer, more natural way that was economically viable, why is Gates blowing hundreds of millions of dollars? They’ve tried, honestly.
Joey,
You totally missed what I was saying about farming. I’m suggesting they grow what we need. Here. In the United States. I’m saying stop trying to feed the world when we have people starving here. And I have always felt there was something wrong with the government paying people NOT to grow something. To me that’s a free ride.
So Bill Gates bought stock in Monsanto. Don’t you think that may be more of a factor in blowing hundreds of millions of dollars their way then anything humanitarian?
As for the bees, I didn’t say GMOs were the cause, I said they were working on studies now that connect that to GMOs. I tend to stay away from Wikipedia as it is not the be all end all of information. If I can go in there and contribute to it, than anybody can, and that means no guarantee it is correct.
There are people who just don’t want to have anything to do with GMOs. That is their right. However, it is getting harder and harder to do as more crops are contaminated with it. So now we can forget about trying to improve crops without using GMOs, since the stuff is everywhere and makes any kind of real research into growing crops without GMOs impossible. Way to go. Force your way into the food chain and to he!! with everyone else.
I’m sorry, but that is NOT the way things should be done.
+1 for Peak Organic Brewing Company!!
First off, I want to thank you, I find your blog very interesting and informative, and return on a weekly basis for new information based on your viewpoint. I have actually made some life changes for the better because of your influence.
However, this post surprised me. You did such “in-depth” research regarding the making of and ingredients found in your average beer, I assume to help change your husband’s mind about his alcoholic beverage of choice. But….. you did not once comment on WINE, which is obviously the very similarly processed alcoholic beverage of YOUR choice.
You may be surprised to find out that most wines, even very expensive, members only, deep in the cellar wines are produced in the same way using Isinglass(as a filter NOT and additive). I would expect an equally disgusted reaction from you as you had with the production of beer if you were aware of this, but from the picture at the end of your post I assume that you were not.
So, I propose, as clarification purposes for you to post your opinion about Wine… considering there is a wide array of preservatives and additives that are allowed including but not limited too: Isinglass, clay, citric acid, artificial yeasts, enzymes, sugar, gelatin, charcoal, eggs, and casein(a milk protein).
Hey food babe, I’ve been really interested in your beer analysis and I had a quick question that might not be too easy to answer. As you know InBev has been purchasing companies, many of which I like, at a rapid rate. I was just curious what your thoughts and findings were on such beers as Stella Artios, Becks (which is one of the oldest German brewing companies in the world as you know) and beers such as Leffe? Is InBev a company just expanding to the US but their European beers are still being produced purely? ABInBev can only continue to acquire companies in the United States and I just wanted to know your thoughts of them as a company? Are we losing this battle of great German / Belgium GMO safe beers to a worldwide spread?
German beers are not necessarily a good bet. The 1516 Bavarian purity law fell into disuse some time in the 16th Century and is NOT in force nowadays, unlike what many people are still led to believe. Beer ingredients are ruled by a different piece of legislation which allows for sugars in top-fermented beers, hop extracts and, on top of that, states that exceptions are possible for beers meant for export. So outside of Germany, basically, the fact that a beer comes from Germany is no guarantee that it will only contain water, malt, hops and yeast.
This article is a riot! I’ve been around beer drinkers nearly all my life and I never heard one comment on the “gmos” in their beer, or whether all the ingredients were listed on the label, nor did they worry about the brewing process. People generally do not concern themselves with how healthy thiet beer is, they drink to get drunk, to get a buzz, that’s the bottom line.
Ew.
Barnivore.com has an extensive listing of beer, wine, and liquor -they are mostly concerned from a vegan/vegetarian perspective, but their information is far more thorough and less biased than the information provided in this article.
YOU Look gorgeous in the yellow dress. Wanna grab a beer or two sometime?
You missed mentioning one other ingredient used in making many beers which is carrageenan, from red seaweed. People assume because it is safe because it comes from a natural source. It is known to cause inflammation and colon cancer. But again they do not have to list it. It is so effective at causing inflammation that it is used by the drug industry to test the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory drugs. Not something I want in my beer in any amount.
Brian – YES! The Cornucopia Institute told me about this just yesterday… and then my husband said he used to use it to brew his own beer. I want to ask the beer companies about that specifically and see what the say – it was not a part of my original questioning.
The seaweed acts as a protein coagulator and precipitates out after fermentation. Don’t worry about it ending up in your glass.
Don’t believe a lot of the scary stuff they mention here with facts about ingredients picked and chosen to be the worst or most scary facts that could be found without telling the other side of the coin. This is defined as BIAS. I could pick it apart piece by piece of the baloney of a lot it. For example, Propylene glycol is used in so-called SAFE anti-freeze (regular deadly stuff uses ETHYLENE glycol) and is also used in many skin creams, cosmetics, and hair products. It is a safe ingredient. Two, Class IV caramel coloring is the MOST WIDELY USED caramel coloring and is mostly used IN SOFT DRINKS. In addition, this tries to scare you with the idea of ingredients that are made from petroleum products. There are a huge list of food safe ingredients made from petroleum products and natural gas that we eat every single day. (Did you know aspirin is made completely from natural gas? Did you know you eat an ingredient probably every day that is made from sulfuric acid and hot-rolled steel? And that it is good for you?) Anyone who is interested in food ingredients and how they are manufactured should check out a book–“Twinkie, Deconstructed” by Steve Ettlinger. It is an eye-opening read about the REAL origins and manufacture of food ingredients that will allow you to cut through these bogus stretched claims of ingredient harm.
What evidence do you have to say propylene glycol & caramel coloring is 100% safe? If you come back with the FDA, I won’t bother continuing this comment thread.
Propylene glycol quickly metabolizes into pyruvic acid… Which then starts the Kreb cycle. Any other questions?
Ok Wikipedia. Why don’t you try answering my original question, not just give me a definition. A lot of crap can be broken down in your body, but doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
Oh, actually I do have 1 more question I’ve been asking people. Whether you think GMOs are safe are not, do you have any issues with them be labeled?
That’s basic undergrad chemistry Justin… Contrary to what people like you think here on the Internet, there are chemist in the world who understand this stuff. You’re correct, a lot of things can be broken down in the body… But I’m pretty certain the TCA (that’s the citric acid cycle to you Internet people) is overwhelmingly good for you. Not saying you should be eating kgs of the stuff but its in a lot more things than you think.
I only took the first level of undergrad chem and I hated it! Luckily for my degree that’s all I needed. Had to do a lot more Physics, which was great, because I enjoyed that. Anyway, I don’t need a chemist telling me what to eat.
It’s not in anything I eat because I don’t let big food make dinner for me anymore.
Also, you didn’t answer my new question that you asked for:
“Oh, actually I do have 1 more question I’ve been asking people. Whether you think GMOs are safe are not, do you have any issues with them be labeled?”
Since I do not do research in the field of GMOs, I consider myself ignorant on the topic. I’m sure you don’t do research in the field either so that would make you ignorant of the topic too. Searching the Internet for based articles doesnt make you an expect. If you can supply me with peer reviewed papers on the subject ill be glad to read them, but they must be from respected journals in the scientific community. Otherwise don’t bother.
Bring it on:
Propylene glycol: FDA: Code of Federal Regulations Title 21; Chapter 1; Subchapter B; Part 184 (DIRECT FOOD SUBSTANCES AFFIRMED AS GENERALLY RECOGNIZED AS SAFE); Subpart B; Sec. 184.1666 Propylene glycol.
Caramel coloring: FDA: Code of Federal Regulations Title 21; Chapter 1; Subchapter A; Part 73 (LISTING OF COLOR ADDITIVES EXEMPT FROM CERTIFICATION ); Subpart A; Sec. 73.85 Caramel.
Go look it all up yourself.
Last I checked table salt was safe. 100% safe and pure as the driven rain, right? How many tablespoons of salt would kill the average person? About 6 tablespoons.
On another note, how much of your pure unadulterated glistening spring bottled water can kill a person? Hmmmm. There’s been quite a few cases on record of people dying by drinking too much water.
Absolutely NOTHING IN THIS WORLD is 100% safe. And even things that are utterly safe can be dangerous in large quantities.
How many people are shooting botulinum toxin into their bodies? Botulinum toxin is a supremely deadly toxin in even tiny amounts, and most people have not the slightest problem with it.
Knee-jerk reactions and believing every single thing you read no matter how biased or extreme it is, rather than using level-headed logic to determine the truth is ridiculous.
“What evidence do you have to say propylene glycol & caramel coloring is 100% safe? If you come back with the FDA, I won’t bother continuing this comment thread.”
So yeah, goodbye.
Webweazel is 100% correct. The dose makes the poison. They knew this centuries ago…
Thanks for the response. I think some of what you said accounts for a fraction of the answer. I should have a citation, you’re right. My career field is spent in cancer detection and treating other degenerative diseases of the GI tract. And right now I’m just too lazy to look one more thing up. But you are absolutely correct that that would add to the credibility of my argument. Maybe later today. The things you mention account for a relatively small increase in rates of cancer and degenerative diseases. Lets make the age cutoff for our rise in rates 50 years old…better detection in people 50 years and younger will account for a relatively small number of cases detected. DNA is important with regard to our predisposition to acquire certain diseases, but DNA can not account for an epidemic. A genetic epidemic is not possible. A virus can cause an epidemic because it is communicable by other people. DNA is not communicable if that makes sense. So there have to be things, or combinations of things, that are specific to our era that account for a large portion of the very steep rise in rates. The trajectory of the rise is that in a short amount of time ONE in ONE people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime. And that is just cancer. If you combine that with the top 20 other lovely degenerative diseases people are experiencing such as MS, Parkinson’s, Lupus, Rhumatoid arthritis, take your pick, then we will have more than one scary battle on our plate in our lifetimes. With all that said, I am not convinced that “fear mongering” is the issue so much as just having legitimate things to be worried about. But thanks again for your response. These discussions are one of the best ways to keep making forward progress in each of our thinking processes. I just wish people didn’t act so angry and defensive about being proven right or wrong. That really stunts progress. What do you think about all this I’ve said? Anyone else have ideas?
Sorry I couldn’t reply in order either…there was no reply button on your reply…must be a limit or something.
Hey guys on this thread…I am just curious to know what you might think accounts for the steep rise in cancer rates, autism, degenerative diseases all within the past say, 70 years? I am actually genuinely asking. My answer is toxic overload, and nutritional deficiency combined. So learning about potential human toxins is an important part of the puzzle. With the staggering rise in the diseases I’ve asked about, one could venture to say that the FDA is failing in any supposed effort to keep us “safe.” But truly, what would you say is accounting for one in two people now being diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime? It was about one in 70 people just 50 or less years ago. If I am right about toxic overload, which is to say toxic accumulation over time, then I am probably going to be looking carefully at ingesting propylene glycol, as one example, since I do not have time or energy to do long term double blind placebo controlled studies on it before I make my final decision about it. Here’s what I know: these unknowns are having a cumulative effect on our health. The effects are cumulative. Did I mention these things accumulate? So everyone you mention who does fine with botox…its an illusion. It is adding to their toxic load. And just like one day you car engine blows up because of cumulative wear and tear and damage over time…thats what happens one day to some system or organ in your body. What day and time will your engine blow up? Why one day fine, and then the next day is the day it goes? Impossible to say. Same is true for your body. The point is to lower your toxic load in as many ways as you can so that your “engine” doesn’t die 50 years prematurely. Look out for your health. Unless you don’t want to. Makes no difference to anyone but you and those who love you. Its your choice. Be stubborn about the safety of what is happening, or open your mind to the fact that massive cancer and disease is happening, and no one knows why, but your nutrition and exercise, clean air and water, are pretty much your only life lines in the current state of things. Propylene glycol isn’t really worth the risk to me. If it is to you, then that is certainly your prerogative.
If more people are getting cancer than 50 years ago (citation please)… My guess would be we are living longer. Plain and simple. How about better detection methods. That would explain more diagnoses. More people seeking medical care. People are healthier than ever with life expectancy practically doubling in the last 100 years. And so as a consequence people are dying of more cancers and related age diseases. This is pretty logical if you think about it. Remember Occams Razor: “the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.” More peope are getting cancers because more people are living longer, a simpe answer. Or, GMOs, toxins, “chemicals”, FDA conspiracy, so called toxic accumulation, these are a very complicated explanation. Causation does not imply correlation. I honestly think you’ve scared yourself into an obsession of your own illusion of living in a bubble. Here is a fact that may seem obvious… People’s health and longevity is closely related to their genetics. If your dad lived a long life, chances are so will you… If not, well blame DNA.
You are very correct. I got Morgellons last October and it was from a toxic overload. I had the mercury removed from my fillings and the dentist had not told me to detox. that and my area being heavily sprayed with chemtrails did it to me. Happy to say after 8 months exercize , organic diet has pulled me thru. I’m here because I love beer and now have that bad feeling that I might have to find out more info. Oh also marched against Monsanto. Joey is an idiot and probably Ceo’s son or something. Or really young this is what they are teaching them in school
This information shockingly doesn’t come as a surprise about me. I’ve started down the healthier living path and have been learning that food companies don’t have our best interest at heart – even the ones who say they do. But since you investigated beer, what about wine?
“Your liver is your main fat-burning organ. If you are trying to lose weight or even maintain your ideal weight, drinking alcohol is one of your worst enemies. The liver is going to metabolize alcohol first vs. the fat you want to get rid of – making weight loss even harder. Additionally, one of the primary functions of the liver is to remove environmental toxins from your body – if it is overtaxed with alcohol, the normal removal of these toxins becomes extremely diminished and can result in rapid aging, loss of libido, and other diseases.
The one thing that has gotten me before and I’m sure many of you – is the health marketing claims on alcohol products making drinking them seem like a good idea and an added “benefit” to your health. The low alcohol content of beer makes it appear as an innocuous beverage and something people throw back without even thinking about it. Who hasn’t seen those studies that say a beer a day is great for you (I want to ask who ever stops at just one beer?)?”
When you say alcohol, doesn’t that also include hard liquor and wine?
If you cannot stop at one beer, you are by definition an alcoholic.
Sensationalism at its finest!
Fact – people who drink live longer than people who never drink.
You forgot the worst ingredient: aluminium from the cans! Alzheimers anyone?
Get you beer from a good craft brewery that takes pride in its recipes and ingredients and you won’t have to worry about nasty GMOs or chemicals.
Exactly. The United States is in the midst of a nation-wide Golden Age of craft and micro breweries, so there is more than likely a small, up and coming brewery near you. Support them – those are the guys who are REAL beer guys who are trying to provide Americans with the good stuff.
I’ve been known to drink a few 6 or 18 packs of PBR or Miller, but honestly, its just sugar-flavored, watered down piss. I didn’t realize they put corn syrup and formaldehyde in some of those beers, which I will likely be staying away from from now on.
As an e-cig advocate I have done extensive research on propylene glycol as it is the base for many e-cigs. It has been proven to be safe for use in a wide range of consumer products, including food products, animal feed, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, as well as industrial applications.
Propylene glycol is the ingredient used to make NON-TOXIC antifreeze. When you say antifreeze most people think poison. Not making the distinction as to why propylene glycol an ingredient in antifreeze shows fear mongering. For some, this discredits the the rest of your list.
Propylene glycol, is considerably less toxic than ethylene glycol and may be labeled as “non-toxic antifreeze”. It is used as antifreeze where ethylene glycol would be inappropriate, such as in food-processing systems or in water pipes in homes where incidental ingestion may be possible. As confirmation of its relative non-toxicity, the FDA allows propylene glycol to be added to a large number of processed foods, including ice cream, frozen custard, and baked goods.
The main words are CONSIDERABLY LESS TOXIC. And just beacuse the FDA says it’s safe means it’s safe? The FDA that is basically in Monsanto’s pocket? Yeah, I believe that!
And there have been NO studies on e-cigs to prove they are safe. Even if the propylene glycol IS safe, the nicotine IS NOT!
i like Mill Street Brewery organic beer..made in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Just so you know. Sierra Nevada does use dextrose or corn sugar in many of their beers last I checked which was a couple years ago.
what about dos XX, the only beer i like
Luckily for my husband and I we do not consume any of the beers you listed, however we do drink the following beers: Rolling Rock, Carta Blanca,Beck’s, Beck’s Light,Amstel Light,Sapporo. How do these beers stack up, are they safer? healthier?
I find it strange that the food babe only responds to positive posts agreeing with her or negative posts buy vulgar imbiciles but never the ones that disagree with her In a very thoughtful and educational manner.
So this is why mainstream beers give me such shitty hangovers…
We own a small single batch brewery. May we print this article next to our answers to your five questions, for our farmers’ market display?
which beers have msg in them, or better yet, which do you know of that do NOT have msg… thanks in advance. That creeped me out…
It’s pretty shocking what goes into my brew, indeed! Let’s see (since i homebrew):
* NYC Tapwater (Chlorine! Fluoride! omg! We can’t drink this!!)
* Yeast (those could kill ya)
* Hops (related to Marijuana)
* Sugar (extracted via boiling some Grains in the aforementioned evil tapwater)
Yeah that’s about it. Sometimes a bit of gelatin, or moss, to improve clarity. A bit more sugar to help bottle condition the beer.
Jester King Brewery in Austin, TX is USDA certified organic. Wytchmaker and Black Metal are great ones to start with.
My husband & I always enjoyed Carlsberg Elephant beer brewed in Denmark. I have it occasionally now
in his memory. I hope it does not contain garbage?
So after I read your article (panic button) I contacted the company from which I consume beer (Trader Joes).
Here is their reply to the questions you posted:
None of our Private Label Beers (Mission St., Josephsbrau, Josef, Stockyard, Black Toad, Simpler Times, Name Tag, Boatswain, etc) contain GMOs, preservatives, or dies.
All Josephsbrau (like the Bohemian Lager) beers are brewed adhering to Rheinhetzgebot, the German Purity Law allowing only Water, Barley, Hops, and Yeast. The exception is the Hefeweizen, which has 50% Wheat in addition to the Barley.
So, Josephsbrau Bohemian Lager item has:
Water
Malted Barley
Yeast
Hops
Best regards,
Rachel
Customer Relations
Trader Joe’s
Most posts are great comments, but some are hilarious, defending the FDA is not something as citizens we want to do. (See Documentary “FDA: Cult of Tryanny” by Gary Null) Corporate interests write most of their regulations on food. Lobbyists from “agricultural” companies like Monsanto. They made Agent Orange, aspartame, and Round Up weed killer. “USDA Organic” is a third party verification process that gives the consumer extra insurance that the product adheres to specific regulations. This helps protect consumers from Corporations like Monsanto. Yes, we all share the same biosphere, so some poison make its way through wind and water to the organic pasture down stream. But it is always safer, ALWAYS. So who doesn’t want to live a safer life and leave a healthier planet for their children, that is what this is all about. We are on the same team, team planet Earth. I will contact many of my favorite beer companies with your questions, I have been meaning ever since I turned 21, and I will post what I hear back. Enjoy your beer.
I just wish everyone who is so critical of this reporting would show us how its really done. Put your money where your mouths are people. Hiding behind your keyboards shouting about how ridiculous and fear mongering this all is takes 2 seconds and zero guts, and can be done half drunk with caramel coloring coursing through your veins. Really…show us how its done. Please. We would love to be enlightened. I am being serious by the way, not (entirely) crappy.
Food Babe, what about wine?!?!!
Food Babe, if you are looking for a good organic beer, try Eel River Brewing Company. All their beers are organic an delicious!
I would suggest that ininglass is not really an ingredient in beer. It is not introduced in to the beer until fermentation has stopped. It is used to help clear the yeast out of the finished product. It is what brewers call a finining agent. Yes, some may make it in to the bottle but you would need very sensitive measuring equipment to detect it. You would not ever be able to taste it.
While on the subject of unappealing food, would the food babe make negative comment about culture that eat duck feet? I don’t know how much you know about the brewing process, but I hope you contacted experts before bashing the use of isinglass.
More to the point Food Babe. Any thing a vegan/vegetarian might eat has been exposed to some kind of animal DNA, Veggies are some point in time are handled by humans, picking and inspection while growing come to mind. They touch machine parts that have been handled by humans. The grow in soil where worms and other things leaver matter that get introduced in to the plant via its root system. Insects most likely have walked across the plant. So why the blown out of proportion stance on isinglass?
Patrick – all I am doing is stating the facts. I am firm believer we should all know what we are consuming and drinking.
I agree with that thought and the logic behind it. But to what degree? Did you ask how isinglass is used in the production of beer? Or did you jusk ask for a list of ingredients? Should all food stuffs disclose what types of metals they have come in contact with? Or should people putting out information like you disclose their questions and research methods in the article? Or should we continue to enjoy the over-hyped presentation many in your business practice?
Joey, I posted a response about my citation of one in two people nor developing some firm of cancer in their lifetimes but its not showing up. Basically, I also went to cancer.org… What I said is confirmed there. If u separate men and women, one in three women is the rate. If u combine genders it is still 1 in 2.4 humans which is to say 1 in 2 since you can’t have a point four human. Cancer rates are not declining. They have shown some signs of stabilizing, but there are legitimate authorities that state otherwise. Cancer is winning the war on cancer, and that is not something anyone is going to be too proud to advertise, so you have to resize who is reporting things like a supposed negligible decline, even if the source is considered respectable by the mainstream.
FYI – sometimes when there is more than one link, the automatic spam blocker kicks in.
Ok, thanks! …there were no links, just really long post due to pasting part of an article. Maybe that was the problem.
Wow, clearly this is a controversial subject, judging from the reaction you got in the comments. I’m not going to share my own personal views here, b/c I don’t feel like arguing with anyone; but I want to say thanks for putting this information out there. I don’t believe you are being a fear monger. I don’t care if those people who say that the fermentation process eliminates all those bad ingredients are right or not. What I do care about is having knowledge that will make me a more conscious consumer. As it is, I choose beers that don’t give me a reaction (from fructose malabsorption), but I hadn’t put much thought into why some beers give me a reaction while others don’t. I have just stuck with the knowledge that the more refined a beer is, the safer it is for me, personally. Now I wish I knew the full ingredients list for what I’m drinking…and with your list of questions, I feel like I am armed to request this from my favorite brands.
tl;dr Don’t bother her with the facts. Sensationalism is a much better basis for dietary habits.
The Germans are lucky in that respect because they have a law which guarantees the purity of their beer, which must only contain the basic ingredients used in making beer, which if I remember correctly are hops, malted barley and sugar.
I once even saw a replica of a poster from maybe a hundred fifty years ago on which the local feudal landowner advised the local peasants in quaint German:
“Tomorrow no shitting in the creek as water will be taken for beer making”.
Would that purity extend to all German labels sold in the U.S.? Having a list of “pure” beer products would help immensely in making choices.
Would that purity extend to all German labels ?.. Short answer- NO! If it is a “BEER” and labeled as such and PRODUCED in Germany- the answer is yes. The Germans however do produce several other “malt beverages” including the Non-Alcohol versions of popular brands. These are NOT subject to the purity law. As with most commercially prepared foods in America- You have to learn to read and interpret the label. Have fun with it and remember a line from the Vedas- “The vibration quality of the food you eat becomes your mind”.
Ingredients are , water, barley, hops and yeast! The sugar comes from the grain during the mash. Drink craft Beer and Homebrew!
It’s not just barley, it’s any grain. Wheat, rye, barley etc…
does the water have to be distilled?