Well, Which is It; a Neurotoxin or Superfood?

Macaroni and cheese, queso dip, chili cheese dogs, chicken and cheese quesadillas, chicken alfredo, broccoli cheddar soup, vegetables smothered in cheese--all forgotten loves of the past, until now.

I have stumbled upon the glorious realm of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a.k.a. Nutritional Yeast.

Who knew that Nutritional Yeast when mixed with flour, rice milk, earth balance "butter", mustard powder, a little salt, garlic/onion powder, and a little cumin to tickle your fancy could create a wonderful, creamy goodness that tastes exactly like CHEESE SAUCE? Definitely not I, and definitely not my oh so handsome and oh so allergic to dairy boyfriend, Jace, who had never even tasted anything like cheese before. Needless to say, last night's dinner was a plethora of macaroni and cheese and chips with Rotel and cheese sauce (which, might I add, tasted EXACTLY like Velveeta and Rotel). I slept well last night knowing that I had been the good girlfriend.

However, today I was prompted by a passing remark made by Jace in between shoveling chips and queso in his mouth to do some research into our glorious new find--" Watch this stuff be bad for us." For the past few days I have been fluttering about the internet, looking for information on Nutritional Yeast. The results are, indeed, troubling but unclear.

First, for the sake of my selfishness, lets cover the benefits of Nutritional Yeast. Well, according to the Whole Food's I purchased it from, the nutritional information can be found here and, if you are too lazy to click on that link, it tells us that Nutritional Yeast has in 2 tbsp: Calcium (1.4%), Iron (7%), Thaimin B1 (67%), Riboflavin B2 (293%), Naicin B3 (30%), Vitamin B6 (4%), Biotin (6%), Magnesium (5%), Panthothenic Acid (27%), Zinc (18%), Copper (6%), Maganese (8%). So, in basic English, Nutritional Yeast is basically 51.9% Protein. No wonder those vegans and vegetarians inhale this stuff! It provides a significant amount of protein (B12) that, without the consumption of meat, many vegans/vegetarians have deficiencies in. In addition, Nutritional Yeast contains chromium, a major YES for diabetics because it is a Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF), meaning it helps regulate insulin in the blood as well as metabolism. And, relax ladies and those who are particularly sensitive to yeasts is not the same kind of that causes yeast infections or other harmful infections. That yeast is called Candida Ablicans and, besides, Nutritional Yeast is pasteurized, killing any living yeast so it can continue on in the afterlife making ghost bread while, here on earth, I commemorate its death by enjoying its delicious, cheesy taste.Even my favorite go-to place for all things nutrition, Natural News, had good to say about Nutritional Yeast. In this article, Dr. Hand Liers, the chief formulator of products sold by Health Products Distributors, Inc. discusses the benefits of a diet rich in RNA (ribonucleic acid). What is RNA? Well DNA makes RNA which makes protein. RNA is a carrier of information, and a catalyst for the synthesis of the peptide bond.In other words, it's important stuff. So important that Dr. Liers believes that it can be anti-aging when taken as a supplement. In his interview, he praises nutritional yeast as having about 6 percent RNA and uses it as a key component in his nutritional drink Rejuvinate!. Now, whether or not Nutritional Yeast makes me younger, I'm not eating it for the "youthful effects" but for the cheesy effects.

Yet, many sites, including my personal favorite, had rather bad things to say about my beloved cheese sauce! Apparently, the way nutritional yeast is created by growing the yeast on fermented beat sugar and sugar cane molasses is the exact same way MSG (monosodium glutamate) is created. For those who have not given MSG much thought, monosodium glutamate comes in many disguised forms: "natural flavoring", "artificial sweeteners", "artificial flavoring", " yeast derivatives", and "casienate" just to name a few. MSG, or free glutamic acid, is an "exitotoxin". Basically, what an exitotoxin does is "excite" or stimulate brain neurons to death. Sounds fun. Well, my non-active, or as I said before, "dead" Nutritional Yeast contains free-glutamic acid. MSG is no joke and I foresee a blog explaining MSG more fully sometime in the future. But to suffice you until then, for more information about MSG, visit here. Or the Mayo Clinic. Or, here--wait, the food saftey.gov took it down (hmm). Or see what the FDA says about it here (it's also down on my computer, but you may have some luck). Anyway, even Natural News had something to say about the connection between Nutritional Yeast and MSG, listing "yeast nutrition" as a hidden source of MSG. Creator and writer of Natural News, Mike Adams, has written several articles about the dangers of MSG and how the clever companies work with the FDA to get around not listing MSG on their labels.

So, after finding such troubling results from my own research, I decided to email Natural News last week to reveal to them their confusing contradiction with Nutritional Yeast and the controversy at large. Here was my response,

"Thank you for your email and inquiry. One amazing benefit of natural health is the many options people have. Everyone is different, so there is no one solution [...] Doing your own research and discovering what is right for you is part of the journey to optimum health."

Mmm. Somehow I did not get the "whatever floats your boat" vibe when I was reading Mike Adam's article on MSG. In fact, I kind of got the idea that he was blatantly warning his readers against MSG. On the other hand, I also got the vibe that the doctor he interviewed, Dr. Liers, was quite ecstatic about his new find in Nutritional Yeast, not at all concerned with harmful MSG. Needless to say, I was not at all pleased with this answer. I mean this is my CHEESE we're talking about goshdarnit!!! Needless to say, I have emailed Natural News yet again and this time I clicked the complaint or criticism button instead of the comment or request button.

Now the question remains: Is MSG a big enough deal to stop me from making delicious cheese? Sadly, yes. Seeing as MSG is in nearly everything we consume (whether we know it or not), why would I want to knowingly put more into my body and feed it to someone I care about? I guess to me, ignorance is not bliss.


Sources (You can click on underlined words, too):
http://www.naturalnews.com/026410_insulin_blood_health.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/025066.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/022197_RNA_superfoods.html
http://www.daystarbotanicals.com/nutritionalyeast.html
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/nutritional-yeast-benefits.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_4454257_benefit-from-nutritional-yeast.html
http://www.efn.org/~sundance/NutritionalYeast.html
http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/whole-foods/nutritional-yeast
**** http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/default.htm
http://vegetariancuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/benefits_and_uses_of_nutritional_yeast
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/Section/What-exactly-does-the-RNA-do-.id-305406,articleId-7904.html

Got Milk? Drink at Your Own Risk.

Miley Sirus has milk. Superman has milk. Even wolverine has "got milk". For decades, milk has been promoted as a way to delay or even prohibit osteoporosis, the best way to get daily consumption of calcium and vitamin D, and the "healthier" choice of drink in comparison with sugary drinks. In addition, consumption of various forms of dairy is not only mentioned, but highly encouraged by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 's infamous "food pyramid" with dairy granted their own significant sliver of the pyramid. But is milk really all that its cracked up to be? Are we perhaps "milking" milk to the point where we are over-stating its benefits and over-looking potentially dangerous health concerns?

Now, I am going to be the first to admit that I love everything that dairy has to offer. Cheese, cream sauces, yogurt, milk, and, my personal favorite, ice cream has been a very large part of my diet since I was very little. So why go dairy free? It was not until I met Jace, my oh so handsome and oh so allergic to dairy boyfriend, a year ago that I began my research into all things dairy. What I have found in my year of research was enough to convince me that a switch to a dairy-free lifestyle is not only a loving way to better serve Jace, but the pros of said lifestyle outweigh the taste of momentarily savored dishes laced with possible health concerns later in life.

The dangers of mass consumption of dairy are as bad as they come: obesity, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and even osteoporosis. Besides the said health defects listed, what is actually in the milk (that is, the components that make up cow milk) is appalling. First, lets discuss the sole reason milk is created: for baby cows. It may be shocking to remember that out of every mammal on earth, humans are the only ones who continue drinking milk after infancy. Even baby cows discontinue drinking their mothers milk! Even more ridiculous is that, out of all animals, we chose a mammal that physiologically has nothing in common to man to provide us with "the best source of calcium". Truth is, there is no "best source of calcium" and calcium is available in non-dairy forms too, such as: broccoli, cabbage, and spinach (just to name a few). There is also truth in the previous statement that dairy can cause many dire health problems. The human body was not made to process the milk from other species save the breast milk from our own human mothers. This said, when consuming milk in high doses, it puts great stress on our body. I mean, your body probably is not made to ingest large amounts of cow udder pus and blood so I can understand the apprehension your organs may have in digesting dairy. Wait, what?! Yes, it is true. Every cupful of milk straight out of the cow contains somatic cells, a.k.a pus. Why the heck is there cow pus in my milk? Well, when conventional dairy farmers need to produce milk to the masses, they inject their dairy cows with "bovine growth hormones" (rBGH), or Posilac to increase the amount of milk that the already maxed-out cows produce. Because cows were not made to produce such massive amounts of milk, they often develop an infection of the utter called mastitis and voilà, pus and bacteria leak into the milk when collected. Then, the dairy farmers inject the sick cows with antibiotics to reduce the somatic cells, thus letting not only blood and pus in drinking milk, but antibiotics, as well. In fact, if you live in Texas, there are 342,000,000 somatic cells in each glass of conventional milk. Oh, and don't get too cocky, organic milk drinkers! You're milk has somatic cells, too, just in lesser numbers and without the hormones and antibiotics. Oh, and pasteurizing the milk does NOT rid the milk of the pus, blood, antibiotics, and hormones. It just "kills" the somatic cells and blood. Mmm, mmm, mmm!


As for the risk of obesity and the horrible diseases that go hand-in-hand with it, a study featured in Washington Post showed that children who consume more than three servings of dairy a day were about 35% more prone to become overweight. A daily serving, according to Food Pyramid, at any age should be no more than 3 cups of dairy per day. Servings are broken up into 1 cup of milk or yogurt, 1 1/2 ounces of natural cheese, and 2 ounces of processed cheese per serving. In addition, 8 oz of whole milk contains 150 calories, many from fat. Dairy increases the risk for heart disease due to its high saturated fats, animal protein (casein), and milk carbohydrates. Even the process of sterilizing the milk that is supposed to keep you "safe", the composition-altering process that happens during pasteurization of the milk, increases the risk of diabetes. When pasteurization occurs, the high heat kills enzymes like lactase, galactase, and phosphatase. Without these enzymes, our pancreas cannot easily process milk and is put under great stress. When the pancreas is overtaxed, diabetes can occur.

Cancer. The more we learn about this devastating disease, the more we find the culprits that aid its development. Dairy is no exception. Breast, prostate, and colon cancer has been linked to consumption of dairy. As we described before, cows are injected with the rBGH hormone to produce more milk. Studies have shown that this hormone, rBGH, accelerates the development of the hormone IGF-1. Both hormones increase the chance of cell division, thus increasing our chance to develop cancer. Unfortunately, organic milk drinkers are not saved from these dangers, either. The over consumption of animal proteins (casein for milk) is proven to raise the chance of breast cancer in women significantly. In a study where scientists observe women living in a virtually milk-free environment, China, compared to America where dairy consumption is extremely high, the breast cancer related deaths per 100,000 women (ages 35-65) for China were less than 9 while 44 American women per 100,000 women died due to breast cancer. As for prostate cancer, men who consumed high amounts of dairy increase their risk for prostate cancer by 70%. Remember, "high amounts" of dairy would be anything over the 3 cups max of dairy servings per day: 2 ounces of processed cheese per "cup", 1 cup of milk or yogurt per "cup". With these restrictions, I think its safe to say that nearly everyone is over doing dairy. I mean, who just puts 2 ounces of cheese on their pizza or nachos and skips out on that glass of milk with cookies because they "will go over the recommended daily servings"?

Finally, it is ironic that the one disease the media claims consumption of dairy eradicates, osteoporosis, is actually caused by dairy! The reason is because the high protein content in dairy, the casein in the dairy, actually leeches the calcium right out the milk! In addition, the West's familiar high-protein diet adds to this leeching of calcium. For more information on the study between osteoporosis and dairy consumption, visit the links below.

You may be asking (that is, if anyone reads this) " Why have I never heard of this before?" Well, that is probably due to the large, billion dollar companies pushing billion dollar advertisements promoting milk. However, as people become more and more educated about the dangers of milk, especially non-organic milk, the formerly "don't know, don't care" sentiments of consumers today will turn into demands pointed at the shady food industries that love to make a buck off of our ignorance. Sad, isn't it?

Sources:
http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/milk_counts.html
http://www.whymilk.com/strong_bones.php
http://www.naturalnews.com/028111_milk_dairy.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/002695.html
http://www.milksucks.com/pus.asp
http://www.milksucks.com/osteo.asp
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601348.html
http://www.extension.org/article/18645