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Shocking Ingredient in Plant-Based Foods

The AHA! Team — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:05:42 +0000

Al Sears, MD, CNS – Big Agra, mainstream medicine, and the media have all declared war on traditional protein-rich foods. I remember staying at my grandparents’ farm when I was growing up. I’d wake up to the smell of steak and eggs and race down the stairs to be the first at the table. Your grandparents most likely ate this way, too. But today, it’s a different story. Big Agra, mainstream medicine, and the media have all declared war on traditional protein-rich foods. As a result, you’ve been forced onto a radical, unhealthy, inflammatory, disease-producing diet without your consent. Then in 2016, the war on traditional foods took a drastic new turn. The vegan lifestyle was once again all the rage. Demand for plant-based meat and egg products soared with foods like the Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger, and Quorn “chicken” nuggets. These fake foods began to appear on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus everywhere. Big Agra wanted you to believe these “meat alternatives” were healthier than what nature provides. But they’re not. Clever marketing campaigns wanted you to believe that these meat mockeries taste just like the real thing. But they don’t. And the public knows it. Demand for these fake foods has plummeted. So what are the manufacturers of these knockoff products doing now? They’re adding animal fat back into them to get them to taste more like the real thing! I’ve been warning my patients to avoid meat alternatives for almost a decade. By definition, plant-based “egg and meat products” are processed, unnatural fake foods. They’re made from more than 50 ingredients that are decidedly unrelated to the animals they mimic. Most plant-based products also contain soy and seitan, which gives them their “authentic” texture. Despite the media and marketing hype around soy being a source of good health, the GMO frankenfood is one of the worst plant foods you can possibly consume. Soy is loaded with estrogen mimickers that cause erectile dysfunction, “man boobs,” loss of bone and muscle mass, and at least half a dozen different types of cancer. Soy also impairs insulin secretion and might actually cause diabetes. And new studies reveal that it may even be connected to dementia and mental illness.1,2 Meanwhile, seitan – also known as “wheat meat” – is a starchy, grain-based concoction made from gluten and is highly processed. And as you know, I’ve been recommending that you avoid grain-based foods for more than 30 years. If you followed a grain-based diet like the USDA recommends you’d be diseased, overweight, and prematurely old in no time at all. Unhealthy Ingredients Hiding in These Fake Foods These products, despite clever marketing, are anything but good for you. Soy and seitan, while horrible for your health, are at least real foods. The other ingredients hiding in your veggie burger are anything but… To get these ultra-processed meat alternatives to look and taste like real meat means they have a whole lot of chemical additives. Here’s a small example of what’s hiding in your plant “burger:” Tertiary butylhydroquinone. This synthetic preservative is linked to cancer, vision loss, liver enlargement, and convulsions in lab animals. Research suggests that in humans it damages the immune system, leaving you vulnerable to disease.3 Propylene glycol. This water-absorbing synthetic substance is often used in the cosmetic industry. But it’s also an ingredient in e-cigarettes and antifreeze. Magnesium carbonate. Used as a food additive to prevent caking and retain color, magnesium carbonate is also used in flooring, fireproofing, and fire-extinguishing compounds. Too much causes a laxative effect. Makers of meat alternatives point to studies that declare these compounds are safe. But here’s what they fail to mention… Independent research has discovered the “studies” have been funded or commissioned by the very same companies that manufacture these fake foods. Of course, you’ll never hear from the FDA or the mainstream media that meat alternatives are an unhealthy choice. They’re still pushing the big lie that cholesterol is bad for your heart and your health. As a regular reader, you know I consider the war on cholesterol one of the greatest health food cons of all time. Despite misinformation repeated endlessly by mainstream doctors, the media, and Big Agra, trying to remove animal fats and cholesterol from your diet is a bad idea. A meat-based diet is what made us the humans we are today. It’s grains, carbohydrates, and processed foods that cause excessive weight gain, inflammation, and chronic disease – not dietary fat. Bring Back Real Beef I consider grass-fed meat to be perhaps the healthiest food you can eat. Compared to grain-fed animals, products from grass-fed animals have 10 times more omega-3 fats, more vitamins B, E, D, and K2, more CoQ10 and zinc, and more antioxidants like glutathione and superoxide dismutase (SOD).4 But don’t be fooled by Big Food fakes. To make sure you’re getting the real deal, here’s what to look for: 1. Search For These Keywords When Shopping. Next time you’re shopping, keep an eye out for key terms that show your food isn’t coming from Big Agra farm. “Grass-fed and grass-finished” ensures animals ate a natural diet their whole lives and were never “fattened up” with grain. “Organic” signifies avoidance of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. “Biodynamic” farming goes even further, treating farms as closed, self-nourishing systems. 2. Order Your Food Online. For a list of farms that only raise grass-fed and finished meat, check out these two websites: American Grassfed, Eat Wild, and A Greener World. To order online, I suggest these sites: ✓ US Wellness Meats. I know the owner John Woods and I trust his products. ✓ Polyface Farms. The food from my friend Joel Salatin’s farm isn’t just healthier, it tastes a heck of a lot better. ✓ Okeechobee Farms. This farm is not too far from my clinic. They make and deliver the homemade bone broth I offer all my patients. 3. Look for third-party certification. Groups like AGA, A Greener World, or the Global Animal Partnership offer certification labels you can check to verify it is real grass-fed beef. To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD, CNS References: Lavigne C, et al. “Cod and soy proteins compared with casein improve glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in rats.” Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2000;278(3):E491-E500. Svensson T, et al. “Midlife Intakes of the Isoflavone Genistein and Soy and the Risk of Late-life Cognitive Impairment: The JPHC Saku Mental Health Study.” J Epidemiol. 2023;33(7):342-349. Naidenko OV, et al. “Investigating Molecular Mechanisms of Immunotoxicity and the Utility of ToxCast for Immunotoxicity Screening of Chemicals Added to Food.” Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(7):3332. Published 2021 Mar 24. Nogoy KMC, et al. “Fatty Acid Composition of Grain- and Grass-Fed Beef and Their Nutritional Value and Health Implication.” Food Sci Anim Resour. 2022;42(1):18-33. To read the original article click here.

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Researchers Crack a Key Celiac Mystery

The AHA! Team — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 08:18:59 +0000

McMaster University via Newswise – Where in the body does the gluten reaction begin? People with celiac disease must navigate everyday life by avoiding gluten, a protein in wheat, rye and barley which can trigger painful symptoms in the gut, impede the absorption of nutrients and raise the risk of other serious long-term issues. The autoimmune disorder affects about 1 per cent of the population Its rate of occurrence has roughly doubled in the past 25 years, but there is no treatment available. An interdisciplinary team of medical and engineering researchers centered at Canada’s McMaster University and including colleagues from the US, Australia, and Argentina, has spent the last six years working to unlock a significant piece of the puzzle in the search for a cure: how and where the gluten response begins. It had previously been thought that the inflammatory response to gluten occurred inside the gut wall and exclusively involved immune cells, but In a new paper published today in the journal Gastroenterology, the team has shown there is more to the story. They found that the inner lining of the upper intestine, called the “epithelium” –composed of a variety of cells that are not classically part of the immune system – also plays an active role in directing the inflammatory response to gluten. Using microscopic biomaterials in the laboratory, the team created a biologically functioning model of the intestinal epithelium which allowed the researchers to isolate the effects of specific molecules in the epithelial cells of people with celiac disease. The model allowed the researchers to generate and observe the reactions under controlled conditions, an option that is simply not available in extremely complex gut environments of living beings. They were able to observe how the molecules alert immune cells to the presence of gluten, and to conclude definitively that the epithelium plays a crucial role in activating the immune system in celiac disease. Such a mechanism had been postulated before but was never proven. Answering this controversial question is expected to advance the development of new drugs. “The only way we can treat celiac disease today is by fully eliminating gluten from the diet. This is difficult to do, and experts agree that a gluten-free diet is insufficient,” says Elena Verdu, a corresponding author on the paper who is a professor of gastroenterology and director of McMaster’s Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute. Precisely locating the spark of the immune response could stimulate research into drug delivery to inhibit this newly found role of the epithelium, using drugs already in clinical trials, Verdu says. “This allowed us to narrow down the specific cause and effect and prove exactly whether and how the reaction takes place,” says Tohid Didar, a corresponding author on the paper and an associate professor at McMaster’s School of Biomedical Engineering who holds the Canada Research Chair in Nano-biomaterials. Another significant finding from the study is that after detecting gluten, the epithelium sends stronger signals to immune cells if pathogens are also present. This means that in the future it may be possible to detect the pathogen in a person at risk of developing the disease and inhibit the interactions with gluten and the gut epithelium to prevent the disease, says the paper’s lead author, Sara Rahmani, a PhD candidate in Verdu and Didar labs. To read the original article click here.

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Shield Your Telomeres with Omega-3

AHA Publisher — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 08:00:27 +0000

Al Sears, MD, CNS – You may recall telomeres are the “caps” that protect the ends of your DNA strands. But with each cellular replication, telomeres grow shorter and shorter… It’s like a clock counting down to zero. The shorter they become, the faster you age and the more vulnerable you are to disease. Researchers at Ohio State University wanted to know if high doses of omega-3s could shield telomeres from the free-radical damage caused by stress. In this case, the researchers gave 138 people difficult problems to solve, then studied their bodies’ reactions. For subjects taking 2.5 grams of omega-3s daily, it was smooth sailing. They had 19% lower cortisol levels and 33% fewer inflammatory proteins than normal.1 But for those taking a placebo instead of omega-3s, oh my! They experienced a 25% drop in telomerase, the enzyme that keeps telomeres long and healthy. That’s alarming because without enough telomerase to repair your telomeres, old age and frailty are right around the corner. They also had a 20% DROP in healthy, anti-inflammatory proteins.2 The group taking omega-3s shrugged off the stress and thrived. The other group was shaken to their genetic core. My question: Which of those groups would you rather be in? Use Omega-3 to Shield Your Telomeres If you follow my work at all, you already know I recommend eating wild-caught salmon and supplementation to get enough omega-3s. The key ingredient to look for is docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. I recommend at least 500 mg of DHA and 60 mg of EPA every day! Look for a supplement powered by high-DHA calamari and krill caught in the pristine waters near the Antarctic. But I want to go beyond that advice today to talk about 3 sources of omega-3s you’ve probably never heard about. These foods that are high in omega-3s will help you and your telomeres breeze through whatever stress life sends your way: Omega-3 Surprise No. 1 – Hempseed. These seeds come from a plant in the cannabis family… but without the psychoactive THC. They offer a nearly ideal ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, estimated at between 2:1 and 3:1.3 That’s highly significant because over the last 75 years the disease-causing omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio has jumped to a stunning 20:1… mostly due to grain-fed cattle and cheap vegetable oils. To counteract this trend, use hempseed whenever you can. I sprinkle it on salads, or you can toss it in soups and stews. Omega-3 Surprise No. 2 – Sacha inchi oil. When I traveled to Peru, I discovered a delicious oil that may be the world’s best kept omega-3 secret. Most vegetable oils have only a minuscule amount of omega-3 – just 1% by volume in olive oil, for example. But sacha inchi oil (plukenetia volubilis), made from the peanut-like seeds of a plant found primarily in the Amazonian Rainforest in Peru, is absolutely one of the best fatty acid sources on the planet – a whopping 48% by volume. The indigenous Asháninka people I visited there cultivate it. It’s also high in protein and antioxidants like vitamin A and E. You’ll find it online and at some health food stores. Omega-3 Surprise No. 3 – Organ Meat. As soon as someone says “omega-3s,” you probably think of fish, not meat. Many readers remain unaware that meat is also an excellent omega-3 source. But not just any meat will do: Unless livestock is 100% grass-fed, its omega-3 content will be negligible. The best cuts are organ meat – liver, heart, and kidneys. These are also packed with other vital nutrients such as CoQ10, B vitamins, and protein. To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD, CNS References: 1. Ohio State University (2021, April 20). Omega-3 supplements do double duty in protecting against stress. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from ScienceBlog.com website. 2. Ohio State University (2021, April 20). Omega-3 supplements do double duty in protecting against stress. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from ScienceBlog.com website. 3. Rodriguez-Leyva, D., & Pierce, G. N. (2010). The cardiac and haemostatic effects of dietary hempseed. Nutrition & Metabolism, 7(1), 32. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-7075-7-32 To read the original article click here.

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