Autism and Lyme Disease Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods

What animal studies reveal about GM food’s impact on the digestive tract

Of all the many negative outcomes from animal studies, the ones of the most concern to patients with Lyme or autism is the ability of GM foods to damage the digestive tract.

In animal studies, those fed GM foods were found to feature abnormal growths in the stomach and intestine walls as well as stomach lesions.

Another impact in the intestinal tract, where 80% of the immune system is found, is that the altered DNA in the GM food changes the makeup of the bacteria in the intestines—killing off varieties that are beneficial, and even transferring itself into the DNA of the bacteria. (So even after stopping the consumption of GM foods, the DNA is still there, functioning, living, and reproducing inside the intestine).

Signature characteristics of Lyme and Autism patients remain gastro-intestinal distress. Common features include imbalance of intestinal flora resulting in overpopulation of yeast chronically, permeable intestinal walls (leaky gut), sensitivities to or inability to digest a variety of foods, even Crohn’s disease. For already GI-compromised patients, GM foods are not worth the additional risk.

For more information on animals studies, see the article “Negative Health Effects of Genetically Modified Foods.” To learn more about what foods are GM, take the quiz “How Much Genetically Modified Food Do You Eat?”

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