QUICK TIP: Identifying GMO Sugar

From: http://biggreenboulder.com/

I was reading the "Non-GMO Shopping Guide" and came across some enlightening info, new to me. If you look at the ingredients on a food you buy and it says "sugar", this can be a combination of sugar made from sugar cane plus sugar made from sugar beets. More than half of the US sugar production is from sugar beets, the rest from cane sugar. Only if the ingredients say "cane sugar" will you know that sugar beets are not used. Why is this important?

Sugar beets are one of the most common genetically modified crops in the USA (click for more info on GMO), with about 95% of the total crop being grown from GMO seeds. The sugar beet seeds which are GMO are engineered to be "Roundup Ready," meaning that Monsanto altered the genetics of normal sugar beet seeds so that the sugar beet producers can spray their crop with the Monsanto synthetic herbicide Roundup (aka glysophate) and easlily kill the weeds while the beets continue to grow.... with the blessings of the US Department of Agriculture.

Not only are GMO crops causing serious problems to our food supply and our nation's health, but there are other very serious concerns, including the increase of superweeds caused by resistance to the herbicide glysophate, and cross contamination of non-gmo crops like organic table beets or Swiss chard, often grown in the same regions as the GMO sugar beets.

I'm not encouraging you to buy and eat refined sugar, since it is also contributing to prevalent poor diets and the obesity epidemic, but I'd certainly favor it over artificial sweeteners (like Splenda). I always encourage reducing intake of any sweeteners, and, when necessary, using healthier alternative sweeteners, such as green natural stevia, local honey, vitamin B-rich molasses and sorghum, or agave. (Click the "Ingredients" tab at the page top for more info on words printed in red.)

Read and download the helpful Non-GMO shopping guide here for more excellent useful information.