New studies testing oral immunotherapy have shown that gut health may play a large role in allergies, and gut microbes may be the solution to food allergies. Oral immunotherapy involves taking small doses of whatever food causes the allergic reaction, every day or a few times a week. Scientists believe that imbalances in beneficial bacteria are the root cause of food allergies.

But oral immunotherapy has downsides. The regimen can be nerve-racking, since it involves daily consumption of food that could kill. It doesn’t work for everyone and does little to fix the underlying disease. Success mostly means gaining the ability to safely eat several peanuts, for example, rather than reacting to a speck of peanut flour.

Gut Microbes May Be Key to Solving Food Allergies

Here at OLM, we’ve known about the connection between gut health and allergies for quite some time. Our experiences have shown that when the gut is healthy, allergies disappear. Check out this article to learn more about the connection between gut health and allergies, and information on how to heal the gut.

Related: How To Heal Your Gut

For those looking for that perfect pollinator plant to grow, look no further than hemp. While Cannabis sativa (industrial hemp) lacks the nectar that bees typically collect, a study published in the journal Environmental Entomology found that the pollen produced by male plants was able to attract up to 16 different bee species.

Because of its temporally unique flowering phenology (the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena), hemp has the potential to provide a critical nutritional resource to a diverse community of bees during a period of floral scarcity and thereby may help to sustain agroecosystem-wide pollination services for other crops in the landscape.”

Environmental Entomology

Taller hemp plants were more successful than the shortest plants in attracting bees, drawing in 17 times more of the insects. This is likely due to the increased pollen production of taller plants and their increased visibility.

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Sources:

• Bees Absolutely Love Cannabis and It Could Help Restore Their Populations – Vegnum
• Environmental Entomology Study Confirms Bees Love Hemp – PSNet

Bayer AG has reached verbal agreements with 50,000 to 85,000 plaintiffs in Roundup cancer lawsuits in the United States. The agreements have not yet been signed, and some of them will need the approval of California Judge Vince Chhabria, the judge responsible for reducing an $80 million award to $25 million. Chhabria suspended a trial scheduled for March 23rd without setting a new date, and brought in settlement negotiator Kenneth Feinberg.

Related: How to Eliminate IBS, IBD, Leaky Gut 

There are talks with various lawyers around the nation who have significant inventories of Roundup cases. I’m optimistic we can reach a comprehensive settlement of this litigation.”

Kenneth Feinberg, mediator

These negotiations represent a significant chunk of the 125,000 of the Roundup lawsuits in California and Missouri (where Monsanto headquarters were located), though Bayer has only acknowledged about half of those. Settlements are preferable to high-exposure jury trials, like the three California cases last year that resulted in significant awards against the pharmaceutical and life sciences company. Roundup litigation has plagued the German company since it purchased Monsanto in 2018.

Bayer has said official settlements will likely be announced in June.

Related: Foods Most Likely to Contain Glyphosate

Sources:

Italian scientists studying the Mediterranean diet have found evidence that the quality of your food matters when it comes to health benefits. Researchers from Mediterranean Neurological Institute (I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed) released their findings in 2017 after studying more than 18,000 men and women since 2005. The Molisani study saw that wealthier participants experienced a greater reduction of cardiovascular risks.

Given a comparable adherence to the Mediterranean diet, the most advantaged groups were more likely to report a larger number of indices of high quality diet as opposed to people with low socioeconomic status…For example, within those reporting an optimal adherence to the Mediterranean diet (as measured by a score comprising fruits and nuts, vegetables, legumes, cereals, fish, fats, meat, dairy products and alcohol intake) people with high income or higher educational level consumed products richer in antioxidants and polyphenols, and had a greater diversity in fruit and vegetables choice. We have also found a socioeconomic gradient in the consumption of whole-grain products and in the preferred cooking methods. These substantial differences in consuming products belonging to Mediterranean diet lead us to think that quality of foods may be as important for health as quantity and frequency of intake”

Licia Iacoviello, head of the Laboratory of Nutritional and Molecular Epidemiology at I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed

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Here is yet another insidious way lower-income people are disadvantaged.

The Mediterranean diet is characterized by a large quantity of olive oil, unrefined grains, legumes, and diverse fruits and vegetables. It includes moderate amounts of fish, dairy, and wine. In addition, not all items are created equal – cheaper versions of things (like canned vegetables as opposed to fresh) do not contain the same nutritional makeup as fresher, more expensive options. Lower-income people are less likely to be able to afford the quality and diversity of products needed to reap the benefits of the Mediterranean diet.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) have announced that they will co-sponsor the Farm System Reform Act (FSRA) introduced by Cory Booker (D-NJ). Khanna also introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. The FSRA is designed to move the United States agricultural system away from factory farming by immediately stopping the construction of new factory farms, the expansion of existing farms, and phasing out the largest farms by 2040. Booker initially proposed the legislation in December of 2019, and the current pandemic-induced food system woes and COVID-19 have inspired Senator Warren and Representative Khanna to show their support for the legislation.

For years, regulators looked the other way while giant multinational corporations crushed competition in the agriculture sector and seized control over key markets…The COVID-19 crisis will make it easier for Big Ag to get even bigger, gobble up smaller farms, and lead to fewer choices for consumers….”

Senator Elizabeth Warren

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The Farm System Reform Act also includes a $100 Billion voluntary buyout program for contract farmers who want to move away from factory farming, strengthens family farmer and rancher protections, prohibits the USDA from labeling imported meat as Product of the U.S.A., and reinstitutes mandatory country of origin labeling for beef, pork, and dairy.

Our food system was not broken by the pandemic and it was not broken by independent family farmers…It was broken by large, multinational corporations like Tyson, Smithfield, and JBS that, because of their buying power and size, have undue influence over the marketplace and over public policy.”

Senator Cory Booker

Sources:

• Elizabeth Warren Backs Cory Booker’s Bill to Shut Down Factory Farms – Veg News
• Sen. Cory Booker Just Dropped a Bill That Includes First-Ever National Factory Farm Moratorium – Food and Water Watch

A lawsuit has recently been filed against a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Milan, Missouri. The pork-processing plant is accused of not adequately protecting workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Workers have reported not taking time to cover their mouths after coughing or covering their mouths after sneezing for fear of missing meat as it goes by, thus resulting in the risk of disciplinary action. The complaint was filed by an anonymous worker. Along with the health of the workers, the health of the public has also been brought into question.

Several dozen workers signed a letter that was delivered to plant management during the week of March 30 complaining of cramped conditions and a lack of protective equipment and accommodations for sick leave. It cited the company’s policy of assigning workers a disciplinary point — a tally that can lead to dismissal — if they took a day off.

Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can’t Cover Mouths to Cough

Many meatpacking facilities around the country have shut down or are working at a lower capacity. Ten workers have died from the coronavirus while around 6,500 employees either contracted the virus, are showing symptoms and/or have missed work due to self-quarantine. The CDC has recommended that Smithfield facilities establish stricter social distancing regulations. Through the lawsuit, workers are requesting changes to Smithfield’s practices rather than compensation.

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Smithfield workers are not unionized. Before the Coronavirus outbreak workers reported not having enough time for bathroom breaks. Workers frequently suffered from urinary tract infections and other stress injuries.

Sources:

• Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can’t Cover Mouths to Cough -Organic Consumers Association
• Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can’t Cover Mouths to Cough -The New York Times

President Trump’s recent executive order to keep meat and poultry processing plants open during the COVID-19 pandemic might not be enough to keep farmers from culling their herds. Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, told a CNN reporter, Manu Raju, that farmers will have to kill 60,00 to 70,000 pigs a day due to the lack of processing plants.

I think you are going to see some grocery stores have shortages of pork next week…(if shutdowns continue) you can end up running out of pork completely.”

Collin Peterson, House Agriculture Chairman

While consumers will be dealing with pork shortages, farmers will have to find a way to dispose of the hogs. There are serious environmental and health implications for each of the disposal methods available to farmers, which include burning, burying, and composting.

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Burning the pig carcasses creates air pollution. After a 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak in the U.K. necessitated the slaughter of 6.5 million animals, researchers calculated that every burned pig carcass generated around three pounds of particulate matter. Burial is the cheapest option, but the carcasses release liquid that leaches into the water supply. Nitrates are particularly toxic to infants at high levels. Composting is the most eco-friendly method of the three, but it requires resources that farmers may not be able to easily locate. Management of the composting will require a subject expert and enough carbon-rich material like sawdust or leaves.

If the food supply chain breaks down, the dichotomy will be painful. Farmers will continue to produce food, but without a way to process it, consumers will be unable to purchase it.

Sources

• As slaughterhouses close, farmers may have to cull thousands of hogs a day. Those carcasses need to go somewhere—and there are no good options – The Counter
• Trump is keeping meatpacking plants open — but employees are scared to show up for work – Vox