Bread is a staple food around the world and there are many different types. Some are healthier than others.
Registered dietitian Jaime Gnau offers some insights about choosing the healthiest types of bread to INSIDER. She’s also a clinical instructor of biomedical sciences at Missouri State University.
Some items in our food supply, such as alfalfa, corn, potatoes and soybeans are genetically modified or engineered.
While these types of food are limited and highly regulated, they are some of the most misunderstood and polarizing food items.
“The misunderstandings around GMOs and GE foods speaks to our tendency to believe that anything natural is good for us and anything unnatural is bad,” said Jaime Gnau, a registered dietitian at Missouri State University. “That’s considered the natural fallacy.”
The Great Food Debate
The Great Food Debate
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Read the full transcript for part 2
GMO stands for genetically modified organism. It refers to any crops or foods that have been genetically modified through gene alteration in agriculture.
“This has been going on for thousands of years,” said Gnau, who’s also a clinical instructor of biomedical sciences at MSU.
“Our crops are genetically modified through selective breeding and crossbreeding to get the traits that make the crops stronger, more flavorful, etc.”
As for genetically engineered (GE), it’s specific to the process of combining DNA from different organisms in one plant. The goal is to get a targeted trait quickly without changing the rest of the plant.
“Essentially, genetic engineering does what selective breeding and crossbreeding have been doing for thousands of years. But it’s more precise and takes a lot less time to do it,” Gnau said.
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She highlights a few key reasons for GMOs and GE foods:
An example of a GE crop is Golden Rice. It’s a type of rice engineered t0 produce beta-carotene, which it doesn’t naturally do.
Beta-carotene is a precursor to vitamin A and its deficiency is one of the leading causes of preventable night blindness in the world. Vitamin A deficiency is common in many developing countries.
“Increasing nutrient density in foods can improve quality of life and even save lives around the globe,” Gnau said.
Two most common myths around GMOs and GE foods relate to environmental and health concerns, notes Gnau. While some concerns are valid, the benefits outweigh the cons.
On average, genetic modification (GM) technology has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37% and soil erosion by 93%. It has also increased crop yields by 22% and farmer profits by 68%.
“There’s a big decline in farmers. So, the ability to increase crop yields with fewer farmers is crucial to feed the global population,” Gnau said.
The belief that foods produced by GM technology are unsafe for consumption is untrue, she adds. For a GM or GE crop to be approved for commercial use, it must undergo a long research and review process, and pass strict safety regulations.
“More than 90 government bodies globally review and approve GMOs,” Gnau said. “To get into our food system, GMOs take about 13 years and cost about $130 million of research, development and regulatory approval.”
This time of year it’s tempting to put out bird feeders for your sweet neighborly birds to visit.
Dr. Kip Thompson, associate professor of public health and sports medicine at Missouri State University, recommends waiting until warmer months.
Avian flu, specifically the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1, has been sweeping across the United States and around the world. The first cases showed up last November and have only been increasing.
Summertime should hopefully bring an end to the avian influenza outbreak, noted Thompson. It is similar in many ways to the influenza humans contract, which also tends to die down in time for summer.
Poultry farms are suffering because of these outbreaks.
“This year has been especially bad. We’ve lost a lot of commercial poultry,” Thompson said.
“The rising prices of eggs and chicken are surprisingly not from COVID-19. It’s primarily because we are having to cull millions and millions of chickens.”
Culling is a term used for removing chickens (or other birds) from the population. It’s necessary when a bird has been exposed.
Because H5N1 is so contagious, it is important to separate the bird as soon as possible.
Though highly unlikely, it is possible for humans to contract avian influenza.
“It’s almost always occupational in the U.S.,” Thompson said.
“For underdeveloped countries, poultry is typically kept near the house, if not inside, at nighttime — for protection. This increases the chances of humans contracting the H5N1 strain from their birds.”
If you don’t work at a poultry farm handling birds all day, then it is almost impossible for you to contract avian influenza, he added.
For those with a small number of chickens in their yard, do your best to keep wild birds away from your flock. This can be done by ensuring the holes in your coop aren’t wide enough for any other birds to come through.
Answering 10 questions to determine which woodland creature you most identify with can be fun. But how accurate are what we consider to be more in-depth personality tests?
Some of the most popular ones are the Myers-Briggs test, the 5 Love Languages quiz and the Enneagram test.
“I’m all for people taking assessments, but they must know what the assessment is primarily used for, and if it’s a good one or a bad one,” said Dr. Amber Abernathy, associate professor in Missouri State University’s psychology department.
Abernathy, who specializes in conscientious psychology, suggests taking the NEO PI-R. This is the standard questionnaire measure of the Big Five personality test, also known as the Five Factor Model.
Abernathy recommends using the International Personality Item Pool Representation (IPIP). It is almost identical to the original NEO PI-R, but it is free.
Abernathy uses this version for her psychology classes.
The Big Five consists of these personality traits:
The test results give users an assessment that shows their varying levels of each personality trait and what that means overall.
Choosing the type of personality assessment to take will largely depend on what you are using the results for.
Abernathy likes the Myers-Briggs test more than others, stating “what’s unique about Myers-Briggs is that there’s a chart that tells you who you would work well with. That can be incredibly beneficial.”
Even with these benefits, you should use the Myers-Briggs test generally, not to unravel your true personality.
Often results will differ for all mainstream personality tests if you take them more than once.
“For personality assessments, we want high levels of reliability and validity. If you have to take it again, then it isn’t a good personality test. Statistics show that the Myers-Briggs test doesn’t have good reliability,” Abernathy said.
“Popular personality tests have their place. Their use should be limited primarily to determining a field of work.”