Skidmore College - Scope Magazine Spring 2019

Can Muslims eat genetically modified foods? By Nurcan Atalan-Helicke Genetically modified crops have been com- mercially available since 1996, but discussions about genetically engineered food in the Muslim world are comparatively new. Because of the lack of or novelty of biosafety laws, few members of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation are engaged in genetically modified agriculture. Only two countries allow cultivation of geneti- cally modified crops — Pakistan and Sudan. Two — Egypt and Indonesia — stopped cultivating such crops. Two — Turkey and Malaysia — are importing genetically modified crops as animal feed, and two countries — Egypt and Malaysia — have or are in the process of producing their own genetically modified crops. Yet, almost every Muslim majority country in the world allows genetically modified food ingredients with or without the need for labeling. Around 1.8 billion Muslim consumers worldwide are becoming more conscious of what they eat and consume, and they look for food and services that are halal, an Arabic word meaning “lawful” or “permitted” according to Is- lamic principles. Diverse halal practices among Muslim consumers, fragment- ed halal markets and the complexity of the food system render interpretation of certain issues and practices, such as genetically modified food, difficult. Through qualitative fieldwork in Turkey, I examine the genetically modified food debates from multiple angles. Although various bodies of Islamic schol- ars declared that basic genetic modification in food is halal, and there is no le- gal objection to the use of gene modification in agriculture, there is a diversity of opinion among Muslim countries and among halal certification agencies within countries about the halal status of genetically modified food. Economic interests of different countries and their integration into both genetic modifi- cation markets and halal markets raises questions about whose voice should be authoritative in declaring the halal status of genetically modified crops. My current project discusses the tensions from the perspective of con- sumers. I work with secular and devout Muslim mothers who are asked by the state, religious and secular organizations and businesses to feed their chil- dren clean and healthy food. Like consumers in North America and Europe, Muslim consumers are burdened by bearing the responsibility to choose the right kind of food while there is no labeling requirement or standards imposed on the industry. Similarly, consumers have difficulty negotiating their religious and ethical values when markets provide them with halal or organic certified products at higher premiums that challenge their household budgets. These tensions are more evident for consumers who define clean and healthy food in an eco-friendly framework and demand both halal and or- ganic practices in the production and processing of their food. The concerns of consumers reflect a broader issue of trust in the agri-food system and how we envision our food futures. Nurcan Atalan-Helicke is an associate professor of environmental studies and sciences. Can the food you eat promote chronic diseases? By T.H. Reynolds My laboratory studies the negative health effects of eating a “Western” diet that contains high levels of saturated fats and refined sugars. Using a pre-clinical mouse model, we induce obesity and type 2 diabetes by feeding mice a diet high in fat and sugar. With approximately eight weeks of a high-fat and high-sugar diet, mice gain significant amounts of body weight, their fat tissue expands and enters into a pro-inflammatory state and they become insulin resistant, sort of a pre-diabetes condition. These physi- ological changes closely mirror the slow but persistent weight gain that occurs in hu- mans as they age and become less active and eat foods loaded with calories from fat and simple sugars. A few years ago, a student working in my lab, Jon Brestoff-Parker ’08, a current Board of Trustees member, designed a study to determine whether an experimental antioxidant treatment could stave off the insulin resistance that occurs when mice are fed a diet high in fat and sugar. As typically occurs in even the best-designed scientific experiments, the results are seldom what you expect and are many times difficult to explain. Much to our surprise, the mice on the high-fat, high-sucrose diet that received the antioxidant supplement not only showed improvement in how their insulin worked but also gained less weight than their peers that did not receive the treatment. Further, the treated mice had less inflammation in their fat tissue than the untreated mice. We were hopeful the antioxidant would lower damaging re- active oxygen molecules and improve insulin action, but we never envisioned the mice losing dramatic levels of body fat. One must be careful when generalizing results from studies in mice to humans, but our findings, nonetheless, suggest that increasing the consump- tion of foods that contain high levels of antioxidants might promote weight loss and improve insulin sensitivity. Current research is examining how the ketogenic diet might facilitate weight loss. The ketogenic diet is low in carbohydrates, forcing the body to metabolize fat for energy and producing ketones as a byproduct. Ally Dalton, a senior human physiological sciences major, is testing whether ketones turn on the expression of antioxidant genes by activating the body’s ketone receptor, called HCAR2 (hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2). In other words, rather than consuming more foods rich in antioxidants or taking an antioxi- dant supplement, she is trying to determine whether our cells turn on HCAR2 to make more antioxidants when a ketogenic diet is consumed and whether this response plays a role in weight loss. Hopefully, Ally will know the answer to these questions before she graduates in May. T.H. Reynolds is a professor and chair of the Health and Human Physiological Sciences Department. 23 SKIDMORE COLLEGE