I’m a doctor and I have a PhD in nutrition. Like everyone else, I would like to keep my brain going and not develop Alzheimer’s.  Today no one knows how to prevent Alzheimer’s. But as a doctor and medical researcher, I came across some knowledge almost no one knows about which helps me avoid concerns about developing Alzheimer’s.  Let me tell you what I know that helps me.  The following information all comes from my new book Rottenseed! Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain.  This book is due to be released very soon.

Agribusiness is pouring millions of pounds of poison into the human food supply every year with no regulation and no public knowledge.  So?  Big deal.  I think it is a big deal.  Why?  I could call these poisons the “Swiss cheese”poisons, not because I have something against Swiss cheese, but because of the way the brain looks after animals eat these poisons.  These are cottonseed poisons.  I’m talking here about one of these cottonseed poisons, which goes to your brain.  When cottonseed is fed to animals, so many brain cells die that the brain develops big holes and looks like Swiss cheese.  This is what the brain looks like after a rat has been fed cottonseed:

Section of a rat’s brain after eating cottonseed

In addition to making holes in the brain, the cottonseed poison ties up other structures in the brain.   This is what Alzheimer’s is all about.

If you want to avoid developing Alzheimer’s, you don’t want this poison going to your brain.  You don’t want holes in your brain, and you don’t want tangled structures in your brain.

Is it worth it to you to avoid these poisons?  I think most of us do not want our brains to look like Swiss cheese.  But you can’t avoid this poison unless you know where it is coming from.

As I said above, the poison comes from cottonseed.  These are the seeds that are part of the cotton balls.  Cotton farming has a huge by-product, millions of pounds of cottonseeds.   Because the seeds contain protein, the seeds are fed to farm animals.  Also, the seeds contain oil, so the oil is processed into foods that you and I eat.

The problem is that cottonseed is poisonous!  Yes, cottonseed contains poison, lots of poison.   Farmers feed as much cottonseed to the animals as they can without the poison killing the animals.  The amount of cottonseed that will kill animals is well known.

The problem is that the cottonseed poisons remain in the meat and fat of the animals, so when we eat the meat from the cottonseed-fed animals, or drink the milk from the cottonseed-fed cows, we get the cottonseed poisons in our food.

How do you prevent Alzheimer’s?  You avoid eating cottonseed poisons.

In my forthcoming book, Rottenseed!  Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain (Wisconsin Institute of Nutrition, LLP, 2013), I tell everyone where the cottonseed poisons are and how to avoid them.  I explain the scientific basis of this problem, and the practical solutions.  I also explain why you can stop eating cottonseed now, even if you are older, and still be healthier.

Rottenseed! Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain is the first book to shed light on this hidden problem in our food supply.  My book is based on scientific research, and is the first to suggest that you can prevent major health problems by not eating cottonseed, directly through oil or indirectly through meat, fish, poultry and milk.

So you can do what I do every day.  You can start now, even if you are older.  This is what I do as a doctor and PhD nutritionist.  This is not just for the young!

You can help fund further Cottonseed research by making a tax deductible contribution through paypal on the right or below.

In a recent report, some young children have been found to have high blood triglycerides, high cholesterol and already hardening of the arteries.  In the Vietnam War era, young men were found to have already atherosclerosis of the arteries (narrowing of the arteries from cholesterol deposits).  Aren’t these problems which should wait at least until people age some?  Where are all these cholesterol and artery problems coming from?  The report on children points to high sugar intake for causing high triglycerides but where are all the cholesterol problems coming from?  There must be something causing these problems.  It is certainly not old age and it cannot be bad genes in so many children.

Is there something in our food?

Yes, there is something in our food which could cause these problems.  But only a very few people know about it.   I explain in my new book,  Rottenseed!  Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain,   in great detail how kids could be showing up with these high cholesterol numbers.  This is the brief explanation:

In our food are several toxic chemicals which block the excretion of cholesterol, leading to high cholesterol levels.  Then atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) develops.    What is the relationship to food?  There are toxic chemicals in food raising cholesterol and causing cholesterol deposits in the arteries.

Our food contains two cottonseed toxins called cyclopropenoid fatty acids, or CPFA’s, which  cause increased cholesterol and other problems.

CPFA’s  block the excretion of cholesterol from the body.  Then cholesterol levels go up and artery disease begins and worsens.  In a study of rabbits fed these toxins, the rabbits developed high cholesterol and major artery disease in only five weeks.[i]

So if kids are eating lots of foods with cottonseed, they may be developing high cholesterol.  Cottonseed is left over from cotton farming.  Kids are eating cottonseed in foods, such as meat, milk, fish, poultry and potato chips.   When do these toxins start to act?  Do they wait until people start to become old?  No, cottonseed is fed to dairy cattle and these toxins are found in milk.  So very young children will be ingesting these toxins as soon as they start on regular milk.  These toxins block clearance of cholesterol causing high blood cholesterol, and could easily account for why children and young adults have high cholesterols.

Cottonseed toxins are also in cottonseed oil.  Every time a child eats a potato chip fried in cottonseed oil, the child is ingesting toxins that may lead to high cholesterol.

What can you, as a parent, do about this?

You can feed your children cottonseed-free foods.  First, get rid of foods containing cottonseed oil.  There are plenty of chips and snack foods on the market that do not contain cottonseed oil.  Second, eat as little meat as possible that is commercially raised.  Eat grass fed beef, eat meat alternatives such as beans and rice.  Third, drink milk that is from cows that are “pasture raised” or “grass fed” so your children are not drinking cottonseed toxins.    If you’re looking for a cookbook that incorporates these ides, we would suggest  Feast Without Yeast: 4 Stages to Better Health and Extraordinary Foods for the Everyday Kitchen.

For more information, look for my forthcoming book, Rottenseed!  Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain.

If you would like to contribute directly to funding further research on the link between cottonseed and your health,  use Paypal to donate securely

or send your tax deductible contributions to:

Wisconsin Institute of Nutrition Research Foundation, Inc.

P.O. Box 170867

Milwaukee, WI  53217

By Dr. Bruce Semon, M.D., Ph.D.  © 2013

According to a new report, the costs of Alzheimer’s care will increase significantly in coming years.  Why?  Baby boomers will become old enough to develop Alzheimer’s and nobody can prevent this disorder.  At the same time, another study came out saying that researchers now have developed a rat with many genetic defects which will lead to Alzheimer’s in this rat.  Scientists will then study this genetically defective rat to learn how to develop new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s.  The highlight of this Alzheimer’s research is to create drugs to treat the disease in the future, not prevent it.

Scientists seem to have given up on Alzheimer’s prevention.  Perhaps we should not give up so quickly on prevention.  Is there any information which would help us to determine a way to prevent Alzheimer’s?

Let’s look at another trend.  Scientists know from existing research that people who eat less meat or are vegetarian develop less Alzheimer’s.  The scientists don’t know why.  But these studies point us in the right direction, and led me to perform a study that showed why people who eat less meat develop less Alzheimer’s.

How are these trends related? How is eating more meat related to Alzheimer’s?  And how can we prevent Alzheimer’s by looking at meat?

Let’s answer these questions.  Meat contains a cottonseed poison called “gossypol”.  I have performed a study on what happens when rats eat cottonseed and gossypol.  This study strongly suggests that Alzheimer’s can be prevented by eliminating this poison “gossypol” from our diet.

I explain all of this and more in my new book, Rottenseed!  Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain (anticipated publication June 2013).

How does gossypol get into meat and then cause Alzheimer’s?    Cottonseed is fed to animals.  Cottonseed is a byproduct of cotton farming, and is a large part of commercial animal feed.  Cottonseed contains gossypol.  Gossypol becomes part of our food by staying in the meat, fat, and milk of animals who are fed cottonseed.  Scientists have long studied gossypol to figure out just how much can be fed to animals without killing them.

Why does feeding cottonseed to animals cause Alzheimer’s in humans?  The cottonseed toxin gossypol is highly toxic, stable, long-lasting and hard to clear.  It remains in the meat and fat of animals, and in the milk of dairy cows.  We eat it.  We drink it.  It circulates in our bodies.  Gossypol goes to the brain.    Not only is gossypol  poisonous to animals, it is also poisonous to us.  Cottonseed is truly a Rottenseed.

We know from existing studies that when cottonseed is fed to animals, gossypol remains in the meat of animals and can be found in the milk of dairy cows.  When people eat meat and drink milk, they are eating gossypol. The gossypol circulates throughout our bodies and goes to the brain, accumulating and binding randomly to important structures, making those structures inactive.  This includes supporting structures of cells.    The cell dies without supporting structure.   In my recent study, when small amounts of gossypol were mixed into the diet of rats and fed for a lifetime, the brains showed signs of Alzheimer’s.

But can this really be true? Why has cottonseed become such a major part of the food chain without someone noticing this?  How can it be that scientists have known for a century that cottonseed is highly toxic to animals, without bothering to study whether feeding cottonseed to humans over their lifetimes is toxic to humans?  Has anyone else tested gossypol for seeing if it causes Alzheimer’s?  And if it does, why does the biomedical research community not know about this?

These questions are complex and I answer them more completely in my book, Rottenseed!  Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain.

Briefly, though, understand that incredibly, there are no labs currently looking at cottonseed and Alzheimer’s.  This appears to be for two reasons.  First, because the scientific community generally appears to be uninterested in the question of whether what we eat causes disease in general and Alzheimer’s in particular, and second, because answering the question requires very long-term studies which are hard to do in today’s funding cycles.  These are simplistic answers, but I go into great detail about these two problems in   Rottenseed!  Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain.

My interest in cottonseed problems started more than 20 years ago when I was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institutes.  I was working in a lab on diet and cancer.  Gossypol was on a list of chemicals in the diet that may have to do with cancer because gossypol binds to DNA and also causes genetic mutations, which may cause cancer.  But as I looked at gossypol, gossypol looked to be more importantly a possible cause of Alzheimer’s.

After trying for two decades to interest existing national labs in doing such a study, I decided to do it on my own in my own lab using rats as an animal model for humans.  We funded the study with private contributions and profits from our books, Feast Without Yeast: 4 Stages to Better Health (1999), An Extraordinary Power to Heal (2003) and Extraordinary Foods for the Everyday Kitchen (2003).

The challenge was designing a study that would not kill the animals in the process.  If a researcher feeds a lot of cottonseed quickly to an animal, the animal bleeds to death.   So cottonseed needs to be fed to animals in small amounts daily over a long period of time.  I was patient and I got results: the rats that ate the most gossypol over the course of their lives had the most signs of Alzheimer’s in their brains.  The rats that ate no gossypol over the course of their lives had no signs of Alzheimer’s.

This type of study replicates exactly the process of the human diet.  We do not eat huge amounts of gossypol in short periods of time.  Rather, we eat gossypol in meat and dairy and other products in small amounts over the course of our lives.

I published my results for scientists in the peer-reviewed medical journal, Medical Hypotheses, and am publishing them for lay people, as well as more detailed information, in  my forthcoming book–  Rottenseed!  Cottonseed, Alzheimer’s and Your Brain.  I also am engaged in a major replication of this study in an independent lab using larger numbers of animals over the next several years.  The profits from Rottenseed!  will go toward funding this study, as well as other studies on the relationship between what we eat and health.

So, let’s go back to the original question.  Why is it that people who eat less meat develop less Alzheimer’s?  The answer is easy to explain.  They eat less of the cottonseed toxin gossypol.

What can you do now to prevent Alzheimer’s?

• First, stop eating everything that contains cottonseed.  Look on packaged and processed foods.  You do not need to become a vegetarian.  Instead of eating commercially raised meat from animals that are being fed cottonseed, buy only meat from grass-fed animals, because they do not eat cottonseed.  Buy fish that is wild-caught, not farm raised.  Buy dairy products that are “pasture raised” or from “grass-fed cows.”  Eat eggs.  Egg-laying chickens do not get cottonseed because it turns the eggs pink.  Eating more eggs will not raise your cholesterol.  By taking these steps now, you can help yourself today.

• Second, you can read my new book, Rottenseed!  Cottonseed: Alzheimer’s and Your Brain.   My book will give you much more insight into the problems that cottonseed causes, not only by causing Alzheimer’s, but by raising cholesterol and causing a host of other health problems.

• Third, you can participate directly in funding research on this subject by contributing to our non-profit, 501(c)(3) research foundation, Wisconsin Institute of Nutrition Research Foundation, Inc.  Your tax-exempt contribution will go directly to funding critical research on Alzheimer’s prevention that the mainstream scientific community is not interested in doing or funding.   Every contribution counts, no matter how small or large.

To participate in funding research to prevent Alzheimer’s, make a donation through Paypal

Or send a tax deductible contribution to us at:

Wisconsin Institute of Nutrition Research Foundation, Inc.

P.O. Box  170867

Glendale, WI  53217

For more information, call 1-877-332-7899

The Hidden Cause of Infertility–Cottonseed Poisons–And What You Can Do About It

Infertility affects as many as 10% of couples and can be devastating.  Sometimes the problem is with the man, sometimes with the woman, sometimes with their interaction and sometimes no cause can be determined.  When the problem is with the man, many times the problem is a low sperm count or a problem with the sperm.  Sperm problems may be due to hormonal problems, genetic or anatomical problems but often the cause is unknown.[i] When the problem is with the woman, the cause may be  failure to ovulate.  Such failure is often thought to be due to a hormonal problem.[ii]

Now if you look further and ask what can cause a low sperm count in an otherwise healthy man, you will find such problems as hormonal disorders.  But there is another, hidden reason, that you won’t find anywhere else. The hidden cause of infertility comes from our food—specifically, the cottonseed that is part of our food chain.  Cottonseed toxins interfere with fertility.  But these toxins are known only to a few people.  Most people don’t sit down to a meal of cottonseed, so you may wonder what I’m talking about.  Cottonseed, unless you buy cottonseed oil directly, is hidden in our food.  Let us review a few historical facts.  Cottonseed has been fed to agricultural animals, pigs, dairy and beef cattle, farm fed fish since at least early 1900’s.  Cottonseed is loaded with toxic chemicals and killed many of the animals to which it was fed, leading to studies of just how much cottonseed could be fed to animals without killing them.    However, just because the cottonseed in the animal feed doesn’t kill the animal doesn’t mean the cottonseed is safe.  Cottonseed is highly toxic and accumulates in the meat and fat of the animals.  So when you eat animals, including pigs, beef, chicken and fish, you are eating toxins.  One of the main cottonseed toxins is called “gossypol.”

How does gossypol relate  to infertility?  Researchers have known since 1950 that gossypol caused male rates to become  infertile.[iii]  Scientists have observed this effect consistently, but nobody until now has told you about it.

Because of this effect on male infertility, the Chinese looked into gossypol as a possible form of birth control for men.  Some Chinese researchers here in the United States found that gossypol interfered with formation of sperm.[iv]  In other words, if there is too much gossypol present, the male animal or human cannot make sperm.  They will have a low or zero sperm count.

Now let us go back to the man in an infertile couple.  The man has a low sperm count and has no idea why.  But the man has been taking in for literally his whole life a toxin which we know causes infertility in male rats and which the Chinese experimented with as a form of male birth control.  In other words, the low sperm count could be coming at least partially from the cottonseed toxin he has eaten over the years and all the gossypol he has accumulated.

What should this man do?  First, he should understand there may be a reason for why he has a low sperm count that has nothing to do with him, but what he is eating.  This knowledge will reduce anxiety. Second, he should stop eating cottonseed for at least 6 months to a year to see if this is helpful.  The problem is that cottonseed is in all the main meat containing foods and is also in dairy products and in farm fed fish.  The only major protein source that does not contain cottonseed toxins is eggs.  Eggs contain no cottonseed toxins. The only way to avoid cottonseed toxins is to eat no dairy, no meat, no farm fed fish, no chicken.    One can only eat meat if one knows that since the animal was born, it was not fed cottonseed.  This means eating eggs, beans and rice, vegetables and grains and potatoes.  This may be worth it, given all the problems that male infertility can cause and given how inexpensive this solution is compared with fertility treatments.

What about women?

Women are also affected by cottonseed.  Gossypol also reduces fertility in dairy cows.[v]  One of the main causes of female infertility problems is thought to be failure to ovulate from a hormonal disorder.  Cottonseed causes problems with fertility for dairy farmers.  Why?  Because gossypol reduces ovarian hormone production.[vi]  Again, the woman has been taking in a toxin literally for her whole life every day a toxin which causes hormonal problems.

What should she do if she has fertility problems?  She should follow the same dietary advice given above.

Going to a fertility clinic is expensive and at best not fun.  Any couple who wishes to give their fertility the best chance should know that diet may be playing a major role.

Are there any other dietary issues besides cottonseed toxins in our food?   Yes.  I give a lot of information on other parts of our website about problems with eating yeast, mold and fermentation.  You can go to our home page to see all of the problems that foods cause in our diet, or click on “medical problems” in the menu above.

While changing diet is not easy, I recommend our book Feast Without Yeast, both for Candida problems and for the problem of cottonseed in food.

I know of at least two women in their late 30’s who conceived easily while using the Feast Without Yeast diet.  One of these women had had multiple miscarriages and conceived quickly and carried her baby to term after she went on the Feast Without Yeast diet.  The other woman simply wanted to have a baby at age 39.

The is just a brief preview of my new book,  Rottenseed:  Cottonseed,  Alzheimer’s and Your Brain  scheduled for publication later this year.  Look for it on Amazon.com and other electronic sources.

To learn more about how you can take control of your health, check out our other books, Feast Without Yeast, Extraordinary Foods for the Everyday Kitchen, and An Extraordinary Power to Heal.  You can order them through Amazon.com by clicking on the links to the right.

Posted by Dr. Bruce Semon, December 8, 2012

Recently, Consumer Reports has written two alarming articles about arsenic in our food supply.  In January, 2012, Consumer Reports reported on arsenic in apple juice and grape juice.  (Arsenic in your juice, How much is too much? Federal limits don’t exist, Consumer Reports Magazine: January 2012)  They followed upon on this report with an investigation of arsenic in rice ( Arsenic in your food,Our findings show a real need for federal standards for this toxin,Consumer Reports magazine: November 2012)

The foods tested, rice and juice, contained varying levels of arsenic, from low to high.  Of particular concern was rice.   Arsenic was present in rice and rice-containing foods, from 50 parts per billion to 900 parts per billion.  To put this in context,  New Jersey sets an arsenic level of 5 parts per billion in drinking water.   Consumer Reports warned people  to avoid products which have higher arsenic levels and to watch one’s overall intake of rice products.

I was quite alarmed by the findings of Consumer Reports, because arsenic is a poison.  But rice and juice are not the only sources.  I will explain below how arsenic permeates our food supply, chiefly infiltrating through foods containing cottonseed and cottonseed oil.  This includes just about everything in our food supply.

The opening question is, why is arsenic found in rice products?    The reason is that rice is most commonly grown in the same regions where cotton is grown.   Arsenic-containing pesticides are used very heavily in cotton-growing areas, and arsenic is still present in the environment in these places.   Rice plants pick up the arsenic from the soil.

If rice picks up arsenic, what about cotton?  The answer is yes, cotton also picks up the arsenic. We generally think of clothing when we think of cotton.  We don’t eat the clothing, so this is no big deal.  However, the seed from the cotton plant is a major part of our food supply.  Cottonseed enters our food supply not only directly, as cottonseed oil, but indirectly as cottonseed meal which is a large component of animal feed     Cottonseed oil is used heavily in commercial preparation of oil-containing foods, including potato chips.

Unfortunately, nobody has measured arsenic in cottonseed-containing foods recently.  However, dating back to 1969, cottonseed contained significant amounts of arsenic. .[i]  Some of the measurements are in the same range as for rice (130 parts per billion) but the numbers go as high as ten times as high as that amount.    The arsenic content of the cottonseed meal which is fed to animals was measured at 10 to 30 times the arsenic content of rice.[ii]

Cottonseed is fed heavily to farm fed fish, to chickens, to beef cattle and to pigs.  So what is the arsenic content of meat?  In some studies reported in 1969, meat and poultry usually have less than 1000 ppb[iii] but fish and marine animals accumulate arsenic more efficiently and can contain 1000 to 10000 parts per billion and sometimes more.[iv]  In 1973, meat, fish, poultry and dairy products accounted for 78.7 % of the dietary intake of arsenic.[v]

We need more research on the amounts of arsenic in all of our food, including cottonseed and cottonseed containing food!

If you are concerned about the poisons in the foods you eat, watch for Dr. Semon’s new book on the relationship between cottonseed and Alzheimer’s, due out Spring 2013.

The Wisconsin Institute of Nutrition Research Foundation is a tax-deductible, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that has been established to continue work started by Dr. Bruce Semon, M.D., Ph.D.,  to investigate the role of dietary cottonseed toxins and the development of Alzheimer’s Disease and atherosclerosis.

Dr. Semon is a board certified psychiatrist and child/adolescent psychiatrist, with a Ph.D. in nutrition.  To learn more about him, you can see our main website by clicking here.

The cause of Alzheimer’s Disease is not known, but Dr. Semon has found a link between cottonseed toxins and Alzheimer’s and atherosclerosis, which needs further research.   One observation which has been made is that people who eat no meat have lower rates of Alzheimer’s Disease and people who eat more meat are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.  This observation is not currently understood but can be understood if we look at dietary cottonseed toxins in our food.

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