Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, at some point you’ve probably been told, like I was, that popcorn is a healthy light snack and that it can even help with weight loss. There’s even an entire section in sprouts with healthy popcorn options. So let’s take a look at what’s really in a bowl of popcorn.

(00:35):
First of all, it’s made from corn, of course. Now corn is sadly one of the highest lectin containing foods there are. In fact, in my patients, 70% of my patients who have leaky gut have antibodies to the various proteins in corn. 70%. And no, the lectins in corn can’t be pressure cooked. They’re actually resistant to heat. Now, I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, which at the time I was living there, ha- had the claim to fame as having the world’s largest stockyards. Yes, I know it’s a great claim to fame. Why did we have stockyards? Because Nebraska not only is the corn husker state, but we’re also the beef state. We fattened cows with corn. The stockyards were where we put the cows and fed them corn to fatten them up so that they could reach market weight faster. So take a tip from this Nebraska kid.

(01:48):
You use corn to fatten animals and we use corn to fatten you. Don’t do it. Well, if you wanna gain weight, then eat your corn and your popcorn. Now here’s probably the worst part of corn. 95% of all corn grown in the United States is genetically modified. And there’s a genetically modified protein in corn called the cry protein that you and I and our immune system have never, ever seen before 20 years ago. It did not exist. It is a foreign compound. And since 95% of corn in the United States contains this rogue protein, you’re exposed to a splinter that you have no understanding of. Here’s the bad news. Why is 95% of corn GMO? Well, it’s for that because you can spray corn with Roundup. The active ingredient is glyphosate and the corn will tolerate it, but the weeds will be killed off. But bad news.

(03:09):
Plants are really smart. Just like we know bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics. Plants can develop resistance to herbicides. And so we actually have an ongoing war. Most weeds that were initially killed by Roundup have mutated and are now resistant to Roundup. So what’s the treatment for that? If you guess spray more Roundup, you’re absolutely correct. We keep spraying all of our corn with more and more Roundup. So what? The FDA says that Roundup is safe because it doesn’t hurt humans not so fast. Roundup works by killing plants because it interrupts their system of making proteins called the Shikamate pathway. You and I don’t have the Shikamate pathway, but bacteria do. In fact, glyphosate was actually first patented as an antibiotic. Sadly, Roundup is on the corn you eat. It’s not washed off. It’s fed to the animals that you eat, and it’s incorporated into their flesh, like chickens or cows or pigs.

(04:24):
It’s in the corn products you eat, and corn products are ubiquitous. Sadly, if you actually look, we can actually … Corn has a specific signature, genetic signature. And we can look at the amount of corn in you and me. And the average American is anywhere from 70 to 90% corn proteins. That’s really scary. But back to Roundup. Roundup kills off friendly bacteria in our gut. It kills off the tryptophan pathway bacteria that makes serotonins the feel good hormones. In one of my books, I show that glyphosate interferes with mitochondrial function. Of course it does, because mitochondria are actually engulfed bacteria. I recently posted an entire episode on the dangers of glyphosate, so please go educate yourself. Now, what about non- GMO corn and popcorn? Well, it really doesn’t mean anything since corn by itself has these dangerous lectins, and it’s really good for fattening animals, including you.

(05:36):
Now, what about movie popcorn or pop your own popcorn? Or the ones that you buy in the stores? The liquid butter at movie theaters, I mean, run. This stuff is incredibly toxic oil. It’s not butter. Most popcorn kernels are coated in incredibly toxic oils, including sunflower seed oil, peanut oil, and corn oil. Great. More corn. Now, these vegetable oils are unlike anything our ancestors ever consume. And they require extensive processing to make them actually edible. Now, these are called polyunsaturated fatty acids, and these are mostly omega-6 fatty acids. And they really have no business being in our diet. They really interfere with mitochondrial function. How bad are these oils? Well, Kate Shanahan, an expert on the subject, says that a five-ounce servings of French fries cooked in these vegetable oils has toxins equivalent to smoking 20 to 25 cigarettes. In fact, I actually have a whole episode right here on this channel, so please go watch it.

(06:43):
Now, one last thing that’s worth mentioning is recently, I’ve started writing about the aquaporins in corn. Aquaporins are another class of lectins that I didn’t wanna warn you about before because I didn’t wanna have even more widespread panic. But aquaporins are … We can develop antibodies to aquaporins. Corn contains an aquaporin. And sadly, I can measure anti-aquaporin antibodies in the brains of many of my patients who have leaky gut and leaky brain, and who have issues with memory and brain fog. So aquaporins are in corn. Please stay away from corn. All right. You gotta have your popcorn. I get it. There’s an alternative to pop corn, and that’s popped sorghum. Sorghum has no lectins. It has no hauls. Now, you can make it at home, or you can buy some from Nature Nates. It’s a brand I actually really like. Now, just a heads up.

(07:51):
The kernels are much smaller than popcorn, but it looks like popcorn. It smells like popcorn. It tastes like popcorn. It just baby little popcorn. Now, here’s the problem. It’s not a complete health food replacement. There are seven grams of carbohydrates in a half a cup of pop sorghum. That’s about two teaspoons of sugar.

(08:19):
Plus, every time you pop a grain, no matter what it is, you expose it to rapid digestion and it turns into sugar very quickly. So it can be a problem. I’ve tested myself with pop sorghum. I ate a cup of pop sorghum as my snack before dinner for a couple weeks, and then I checked my triglyceride level. Triglycerides are the first form of fat what we make from sugar and starches. And lo and behold, my triglycerides jumped up just from the fact that I was eating this healthy pop sorghum. So what do you do? First of all, don’t overdo it. Number two, pour olive oil over your half cup of pop sorghum and eat it with a spoon. Use the pop sorghum as a delivery device to get olive oil into your mouth. It’s delicious. Finally, next time you go to the movie or even think about heading to the theater, take that snack pop sorghum along.

(09:26):
You won’t miss your popcorn anymore.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dr. Gundry Podcast. If you did, please share this with family and friends. You never know how one of these health tips can completely transform someone’s life when you take the time to share it with them. There’s also the Dr. Gundry Podcast YouTube channel, where we have tens of thousands of free health insights that can help you and your loved ones live a long, vital life. Let’s do this together.