Can the body tell the difference between GMO and non-GMO foods?

Expert response from Ruth MacDonald

Professor and Chair, Food Science and Human Nutrition, Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State University

Friday, 05/06/2015 14:08

The way the body digests and utilizes food is the same regardless of how the food was originally produced. GMO technology allows for the insertion of a specific gene (a small piece of DNA) into a plant seed, which then becomes part of the entire pool of DNA in that plant. The inserted gene looks the same as the rest of the DNA, and when we eat the plant, our body breaks down all of the DNA in the same way. The products produced by the DNA are proteins (DNA is a code that tells the plant how to link amino acids together to generate proteins), which are also digested by the enzymes present in our stomach and intestines. So, overall, GMO foods have the same nutritional value as non-GMO foods and there is no difference in how our bodies digest or utilize these foods.