So I was reading the label of my Solgar Brewer's Yeast this morning to find out how much iron it has. To my joy I saw that it has 33% of the Recommended Daily Allowance of Iron in just two tablespoons! Now, the RDA is different for adults, children, males and females. Where a woman of chlid-bearing age requires much more iron than an adult male. Growing children also require much more. Nevertheless, the package stated that two tablespoons contain 5.6mg of Iron, I am supposed to get 8mg of Iron per day. This specific brand of Brewer's Yeast that I normally purchase from the health store is made by Solgar, in Leonia, New Jersey. That is actually pretty close to New York City! Talk about local? Here is a picture:
The reason it is called "Brewer's Yeast" is that it is normally created as a by-product of the beer-brewing process, which results in a very bitter tasting product. Solgar, however generates its' yeast powder from beet molasses, and this is my cause for concern. If you are familiar with something called GMOs, otherwise known as Genetically Modified Organisms, you would know that most Corn, Beets, and Cotton created in the United States is GMO. Since the label does not claim to be free of GMOs or to be organic, well, guess what, we now have a problem. There is a good chance that the beet molasses used by Solgar to create this Yeast Power is GMO.
So I headed over to the Solgar website at http://www.solgar.com and did not see any mention of Organic or non-GMO in their Yeast products. What I did find however, was a "Contact Us" page. I sent them an email inquiring about the organic/GMO status of their products today, I am sure they will get back to me soon.
Although their product is likely GMO, I do not suggest that you stop taking Brewer's Yeast as a morning supplement because although GMO products have been linked to cancer and many other health issues, it still is a very nutritious product and I suggest you contact Solgar and ask them to remove any GMO ingredients from their food while you search for a viable alternative brand of Brewer's Yeast to purchase.
Their email is here:
productinformation@solgar.com
I suggest you send them an email asking for them to respond to whether or not they use GMOs in their products. This link will create a new email in your default mail program containing the message body filled with the text below:
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Dear Solgar,
I am a user of your Brewer's Yeast product and am concerned about the use of any non-Organic or GMO ingredients in the production process of your Brewer's Yeast product. I understand that using organic/non-GMO ingredients will increase the cost of production of this product and I want to state that I am ready to pay a premium for quality, as my health is worth more than all the money in the world.
Please consider the use of non-GMO/Organic ingredients in your products, and if you already do so, please let me know this status and tell me why your labels do not indicate this. If the FDA makes it very difficult for you to do so, I will assist you by writing a letter to my congressman/congresswoman to assist the Health Foods market to become stronger.
Sincerely,
A Health Nut |
Did you ever get a reply from Solgar on this?
Hi Davod,
Yes, I did get a reply from Solgar. See this article:
http://www.wouldjohneatit.com/2013/03/response-from-solgar-regarding-gmo-usage-in-brewers-yeast/
They basically said that their product is GMO-free, however they do not have any such certification yet. Remember, it costs a lot of money for such a certification and requires a lot of paperwork. I’m sure they are trying to get their product certified as such. In the meantime, you can try out other brands like BlueBonnet, and either way, make sure you contact Solgar and tell them that you want to see a non-GMO label on their product!