Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says

[Ares]

(CBS News) Modern wheat is a "perfect, chronic poison," according to Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist who has published a book all about the world's most popular grain.

Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."

Asked if the farming industry could change back to the grain it formerly produced, Davis said it could, but it would not be economically feasible because it yields less per acre. However, Davis said a movement has begun with people turning away from wheat - and dropping substantial weight.

"If three people lost eight pounds, big deal," he said. "But we're seeing hundreds of thousands of people losing 30, 80, 150 pounds. Diabetics become no longer diabetic; people with arthritis having dramatic relief. People losing leg swelling, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and on and on every day."

To avoid these wheat-oriented products, Davis suggests eating "real food," such as avocados, olives, olive oil, meats, and vegetables. "(It's) the stuff that is least likely to have been changed by agribusiness," he said. "Certainly not grains. When I say grains, of course, over 90 percent of all grains we eat will be wheat, it's not barley... or flax. It's going to be wheat.

"It's really a wheat issue."

Some health resources, such as the Mayo Clinic, advocate a more balanced diet that does include wheat. But Davis said on "CTM" they're just offering a poor alternative.

"All that literature says is to replace something bad, white enriched products with something less bad, whole grains, and there's an apparent health benefit - 'Let's eat a whole bunch of less bad things.' So I take...unfiltered cigarettes and replace with Salem filtered cigarettes, you should smoke the Salems. That's the logic of nutrition, it's a deeply flawed logic. What if I take it to the next level, and we say, 'Let's eliminate all grains,' what happens then?

"That's when you see, not improvements in health, that's when you see transformations in health."

Video at Link http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57505149/modern-wheat-a-perfect-chronic-poison-doctor-says/

[learn2swim]

This Doc has been exposing this for a while..

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/about-the-author/

His blog http://blog.trackyourplaque.com/

[Osiris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjr_v7jAYy8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Other than the beer I drink, I stay away from wheat, barley, rye, and oats. Since I did, I have lost weight and feel better. I still have some once in a while but if I have too much bread, even a better kind, I have an upset stomach. And I love bread!!! :(

[PatColo]

Thanks, I was thinking about posting a wheat thread. I listen to a lot of D.Duke's podcasts, and he's been harping on diet & esp the evils of wheat for awhile.

I thought I had it figured out years ago when I'd heard the "whole grain" wheat bread is what you want, vs the more "Wonder Bread" like refined wheat breads- diff is simple vs complex carbs, with the former turning straight into sugar & the latter healthier & giving longer lasting energy. But not quite so, I gather now. Duke & others say 1-2 slices wheat bread = same sugar load as a snickers bar.

[iOWNme]

Just to clarify, this guy is saying that wheat is bad, not because of gluten, but because of a different protein that he claims:

"because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."

This is first i have every heard of this, and honestly sounds like more M.D. quackery. Its obvious from a ton of studies that gluten can cause all kinds of digestion problems, which when not taken care of (Change in diet) will lead to much worse things.

The reason people are hungry is because the food they eat is nutritionally deficient and 100% devoid of any vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. For thousands of years we got all the nutrition we needed when we ate calories. (Plastic french fries didnt exist yet.) So our minds/bodies evolved this way in harmony. Your brain only has one way of knowing what the body needs: It reads the blood. When the brain reads the blood and sees that the body is under nutrified, it sends the signal to tell the body it needs more food. So people go out and eat a massive meal with 1000's of calories. As time goes by, the brain is constantly reading the blood to see what has changed. It finds out that although you just ate, there is still no real nutrition in your blood. Now your brain goes into panic mode, as it thinks there are sever conditions outside which makes it send emergency signals for fast quick energy = SUGAR. This is KEY! All insulin spiking foods are the DEATH of you.

Its a vicious cycle.

[joboo]

Artificial sweeteners are protein derived, and cause over eating as well.

[Twisted Titan]

The farming industry could change back to the grain it formerly produced.............. but it would not be economically feasible because it yields less per acre.


You can thank Monsato folr the Franken Food we ingest

[iOWNme]

The other thing i forgot to mention is the fact that almost all of the ancient cultures ate wheat. The big difference being that they FERMENTED their grains before using them. This was a process that helped to break down the gluten protein, among other things. Some info here:

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/08/is-fermenting-grains-traditional.html

http://www.fao.org/docrep/x2184e/x2184e00.htm#con

[brosil]

I was searching for info on wheat and ran across a paper comparing modern wheat to einkorn and emmer, the grains that modern wheat is derived from. Einkorn and emmer have 6 proteins and modern wheat have 12. They are not the same proteins. I've been trying to find enough einkorn for a couple of acres to try it out. The doc may have something.

[beefsteak]

I was searching for info on wheat and ran across a paper comparing modern wheat to einkorn and emmer, the grains that modern wheat is derived from.

Is this response based upon Wikipedia?

[Uncle Salty]

Just to clarify, this guy is saying that wheat is bad, not because of gluten, but because of a different protein that he claims:

"because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."

This is first i have every heard of this, and honestly sounds like more M.D. quackery. Its obvious from a ton of studies that gluten can cause all kinds of digestion problems, which when not taken care of (Change in diet) will lead to much worse things.

The reason people are hungry is because the food they eat is nutritionally deficient and 100% devoid of any vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. For thousands of years we got all the nutrition we needed when we ate calories. (Plastic french fries didnt exist yet.) So our minds/bodies evolved this way in harmony. Your brain only has one way of knowing what the body needs: It reads the blood. When the brain reads the blood and sees that the body is under nutrified, it sends the signal to tell the body it needs more food. So people go out and eat a massive meal with 1000's of calories. As time goes by, the brain is constantly reading the blood to see what has changed. It finds out that although you just ate, there is still no real nutrition in your blood. Now your brain goes into panic mode, as it thinks there are sever conditions outside which makes it send emergency signals for fast quick energy = SUGAR. This is KEY! All insulin spiking foods are the DEATH of you.

Its a vicious cycle.

No. What he is saying is that even if you don't have gluten sensitivities, you are still fucked by eating wheat. He didn't address gluten because that is a reality, so no need to beat a dead horse. But those that think they are okay with wheat because they don't have a gluten problem should still avoid this grain.

[beefsteak]

I've raised hard red winter wheat for over 40 years, carefully kept pure by the Amish. I think there is a whole lot of BS about how dangerous wheat is.

This thread is a good example.

First "they" say, it's the gluten so remove the gluten and you're good, otherwise you're going to be gluten intolerant.

So, they take out the gluten and wonder why their bodies don't process the wheat good. DUH!

So, now it's "they changed up the gluten and substituted something else for it..." OH? SEZ WHO?

So, is this "change up" why the gluten intolerant crowd aren't getting along with wheat? If so, it STILL isn't a gluten problem if the gluten is no longer gluten now. DUH.

Now, it's okay, we'll quote Wikipedia and talk about the wheat's wild ancestors who only have 6 proteins in each branch of the "parent plant." Today's wheat has 12 proteins.

BIG DEAL. Eat half as much if you don't want to process so many proteins.

I think this is wheat hysteria, and I'm calling BS and false science on this one. Monsanto isn't after the wheat growers, they are after the beef and poultry growers with their heavily peer reviewed and documented "funny corn and soy."

Farmers as a rule don't feed wheat to beef and poultry...it simply isn't nourishing nor economical.

BS, I say. BBBBBBBBBBBBB SSSSSSSSSSSSSS! If "they" are saying it, then I'm betting the opposite is true and they don't want humans to eat grain unless they have control of it.

GOD BLESS THE AMISH who brought Hard Red Winter wheat to this land, and STILL manage it well! 3 CHEERS for HORSE and BUGGIES!


beefsteak

[learn2swim]

I've raised hard red winter wheat for over 40 years, carefully kept pure by the Amish. I think there is a whole lot of BS about how dangerous wheat is.

This thread is a good example.

First "they" say, it's the gluten so remove the gluten and you're good, otherwise you're going to be gluten intolerant.

So, they take out the gluten and wonder why their bodies don't process the wheat good. DUH!

So, now it's "they changed up the gluten and substituted something else for it..." OH? SEZ WHO?

So, is this "change up" why the gluten intolerant crowd aren't getting along with wheat? If so, it STILL isn't a gluten problem if the gluten is no longer gluten now. DUH.

Now, it's okay, we'll quote Wikipedia and talk about the wheat's wild ancestors who only have 6 proteins in each branch of the "parent plant." Today's wheat has 12 proteins.

BIG DEAL. Eat half as much if you don't want to process so many proteins.

I think this is wheat hysteria, and I'm calling BS and false science on this one. Monsanto isn't after the wheat growers, they are after the beef and poultry growers with their heavily peer reviewed and documented "funny corn and soy."

Farmers as a rule don't feed wheat to beef and poultry...it simply isn't nourishing nor economical.

BS, I say. BBBBBBBBBBBBB SSSSSSSSSSSSSS! If "they" are saying it, then I'm betting the opposite is true and they don't want humans to eat grain unless they have control of it.

GOD BLESS THE AMISH who brought Hard Red Winter wheat to this land, and STILL manage it well! 3 CHEERS for HORSE and BUGGIES!


beefsteak

Farmers as a rule don't feed wheat to beef and poultry...it simply isn't nourishing nor economical.


Um, you kinda defeated your own argument....

[brosil]

Is this response based upon Wikipedia?

No.

[beefsteak]

Farmers as a rule don't feed wheat to beef and poultry...it simply isn't nourishing nor economical.

Um, you kinda defeated your own argument....


Only an ignorant city boy with nothing but sexting and video games which have turned your brains to mush would make such an inane statement as you just did.

When farming/ranching it is ALLLLLLLLLLL about the cost per pound gained vs. how long one feeds/finishes the animal and the time to get it to market.

Wheat does NOT fill that need for quicky nourishment at low cost.

However, yours truly is neither a bovine nor a piece of cacklin' poultry. Shut up and learn something, besides "how to swim" from someone who has farmed/ranched as a business and not as a cutsey Green Acres sitcom.

Obviously you're swimming in bubblegum. And that gum's blowing bubbles out more orifices than your mouth.


beefsteak

[learn2swim]

Only an ignorant city boy with nothing but sexting and video games which have turned your brains to mush would make such an inane statement as you just did.

When farming/ranching it is ALLLLLLLLLLL about the cost per pound gained vs. how long one feeds/finishes the animal and the time to get it to market.

Wheat does NOT fill that need for quicky nourishment at low cost.

However, yours truly is neither a bovine nor a piece of cacklin' poultry. Shut up and learn something, besides "how to swim" from someone who has farmed/ranched as a business and not as a cutsey Green Acres sitcom.

Obviously you're swimming in bubblegum. And that gum's blowing bubbles out more orifices than your mouth.


beefsteak

When you have to start using insults to support your argument, you already lost. If you actually spent a little time on this thread, it's mostly about how wheat has been altered to provide more yield per acre. The same wheat corporations use to feed the masses. It doesn't apply to all wheat since NOT all wheat has been altered from its original DNA. Not all of us can be ranchers, farmers, and astronauts...

[ShortJohnSilver]

Beefsteak, can you look over the guy's argument and see if maybe your wheat is different? Perhaps you are seeing your "good wheat" as what everyone else grows - maybe it ain't?

Like, how tall does your wheat grow - higher than 18"? What is the protein and other nutrient profile - maybe it is different from what the agribusiness guys grow?

I cut out most wheat and carbs in general and am more healthy (in combination with exercise) , weight is a lot less, etc.

[beefsteak]

Between 18 and 21" per plant growth, depending on the amount of top dressing I did every spring, and the moisture profile in the ground from winter's dormant stage taken into account.

(Amish) Hard Red (Russian Winter Wheat--hand carried to America circa 1870s, and yes, genetically traceably directly from Turkey) winter wheat IS what "the agri-business guys grow" at least in the majority of the "USA's bread belt."

The fancier varieties, including the softs and the pasta wheats are grown 'up north' of the HRWWheat/bread belt and even some of the fancies are grown on the west coast.

Proud to say MY Hard Red Winter Wheat was never messed with at least not before I grew it, and grew it I did! Unirrigated. Bumper crop after bumper crop. Only got hailed out once in 40+ years.

I got tickled reading one website just a few moments ago, trying to make it sound like they had the only true HRW Russian Amish wheat, grown on their paltry 100 acres, implying that everyone else wasn't doing it right. What a thigh slapper!!

Glad for your health, and whatever you do which is working for you.

I would encourage you to take another look at Amish Red Winter Wheat and grind it for wholesome, healthy bread, before surrending a basic food group which is still available and nutritious for human consumption.

There's plenty on oogle re: the Amish Hard Red Winter Wheat they brought with them from Russia back circa 1870s and still abundantly grown today, without "Roundup," it should be noted.

[beefsteak]

When you have to start using insults to support your argument, you already lost. If you actually spent a little time on this thread, it's mostly about how wheat has been altered to provide more yield per acre. The same wheat corporations use to feed the masses. It doesn't apply to all wheat since NOT all wheat has been altered from its original DNA. Not all of us can be ranchers, farmers, and astronauts...

You threw the first insult, so sit on it and twist.

Surprised frankly that you noticed you were being insulted. What was your first clue?

[ImaCannin]

[QUOTE=beefsteak;572476]Between 18 and 21" per plant growth, depending on the amount of top dressing I did every spring, and the moisture profile in the ground from winter's dormant stage taken into account. [QUOTE]


Isnt heirloom wheat about 5 ft tall? Just askin'?

[beefsteak]

Not mine, Ima. Perhaps the original 2 Turkish/Parent varieties got to be that tall, I never looked into the wheat's parentage. Just tried to always get my seed wheat from the best part of my own ground after having started from scratch my first year with some HRWW purchased from the Amish back in the 40s.

Mine never did shoot to that height as a rule. To have done so, especially on a consistent basis, that year's crop would have been so much more susceptible to late spring rain, wind and hail damage if they were that tall, frankly. Those kind of weak stalks can't support heavy heads. And it's heads not stalks that I sent to the elevator and delivered against cash forward hedges. A 5' plant height would NOT have been an coveted quality.

We didn't want to grow bumper straw, just bumper wheat kernels. :) I do remember all the fuss over growing straight triticale back in the 70s however. Now THERE was a tall one. They never did get that one to go over big. Still pretty much unheard of as far as a human consumer grain is concerned.

Thanks for asking.

[ImaCannin]

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/09/20/on-the-evils-of-wheat-why-it-is-so-addictive-and-how-shunning-it-will-make-you-skinny/#more-215040

William Davis, a preventive cardiologist who practises in Milwaukee, Wis., argues in his new book Wheat Belly that wheat is bad for your health—so bad that it should carry a surgeon general’s warning.

Q: You say the crux of the problem with wheat is that the stuff we eat today has been genetically altered. How is it different than the wheat our grandparents ate?

A: First of all, it looks different. If you held up a conventional wheat plant from 50 years ago against a modern, high-yield dwarf wheat plant, you would see that today’s plant is about 2½ feet shorter. It’s stockier, so it can support a much heavier seedbed, and it grows much faster. The great irony here is that the term “genetic modification” refers to the actual insertion or deletion of a gene, and that’s not what’s happened with wheat. Instead, the plant has been hybridized and crossbred to make it resistant to drought and fungi, and to vastly increase yield per acre. Agricultural geneticists have shown that wheat proteins undergo structural change with hybridization, and that the hybrid contains proteins that are found in neither parent plant. Now, it shouldn’t be the case that every single new agricultural hybrid has to be checked and tested, that would be absurd. But we’ve created thousands of what I call Frankengrains over the past 50 years, using pretty extreme techniques, and their safety for human consumption has never been tested or even questioned.


Q: What extreme techniques are you talking about?

A: New strains have been generated using what the wheat industry proudly insists are “traditional breeding techniques,” though they involve processes like gamma irradiation and toxins such as sodium azide. The poison control people will tell you that if someone accidentally ingests sodium azide, you shouldn’t try to resuscitate the person because you could die, too, giving CPR. This is a highly toxic chemical.

Q: Can’t you just get around any potential health concerns by buying products made with organically grown wheat?

A: No, because the actual wheat plant itself is the same. It’s almost as if we’ve put lipstick on this thing and called it organic and therefore good, when the truth is, it’s really hardly any better at all.

Q: A lot of us have switched to whole wheat products because we’ve been told complex carbohydrates are heart healthy and good for us. Are you saying that’s not true?

A: The research that indicates whole grains are healthy is all conducted the same way: white flour is replaced with whole wheat flour, which, no question, is better for you. But taking something bad and replacing it with something less bad is not the same as research that directly compares what happens to health and weight when you eliminate wheat altogether. There’s a presumption that consuming a whole bunch of the less bad thing must be good for you, and that’s just flawed logic. An analogy would be to say that filtered cigarettes are less bad for you than unfiltered cigarettes, and therefore, a whole bunch of filtered cigarettes is good for you. It makes no sense. But that is the rationale for increasing our consumption of whole grains, and that combined with the changes in wheat itself is a recipe for creating a lot of fat and unhealthy people.

Q: How does wheat make us fat, exactly?

A: It contains amylopectin A, which is more efficiently converted to blood sugar than just about any other carbohydrate, including table sugar. In fact, two slices of whole wheat bread increase blood sugar to a higher level than a candy bar does. And then, after about two hours, your blood sugar plunges and you get shaky, your brain feels foggy, you’re hungry. So let’s say you have an English muffin for breakfast. Two hours later you’re starving, so you have a handful of crackers, and then some potato chips, and your blood sugar rises again. That cycle of highs and lows just keeps going throughout the day, so you’re constantly feeling hungry and constantly eating. Dieticians have responded to this by advising that we graze throughout the day, which is just nonsense. If you eliminate wheat from your diet, you’re no longer hungry between meals because you’ve stopped that cycle. You’ve cut out the appetite stimulant, and consequently you lose weight very quickly. I’ve seen this with thousands of patients.

Q: But I’m not overweight and I exercise regularly. So why would eating whole wheat bread be bad for me?

A: You can trigger effects you don’t perceive. Small low-density lipoprotein [LDL] particles form when you’re eating lots of carbohydrates, and they are responsible for atherosclerotic plaque, which in turn triggers heart disease and stroke. So even if you’re a slender, vigorous, healthy person, you’re still triggering the formation of small LDL particles. And second, carbohydrates increase your blood sugars, which cause this process of glycation, that is, the glucose modification of proteins. If I glycate the proteins in my eyes, I get cataracts. If I glycate the cartilage of my knees and hips, I get arthritis. If I glycate small LDL, I’m more prone to atherosclerosis. So it’s a twofold effect. And if you don’t start out slender and keep eating that fair trade, organically grown whole wheat bread that sounds so healthy, you’re repeatedly triggering high blood sugars and are going to wind up with more visceral fat. This isn’t just what I call the wheat belly that you can see, flopping over your belt, but the fat around your internal organs. And as visceral fat accumulates, you risk responses like diabetes and heart disease.

Q: You seem to be saying that aside from anything else, wheat is essentially the single cause of the obesity epidemic.

A: I wouldn’t go so far as to say that all obesity is due to wheat. There are kids, of course, who drink Coca-Cola and sit in front of video games for many hours a day. But I’m speaking to the relatively health-minded people who think they’re doing the right thing by limiting fat consumption and eating more whole grains, and there’s a clear subset of people who are doing that and gaining weight and don’t understand why. It causes tremendous heartache. They come into my office and say, “I exercise five times a week, I’ve cut my fat intake, I watch portion size and eat my whole grains—but I’ve gone up three dress sizes.”

Q: You write that wheat is “addictive,” but does it really meet the criteria for addiction we’d use when talking about, say, drugs?

A: National Institutes of Health researchers showed that gluten-derived polypeptides can cross into the brain and bind to the brain’s opiate receptors. So you get this mild euphoria after eating a product made with whole wheat. You can block that effect [in lab animals] by administering the drug naloxone. This is the same drug that you’re given if you’re a heroin addict; it’s an opiate blocker. About three months ago, a drug company applied to the FDA to commercialize naltrexone, which is an oral equivalent to naloxone. And it works, apparently, it blocks the pleasurable feelings you get from eating wheat so people stop eating so much. In clinical trials, people lost about 22.4 lb. in the first six months. Why, if you’re not a drug addict, do you need something like that? And of course there’s another option, which is to cut wheat out of your diet. However, and this is another argument for classifying wheat as addictive, people can experience some pretty unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

Q: For how long?

A: Generally about five days. And once you’re through withdrawal, your cravings subside, your calorie intake decreases and your alertness and overall health improve.

Q: So do you believe food manufacturers are putting wheat into more and more food products, not just bread and crackers, because it’s addictive and stimulates appetite?

A: These are not stupid people. The research showing that wheat stimulates appetite didn’t come from some little alternative health practitioner. It comes from the NIH. It stretches credibility to believe they have no awareness of the evidence.

Q: If there’s all this evidence, why does the government encourage us to “eat healthy” by upping our consumption of whole grains?

A: That’s the million-dollar question. Wheat is so linked to human habit, it’s 20 per cent of all calories consumed by humans worldwide, that I think there was the presumption, “Gee, humans have consumed this for thousands of years, so what’s the problem?” I don’t think the misguided advice to eat more whole grains came from evil intentions.

Q: Wheat is a huge industry. What do you say to all the farmers who grow it?

A: To me, it’s reminiscent of tobacco farmers, who would say, “Look, I’m just trying to make a living and feed my family.” Nevertheless, tobacco is incredibly harmful and kills people. It could turn out that if we wind back the clock 100 or 1,000 years, and resurrect einkorn or some of the heritage forms of wheat, maybe that would be a solution. Of course, wheat products would then be much more expensive. Instead of a $4 loaf of bread, maybe it would cost $7 when grown with a heritage wheat. To me, it’s similar to free range eggs or organic beef 20 years ago. Everyone said, “No one will pay a premium for those.” But people do. And when it comes to wheat, my main goal is to inform people, including farmers, that the prevailing notion that cutting fat and eating whole grains will make you healthy is not only wrong, it’s destructive.

[learn2swim]

You threw the first insult, so sit on it and twist.

Surprised frankly that you noticed you were being insulted. What was your first clue?

Oh, the window licker from the nut house got his alloted 15 min on the internet today.

GMO alert: Eating GM wheat may destroy your liver, warn scientists

http://www.naturalnews.com/037170_GM_wheat_liver_failure_GMO.html