Science Says...

1. Gluten protein triggers many disease processes.
2. Gliadin protein breaks down to opium like compounds that stimulate hunger and craving.
3. Wheat germ agglutinin contains a lectin that can damage intestines.
4. Amylopectin A is the complex carbohydrate wheat responsible for the very high insulin response.
5. Omega 6 is proportionally high and that promotes inflammation.
6. Consumption of wheat promotes visceral fat that is associated with diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation.  Inflammation is the underlying process to nearly all disease.

"Think, think, think. "  -- Winnie the Pooh

This is a powerfully destructive combination.  Even if you aren’t sensitive to gluten.

What do I do?

What does this mean for me and my family?  We don’t eat wheat or wheat products since August of 2010.  We avoid most grain. Rice is our most common compromise and that is much less than ever before.  We eat some “gluten free” products but we have come to realize that those products are full of carbohydrates we don’t need.  They can make us fat and unhealthy too.  We have gotten much thinner and feel better without dieting or changing our exercise habits.  We didn't feel bad before, we just feel better now.

What do you do? 

That is up to you.  I like to teach, not to preach.

For additional information I recommend Wheat Belly, by William Davis, MD,
The Diabetes Solution by Richard Bernstein, MD and The Perfect Health Diet by
Paul Jaminet, Ph.D.  and Shou-Ching Shih Jaminet, Ph.D.  All have good  bibiliographies for reference to research materials.  I recommend reading the papers, source material, but most people just can’t do that.  The above authors have distilled the science into something more understandable.

--Dave

Photo by Dave Carsten

Wheat Inflammation

Inflammation can be mediated by food.  As I have stated in previous posts, there is a competition between omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, omega 3 being anti-inflammatory and omega 6 being pro-inflammatory. As you might guess, wheat has excessive omega 6. One ounce of wheat germ contains nearly 1500 mg of omega 6 and only 200 mg of omega 3. 

Visceral Fat

Wheat consumption also promotes visceral fat.  That would be fat surrounding the liver, pancreas, kidneys, and so called “love handles” around the abdomen.  This particular fat releases pro-inflammatory compounds.

--Dave

Photo by Dave Carsten

Gluten Sensitivity

Not everyone that is sensitive to wheat is sensitive to gluten.  Not everyone gets the intestinal damage related to a celiac disease diagnosis.  A recent Italian study showed that  of the people that were sensitive but non-celiac, 56.4% were sensitive to gliadin.  And 43.6% were sensitive to something else in wheat. 

Neurological Damage

In my own practice, intestinal problems were not the only problems.  Neurological damage such as multiple sclerosis (my patient), peripheral neuropathy, and movement disorders can be results.  There was a study that showed that 57% of people with unexplained neurologic impairment were positive for antibodies to gliadin versus only 5% with neurologic impairment of known origin.  Not causal proof but certainly raises suspicions.

Diabetes

I can also say from experience with my patients and from the scientific literature, many skin conditions can be caused or at least exacerbated by wheat consumption. Itchy, ugly, inflamed skin from eating toast??  I also am very disturbed by the correlation of wheat consumption and diabetes type II and the fact that children with type I diabetes are ten to twenty times more likely to develop celiac disease.

--Dave

Photo by Dave Carsten

Celiac Disease

The first description of celiac disease, wheat hypersensitivity, was recorded in 100 AD by the Greek physician Aretaeus and many others from that time forward. That disease would have been due to spelt, emmer, or kamut.  There is ample evidence that consumption of wheat had health effects on people such as the ice mummy, Ötzi.  He died more than 5000 years ago. Many papers have been written regarding his ill health and his diet.

How many people are sick?

We know that approximately 1% of people have celiac disease (not all are diagnosed) and 5 to 6 % have overt wheat sensitivity.  It is estimated that perhaps 50% of people have some level of sensitivity. The sensitivity crosses over to related grasses such as barley and rye.  That does not consider the insulin stimulation, the effects of gliadin on opiate receptors, or the effects of wheat germ lectin on the intestines.  We do know that as we step back in time to earlier versions of wheat, the health consequences fade.  But what is better?  Whole wheat, old wheat, or no wheat?

--Dave

Photo by Dave (the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.)

What is wheat?

Wheat is a grass.  Humans have eaten some version of wheat dating back to the start of agriculture, perhaps ten thousand years ago.  What was wheat then?  A fourteen chromosone grass.  This wheat contains the “A” genome.  We call it einkorn.  A farmer not far from my home grows einkorn. 

Hybrid wheats, Kamut and Emmer

By design or by accident, einkorn was hybridized with wild grass, resulting in twenty-eight chromosone new versions called emmer and kamut.  Emmer is the wheat of the bible.  It contains both genomes “A” and “B”.

Hybridized again, Spelt

Spelt was yet another hybrid that added the “D” genome with fourteen more chromosones for a total of forty-two.  It was widely cultivated through the middle ages.  Over time, strains adapted to specific habitats developed and were grown well into the twentieth century,

Gluten, Glutenin, and Gliadin in the "D" genome

In recent times, the “D” genome has been manipulated, producing unique glutens, glutenins, and gliadins.  It is within those genes that most of the problems lie.  These new genetically manipulated strains resulted in dwarf wheat that has texture (elastic bread), agricultural productivity, and other characteristics that are highly desired.  As with pharmaceuticals, there are side effects.  It is those modern strains that grew on wheat acreage that I owned.

Dave

To Be Continued

Photo by Dave Carsten

 Why weight loss?

Why would I lose fat with out really making an effort, other than avoiding wheat?
I didn’t feel hungry so it wasn’t calorie deprivation.  I hit the books and the literature.  What did I find out?  Many very interesting facts about wheat and why I lost weight.

Science

1. Wheat is much more glycemic than table sugar (sucrose).  It stimulates insulin about 50% more.  Just avoiding wheat products and bread would decrease my circulating insulin.  More insulin to store fat.  When eating wheat I was more likely to have an insulin trough that creates hunger.
 2. Modern wheat has gliadin protein.  When the protein is broken down, it results in opiate analogues that attach to opiate receptors in the body.  Besides creating a craving, it also makes people hungry.  Hungry?...is that why wheat is in so many products??
3. People that eliminate wheat eat 400 less calories per day on average.

To be continued...

Dave

Could wheat be bad to eat? 

I certainly didn’t think so.  I thought it was one of those rare allergies that troubled a few unlucky people. In my practice I had a number of patients that had celiac disease.  If they ate wheat, they would get sick.  I now know that about 1-2% of the population have celiac disease, most often diagnosed when they are 65, having anemia, osteoporosis, digestive problems, malabsorption problems, and atherosclerosis from eating wheat.  I have seen those people.  They all told me that they got a lot healthier and lost weight when they eliminated wheat.  OK, that’s true for them.  I really like sour dough bread.

Multiple Sclerosis

One of my patients had a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.  She had all the symptoms.  She had it for about ten years, having been diagnosed shortly after getting married.  She had been advised to be very cautious about becoming pregnant so they had no children.  She told me that she read that some people with the MS diagnosis actually had a sensitivity to wheat gluten.  She told me that it occurred to her that it would be worth a try. How hard could it be?  I saw her 6 weeks after she stopped eating wheat, wheat related, or wheat containing products.  My mouth dropped open in shock.  She had dropped weight and she looked healthy!  I asked her what happened and she told me what she had done.  That got me to look in the literature and read that some people acquired neurologic disease by consuming wheat, multiple sclerosis being a misdiagnosis of some of those people.  About three months later, she was pregnant.  Still, that didn’t get me to give up my bran flakes.

Hay Fever

A friend had been diagnosed with gluten sensitivity.  Her husband, in support of his wife, he also went gluten free.  In a period of about a year, all his allergies faded away.  No more hay fever.  He was very enthused because no more allergy meds and more time outside in comfort.  Interesting...but I still really enjoyed my bran muffins.

Gluten Sensitivity

My wife and I have always been careful, trying to eat healthy.  We had gradually shifted to eating organic food and became more motivated when we had a child.  We tried to be very careful with introducing food to him and were very observant what happened when we introduced food.  There were a few things that we avoided.  Some testing had suggested that wheat might not be good.  He would get irritation around his mouth sometimes and it seemed to be related to eating bread.  We decided to mostly eliminate wheat for him.  It reduced my consumption but I still ate some.  He did do better and for me, I felt the same.  After about six months, my wife and I thought, perhaps we should just go 100% gluten free.   We did it with only the idea that it might be a good thing and an interesting experiment.  I was a little reluctant but why not?  I could go back to eating my bran flakes and whole wheat bread after the experiment.

No Diet Weight Loss

In six weeks I lost 25 pounds.  I made no effort to diet other than avoid gluten containing products.  I then very rarely had gas and I felt different.  That got my attention.  How could this be??  I started to read the scientific literature.  (to be continued)

--Dave

photo by Dave Carsten

Obesity and diabetes are becoming increasingly common. The rates of both are exploding.  Obesity is becoming the new “normal”. The consequences are grave. Both conditions involve the regulation of sugars and fats in the body by means of insulin.  I will try to simplify for the sake of understanding the principles.

Insulin
Insulin allows cells to take up sugar.  Fat cells and muscle cells are big users.  
Brain cells and liver cells don’t use insulin so they take sugar out of the blood stream if it is available.  Insulin stimulates the liver to produce fats from available sugar.  First glycogen is stored, then as that rises to a maximum, fat is produced.  The fat is sent into the blood.Insulin also suppresses the breakdown of fat.  Fat cells are stimulated to produce glycerol from sugar molecules which combine with the circulating fatty acids to produce triglycerides.  Triglycerides are stored, swelling the fat cells.  Insulin encourages the body to burn sugar and keep fat.  Fat that is consumed and circulating can also be stored.


Diabetes
Type I diabetes involve the destruction of insulin producing cells, usually by an autoimmune process.  It is treated by insulin replacement.  Uncontrolled Type I diabetics can become painfully thin if their disease gradually reduces insulin production.

Insulin and Obesity
Type II diabetes is insulin resistant, involving a reduction of insulin receptors.  Insulin is often at a normal or high level.  This can be caused by a diet that is high in simple sugars which maintains a high blood sugar level.  Over time, the receptors decrease in response to excessive sugar.  Muscle and brain cells can only consume a limited amount of sugar.  Liver and fat cells are not so limited.  With abundant sugar and plenty of insulin, they breakdown the sugar into fat and store it.  Not  everyone develops diabetes from excessive sugar intake but many do.  Some people simply get fat.  Drugs that increase circulating insulin to decrease blood sugar can also stimulate the liver to create fat and stimulate fat cells to store it.  Excess insulin creates fat.  Excess consumed sugar creates fat.  Excess consumed fat in the presence of insulin causes fat cells to get bigger too.

Diet Choices
There can be imbalances in the control systems that lead people to become obese while consuming otherwise healthy diets. Bad choices are not the only reason. Rising levels of obesity and clinical experience would lead us to suspect that predominantly, fatness is caused by choices.

Our paleolithic ancestors ate perhaps 10 to 15 pounds of simple sugars per year.  Americans commonly exceed 150 pounds of sugar per year.  Our metabolisms weren’t built for this.

The question becomes, “Have people been lead to make the poor choices?”

--Dave

Photo by Dave Hutt, www.dmddigitalphoto.com

This may seem complicated but let’s try to simplify.
All rancid oils are bad.  If it smells bad , it probably is bad.
Some people are more talented than others at detecting rancidity
but smell is not a guarantee.  Chemicals can be added that deodorize the oil.
Heat makes oils go rancid.  Some oils are more sensitive.

Healthy oils
Flax(unrefined)--high omega 3, quickly goes rancid so keep cold
Hemp--contains GLA(only anti-inflammatory omega 6)
Olive--very low omega 6, high flavanoids, often counterfeit (be careful of source)
Butter(grass fed)--conjugated linoleic acid (good), low omega 6,
                             if clarified it has smoke-point of 500o F
Lard (non-hydrogenated) and Duck fat--moderate mono-unsaturated fat, low omega 6
Avocado--high in omega3 and omega 9
Macadamia--high omega 3 and omega 9 plus unique anti-oxidants
Coconut(unrefined)--high in good saturated fat (lauric acid), low in omega 6
Almond, Peanut, Pecan, Hazelnut (refined), Apricot kernel(refined)--tolerate moderate temperatures, contain mono-unsaturated fats, eat in moderation

Unhealthy oils
Butter--grain fed--high in “bad” saturated fat and omega 6
Canola--may have pesticide traces, high heat processing damages omega 3”s
soybean--high omega 6
corn--high omega 6
Pumpkin seed--high omega 6, goes rancid easily
Walnut--high temperature processing damages omega 3’s
             high in omega 6, goes rancid easily.  eat the whole walnut
Sesame--high omega 6
Grapeseed--high omega 6
palm and palm kernel--high omega 6
Cottonseed--high omega 6, very low omega 3
Margarine, Hydrogenated Coconut, and Shortening--contain trans fats with are very bad

Dave

Photo by Dave Hutt, www.dmddigitalphoto.com