by Natasha Longo
March 20, 2012
from
PreventDisease Website
Natasha Longo has a
master's degree in nutrition and is a certified fitness
and nutritional counselor. She has consulted on public
health policy and procurement in Canada, Australia,
Spain, Ireland, England and Germany. |
The future of wheat is certain, and it's toxic.
There are as many health risks
associated with the consumption of wheat as there are nutritional
benefits claimed by the wheat industry.
Why is there such a strong emphasis on
the development of wheat products all over the world when there are
so many adverse and crippling effects such as,
...not to mention the full range of
intolerances and bloating now experienced by millions of people?
Approximately 700 million tons of wheat
are now cultivated worldwide making it the second most-produced
grain after maize.
It is grown on more land area than any other
commercial crop and is considered a staple food for humans.
At some point in our history, this ancient grain was nutritious in
some respects, however modern wheat really
isn't wheat at all.
Once agribusiness took over to develop a
higher-yielding crop, wheat became hybridized to such an extent that
it has been completely transformed from it's prehistorical genetic
configuration.
All nutrient content of modern wheat depreciated more
than 30% in its natural unrefined state compared to its ancestral
genetic line.
The balance and ratio that mother nature
created for wheat was also modified and human digestion and
physiology could simply could not adapt quick enough to the changes.
The Nutritional
Value of Wheat is Practically Non-Existent In Its Current Form
So-called health experts in nutrition who continue to promote the
health benefits of wheat are extremely uninformed about the nature
of modern wheat and its evolution from growth to consumption.
It is shocking how many professionals in
public health still recommend wheat products without an assessment
of their individual requirements, especially considering the amount
of evidence regarding its lack of nutrition and health risks for
proportionally large segments of the population.
The majority of wheat is processed into 60% extraction, bleached
white flour - the standard for most wheat products
means that 40% of the original wheat grain is removed. So not only
do we have an unhealthier, modified, and hybridized strain of wheat,
we also remove and further degrade its nutritional value by
processing it.
Unfortunately, the 40% that gets removed
includes the bran and the germ of the wheat grain - its most
nutrient-rich parts.
In the process of making 60% extraction flour,
over half of the vitamin B1, B2, B3, E, folic acid, calcium,
phosphorus, zinc, copper, iron, and fiber are lost. Any processed
foods with wheat are akin to poison for the body since they cause
more health risks than benefits. The body does not recognize
processed wheat as food.
Nutrient absorption from processed wheat
products is thus consequential with almost no nutritional value.
Some experts claim if you select 100% whole wheat products, the bran
and the germ of the wheat will remain in your meals, and the health
benefits will be impressive. This is again a falsity promoted by the
wheat industry since even 100% whole wheat products are based on
modern wheat strains created by irradiation of wheat seeds and
embryos with chemicals, gamma rays, and high-dose X-rays to induce
mutations.
Whether you consume 10% or 100% of wheat
is irrelevant since you're still consuming a health damaging grain
that will not benefit, advance or even maintain your health in any
way.
Dr. Marcia Alvarez who specializes in nutritional programs for obese
patients says that when it comes to nutrition, wheat may be
considered as an evil grain.
"Modern wheat grains could certainly
be considered as the root of all evil in the world of nutrition
since they cause so many documented health problems across so
many populations in the world."
Dr. Alvarez asserted that wheat is now
responsible for more intolerances than almost any other food in the
world.
"In my practice of over two decades,
we have documented that for every ten people with digestive
problems, obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, arthritis
and even heart disease, eight out of ten have a problem with
wheat.
Once we remove wheat from their diets, most of their
symptoms disappear within three to six months," she added.
Dr. Alvarez estimates that between the
coming influx of
genetically modified (GM) strains of wheat and the
current tendency of wheat elimination in societies, that a trend is
emerging in the next 20 years that will likely see 80% of people
cease their consumption of wheat from any form.
Genetic
Modification
The GM wheat currently being tested for approval for production in
Canada is a new variety of hard red spring wheat which has been
genetically engineered to be tolerant to glyphosate, the active
ingredient in Monsanto’s
herbicide Roundup.
Monsanto Canada Inc. requested the
approval of GE wheat from Health Canada in July 2002 and for the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in December 2002.
In July 2009, the most hated company in the world
Monsanto,
announced new research into GM wheat and industry groups kicked
their promotion of GM wheat into high gear.
"Widespread farmer and consumer
resistance defeated GM wheat in 2004 and this global rejection
remains strong, as demonstrated by today's statement," said Lucy
Sharratt, Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action
Network.
There are now even claims by researchers
in Australia have developed a form of
salt-tolerant wheat that will
allow farmers to grow crops in soil with high salinity.
They created the new form of wheat by
crossing a modern strain with an ancient species, and the
researchers believe this new super-wheat will allow farmers to grow
more food crops on land previously thought to be off limits to
agriculture.
Critics suggest that new strains will be foreign to
current ecological systems and will be unsustainable without massive
chemical intervention.
Industry claims that the introduction of GM wheat will lead to a
reduction in herbicide use, a claim that has been made prior to the
introduction of other herbicide tolerant (HT) crops such as Roundup
Ready (RR) soybeans, canola and corn.
These claims have been
contradicted by US government statistics that show that GM HT crops
such as RR crops use more pesticides than conventional crops.
These state GM crops can receive as much
as 30 percent more herbicide than non-GM crops. Not only do GM crops
use more pesticides but they also force the farmer to purchase one
single brand of herbicide, in this case Monsanto brand Roundup.
If introduced, GE wheat will enter farmers’ rotations along with the
already HT canola and soybeans. This compounds the issue of
superweeds as each crop sown would be HT, so any seed that fell from
the crop before harvest would pose a threat of becoming an
uncontrollable weed, or contained by using increasingly toxic
herbicides.
How can we believe that pesticide use
will decrease with GE wheat?
These developments are also taking place in the United States which
is the third largest wheat producer in the world. Fertilizers,
herbicides, fungicides, and growth regulators are all becoming more
chemically potent and their frequency of application continues to
increase every 5 years. American scientists are currently developing
GM strains of wheat conferring resistance to fungal diseases.
Wheat is becoming such a transmutated
grain, that it someday may not even be called wheat.
Health Effects
A powerful little chemical in wheat known as 'wheat germ agglutinin'
(WGA) which is largely responsible for many of wheat's pervasive,
and difficult to diagnose, ill effects.
Researchers are now discovering that WGA
in modern wheat is very different from ancient strains. Not only
does WGA throw a monkey wrench into our assumptions about the
primary causes of wheat intolerance, but due to the fact that WGA is
found in highest concentrations in "whole wheat," including its
supposedly superior sprouted form, it also pulls the rug out from
under one of the health food industry's favorite poster children.
Each grain of wheat contains about one microgram of Wheat Germ
Agglutinin (WGA). Even in small quantities, WGA can have profoundly
adverse effects. It may be pro-inflammatory, immunotoxic,
cardiotoxic... and neurotoxic.
Below the radar of conventional serological testing for antibodies
against the various gluten proteins and genetic testing for disease
susceptibility, the WGA “lectin problem” remains almost entirely
obscured.
Lectins, though found in all grains,
seeds, legumes, dairy and our beloved nightshades: the tomato and
potato, are rarely discussed in connection with health or illness,
even when their presence in our diet may greatly reduce both the
quality and length of our lives.
Yet health experts dismiss the links
between disease and wheat despite all the evidence.
Dr William Davis has documented several hundred clinical studies on
the adverse effects of wheat.
These are studies that document the
neurologic impairments unique to wheat, including,
-
cerebellar ataxia
and dementia
-
heart disease
-
visceral fat accumulation and all its
attendant health consequences
-
the process of glycation via
amylopectin A of wheat that leads to cataracts, diabetes, and
arthritis,
...among others.
There are, in fact, a wealth of studies
documenting the adverse, often crippling, effects of wheat
consumption in humans.
The other claim is that wheat elimination ‘means missing out on a
wealth of essential nutrients. Another falsity. Dr. Davis states
that if you replace wheat with healthy foods like vegetables, nuts,
healthy oils, meats, eggs, cheese, avocados, and olives, then there
is no nutrient deficiency that develops with elimination of wheat.
Dr Davis also states that people with
celiac disease may require long-term supplementation due to
extensive gastrointenstinal damage caused by wheat.
People with celiac disease do indeed experience deficiencies of
multiple vitamins and minerals after they eliminate all wheat and
gluten from the diet. But this is not due to a diet lacking valuable
nutrients, but from the incomplete healing of the gastrointestinal
tract (such as the lining of the duodenum and proximal jejunum).
In
these people, the destructive effects of wheat are so overpowering
that, unfortunately, some people never heal completely.
These people do indeed require vitamin
and mineral supplementation, as well as probiotics and pancreatic
enzyme supplementation. Due to the unique properties of
amylopectin
A, two slices of whole wheat bread increase blood sugar higher than
many candy bars.
High blood glucose leads to the process
of glycation that, in turn, causes,
-
arthritis (cartilage glycation)
-
cataracts (lens protein
glycation)
-
diabetes (glycotoxicity of
pancreatic beta cells)
-
hepatic de novo lipogenesis that
increases triglycerides and, thereby, increases expression
of atherogenic (heart disease-causing) small LDL particles,
leading to heart attacks
Repetitive high blood sugars that
develop from a grain-rich diet are, in my view, very destructive and
lead to weight gain (specifically visceral fat), insulin resistance,
leptin resistance (leading to obesity), and many of the health
struggles that many now experience.
Wheat gliadin has been associated with,
-
cerebellar ataxia
-
peripheral
neuropathy
-
gluten encephalopathy (dementia)
-
behavioral outbursts
in children with ADHD and autism
-
paranoid delusions and
auditory hallucinations in people with schizophrenia
-
severe and
incapacitating effects,
...for people suffering from these conditions.
According to
statistics from the University of Chicago Celiac
Disease Center, an average of one out of every 133 otherwise healthy
people in the United States suffers from CD. However, an estimated
20-30 percent of the world's population may carry the genetic
susceptibility to celiac disease - and the way to avoid turning
these genes 'on' is by avoiding gluten.
When you consider that undiagnosed CD is associated with a nearly
four-fold increased risk of premature death, the seriousness of this
food sensitivity becomes quite evident. The primary disease
mechanism at play is chronic inflammation, and chronic inflammatory
and degenerative conditions are endemic to grain-consuming
populations.
Changes in genetic code and, thereby, antigenic profile, of the
high-yield semi-dwarf wheat cultivars now on the market account for
the marked increase in celiac potential nationwide.
"Hybridization” techniques, including
chemical mutagenesis to induce selective mutations, leads to
development of unique strains that are not subject to animal or
human safety testing - they are just brought to market and sold.
Author and preventive cardiologist William Davis, MD, wheat's
new biochemical code causes hormone disruption that is linked to
diabetes and obesity.
"It is not my contention that it is
in everyone's best interest to cut back on wheat; it is my
belief that complete elimination is in everyone's best health
interests,"
says Dr. Davis,
"In my view, that's how bad this
thing called 'wheat' has become."
Chemical mutagenesis using the toxic
mutagen,
sodium azide, of course, is the method used to generate
BASF’s Clearfield herbicide-resistant wheat strain.
These methods are being used on a wide
scale to generate unique genetic strains that are, without question
from the FDA or USDA, assumed to be safe for human consumption.
Wheat-Free
Options
* Note that many of the wheat-free options still contain gluten.
-
Cereal Grains
Barley, millet,
oats, rice, rye, sorghum, tef and wild rice are all in the
same cereal grain family as is wheat. All flours ground from
cereal grains may be used as a wheat substitute. Commonly
available are barley, buckwheat, rice and rye flour. The
less utilized flours may be purchased online or from natural
food stores. Note: people with a gluten allergy must also
avoid barley, oats and rye.
-
Non-Cereal Grains
Amaranth,
quinoa and buckwheat are three grain-like seeds unrelated to
cereal grains. (Despite its name, buckwheat is not a
wheat-relative.) It is rare for anyone to develop a
sensitivity to these non-cereal grains. Amaranth, quinoa and
buckwheat are gluten-free and therefore not suitable for
making leavened bread; however, they make excellent quick
breads and cookies.
-
Nut Meal
Ground nuts such as
almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts make the richest flour
substitute for cookies and cakes. Because their fragile
fatty acid content gives them a brief shelf life, it’s
preferable to grind your own nuts in a food processor just
prior to use. Nut meal requires a binding agent such as
eggs. Because chestnuts are lower in fat than other nuts,
chestnut flour has a longer shelf life. It is available
online.
-
Bean Flour
Dried beans, such as
navy, pinto and chickpeas may be milled and used, in
combination with other flours, as a wheat alternative. Bean
flour is, however, not always recommended. It tastes like
beans and makes baked goods dense and hard to digest.
-
Other Flour Substitutes
Potato
starch, arrowroot powder, and tapioca are thickening agents
that substitute for wheat in sauces and gravy. In baked
goods these starchy ingredients serve as a binding agent.
Due to the irresponsible high frequency
hybridization, processing and inevitable genetic modification of
modern wheat, there is only one solution for the health and wellness
of future generations.
Stop eating wheat and educate as many
people as you can on the coming strains of this grain which will be
much more deadly than they already are today.
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