by Sayer Ji
April 28, 2012
In this article a key question is brought to the forefront, namely, is eating wheat and gluten free enough to obtain optimal health?
The mass market has done quite a good
job of accommodating the gluten & wheat free movement by providing
an increasingly wide number of good tasting and seeming nutritious
"whole grain" products. But are whole grains like rice, or other
common wheat substitute flours like potato, really as good for us as
we think?
As idealists, we might ask ourselves:
But as realists there is always a sliding scale of lesser evils that we exchange for the experience of enjoying our foods and obtaining the comfort they readily provide.
Take a grain of sea salt as you read this exposé, as it is intended to illuminate how in some cases eliminating wheat and gluten will not be enough to overcome nagging inflammatory problems like osteoarthritis, or maybe more serious treatment refractory and idiopathic health conditions.
Lectins - Invisible Thorns
In a previous article this author discussed the "invisible thorn" found within all wheat products, including sprouted wheat bread and wheat grass, known as wheat lectin, technical name:
This intrinsically inflammatory and endocrine disruptive substance was thoroughly reviewed (via MEDLINE) and identified to have a broad range of potentially health disruptive effects:
[View a more elaborate analysis of WGA's modes of toxicity, including citations]
Lectin Toxicity May Evade Antibody-Based Blood TestsWhile it is clear that wheat lectin has potential to do harm, it must be emphasized that the type of harm it does is harder to diagnose than in classically defined wheat/gluten allergies and celiac disease.
In other words, confirmation of intolerance will not be found in antibody, allergy or intestinal biopsy testing because the damage it does is direct, and not necessarily immune-mediated, or only secondarily so.
This diagnostic "invisibility" is why lectin consumption is rarely linked to the ailments that afflict those who consume them.
While lectins are not the sole or primary cause of a wide range of disorders, they are a major factor in sustaining or reinforcing injuries or diseases once they are initiated and/or established in the body.
In the case of wheat lectin (WGA) this is due to the fact that it binds to, interacts and disrupts a basic component found within all neural, connective and epithelial tissue, namely, n-acetyl-glucosamine.
Once WGA makes it through a compromised mucosa and/or digestive lining, for instance, it can exert systemic effects which easily become overlooked as being caused by consuming wheat.
So Why Do Plants Like Wheat Produce Lectins?
Nature engineers, within all species, a set of defenses against predation, though not all are as obvious as the thorns on a rose or the horns on a rhinoceros.
Plants do not have the cell-mediated immunity of higher life forms, like ants, nor do they have the antibody driven, secondary immune systems of vertebrates with jaws.
They must rely on a much simpler, innate immunity. It is for this reason that seeds of the grass family, e.g. rice, wheat, spelt, rye, have exceptionally high levels of defensive glycoproteins known as lectins.
In a previous article we explored this in greater depth:
The Omnipresence of Chitin-Binding Lectin in the Western Diet
While eliminating wheat from the diet is an excellent and necessary step for improving health, it may not be alone sufficient, especially in those with serious health challenges.
There are other lectins in the Western diet that have properties similar to wheat lectin (WGA), namely, "chitin-binding lectins." Remember, "chitins" are long polymers of n-acetyl-glucosamine, the primary binding target of wheat lectin.
Wheat lectin and "chitin-binding lectin" therefore share functional similarities.
These chitin-binding lectin containing foods are:
Yes, you are seeing correctly:
While the "nightshade" (potato and tomato) connection with inflammation has been known about for quite some time anecdotally, rice has rarely been considered problematic and has become something of a poster child for the wheat/gluten free industry which often substitutes it for gluten-containing ingredients.
The discovery that chitin-binding lectin is broadly distributed throughout cereal grasses sheds light on how the grain-free diet produces health results superior to that of eliminating wheat and gluten containing grains alone.
How These Lectins Explain Our Dependence on NSAIDs and Glucosamine
Because many tissues within humans are comprised of n-acetyl-glucosame (a chitin-like substance) the consumption of seemingly innocuous foods such as listed above could result in a wide range of adverse effects.
The fact that so many Americans consume at least two or three of the above foods (plus wheat) daily may explain, for one, why degenerative joint disease (i.e. osteoarthritis) is the rule and not the exception in Western societies.
This should explain the connection further:
The connection between these chitin-binding lectins and NSAID/Glucosamine dependency has now been explained, but this is only the tip of the "lectin" iceberg.
I believe that an in-depth investigation into wheat lectin/chitin-binding lectin will reveal that these "invisible thorns" are a rather dominant contributing factor to morbidity and mortality in Westernized societies, and largely go unnoticed because they do not require immune mediation (and therefore may not be diagnosable through antibody testing) in order to inflict damage.
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