The problem with wheat.

Once upon a time there was a scientist named Norman Borlaug. In the 1940’s he developed a type of wheat that had super powers and could resist disease. The wheat was short and stumpy, could produce large seed heads and gave humans high yields. Chemical fertilisers and synthetic pesticides were developed during this time to protect the wheat. Norman Borlaug won a Nobel peace Prize for his work and was applauded for preventing starvation. This marked the ‘Green Revolution’ and the time where global agriculture really took off.

However, food insecurity persisted and nutritional gains were unclear. Overall calorie consumption increased, but dietary diversity decreased.

A review published in the Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology in 2008 proposes the above-mentioned dwarf wheat has significantly less zinc, magnesium, iron and copper than wheat previously. So, we now have a cheap, versatile food that is added to most modern processed foods. The new wheat infiltrated our food system; our waistlines and ailments exponentially grew.

Around five percent of the proteins in the hybridised modern wheat are proteins that the human body does not recognise. Dr. William Davis, cardiologist and author explains that gliadin is the most abundant protein in wheat and is different in structure to the gliadin of early wheat. This occurred as part of the genetic modification of wheat.

According to a study published in Frontiers in plant science research on the health implications of wheat consumption is challenging due to the complexity of the wheat gluten proteins and their genes. Some of the same proteins that determine the commercial value of the flour trigger human health conditions. Antibodies to gliadin are capable of binding to nervous system tissue and may contribute to immune-mediate neurological impairment, such as cerebellar ataxia and gluten encephalopathy. Gliadin, is also responsible for allergic responses, including Bakers’ asthma and wheat-dependent, exercise-induced analyphylaxis.

During World War II, Dutch physician Willem-Karel Dicke documented a sharp drop in the number of deaths among children with the severest forms of celiac disease during a bread and flour shortage occurring through the Dutch famine. When the staples were reintroduced mortality rose to previous levels. Dr Dicke conducted a follow-up study some years later, where researchers removed different components of wheat from the diet of 10 children with the intestinal illness. Reintroducing gluten caused symptoms such as diarrhea to resurface, but reintroducing a different complex molecule found in wheat, namely starch, did not. Thus, gluten was shown to be responsible for celiac disease.

Did you know that gluten in our foods is addictive? Gluten binds to the same receptor to which opiates bind. Dr. Christine Zioudrou at the National Institute of Health, discovered the morphine like polypeptides and reported that they can be blocked by opiate-blocking drugs like naloxone and naltrexone—the same drugs used to reverse the action of opiate drugs such as heroine, morphine, and oxycodone.

Dr. William Davis, mentioned earlier, describes the addictive process of gluten. When digesting bread, or another gluten containing food, morphine like compounds are released. These bind to brain’s opiate receptors and gives us a ‘reward.’ or a sense of euphoria. When the effect is blocked or no gluten is consumed, a distinctly unpleasant withdrawal may occur.

It is hardly surprising that we find it difficult to walk past a bakery and resist bagels, doughnuts or other baked goods.

Modern wheat has been demonstrated to be inflammatory in the human body, but there is no real evidence that gluten is wholly to blame, or that avoiding it will improve health. However, a 2016 study from Columbia University Medical Center, reported that some people develop a systemic immune reaction and intestinal cell damage after eating wheat, even though tests have established that they do not have celiac disease. The researchers did comment that the study did not confirm that gluten was the cause.While it’s true we have survived as a species with gluten present in our diet for a lengthy time, gluten is in everything now.

Although research on the adverse effects of modern wheat have focused on gluten, a 2016 study aimed the focus to a different family of proteins found in wheat; amylase-trypsin inhibitors (ATIs). The consumption of ATIs in wheat can produce inflammation in tissues beyond the gut, including the kidneys, lymph nodes, spleen and brain. Also, ATIs can exacerbate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, asthma, lupus, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Modern wheat is mostly refined. When wheat is refined the adverse effects are measurable. Recently a study in the European Journal of Nutrition has linked the consumption of refined grains with depression and anxiety in women. James Hébert who is Professor of Epidemiology and director of ­ Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the University of South Carolina in Columbia has said that foods most strongly associated with pro-inflammatory responses are often white or colourless, lack flavour and aroma on their own (although they may have a sweet taste and are nutritionally sparse. This description fits refined wheat products very well.

Now let’s move on to the importance of reading food labels.

MS Fan, FJ Zhao, SJ Fairweather-Tait et al (2008). ‘Evidence of decreasing mineral density in wheat grain over the last 160 years.’ Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology. Vol 22 (4) pp 315-324.

 SB Altenbach, HC Chang, XB Yu et al (2019). ‘Elimination of Omega-1,2 Gliadins From Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Flour: Effects on Immunogenic Potential and End-Use Quality.’ Frontiers in Plant Science. Vol 10 p580.

 C Zioudrou,RA Streaty, WA Klee et al (1979). ‘Opioid Peptides Derived from Food Proteins (the Exorphins).’ Journal of Biological Chemistry. Vol 254,(7) pp 2446–49.

VF Zevallos, V Raker, S Tenzer et al (2017).’Nutritional Wheat Amylase-Trypsin Inhibitors Promote Intestinal Inflammation via Activation of Myeloid Cells’. Gastroenterology, Vol 152 (5) pp 1100-1113

M Uhde,  M Ajamian, G Caio, et al (2016). ‘Intestinal cell damage and systemic immune activation in individuals reporting sensitivity to wheat in the absence of coeliac disease’ Gut Vol 65 pp1930-1937.

 Y Junker, S Zeissig, SJ Kim et al (2012). ‘Wheat amylase trypsin inhibitors drive intestinal inflammation via activation of toll-like receptor’. Vol 4. Journal Experiential Medicine. Vol 209(13) pp2395-2408.

  O Sadeghi, A Hassanzadeh-Keshteli, H Afshar et al (2019). ‘The association of whole and refined grains consumption with psychological disorders among Iranian adults.’ European  Journal of Nutrition. Vol 58 pp211–225.

 Tufts University Health and Nutrition letter (2017).Linking colorectal cancer risk, inflammation and diet. New York. Vol 35 (6) https://search.proquest.com/openview/e9e4a715b9c641da971ea20be496355f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=30886 Accessed 2020.06.10