Why 80 Percent of People Worldwide Will Soon Stop Eating WheatJanuary 9, 2013
Natasha Longo, Prevent Disease
Waking Times
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/01/09/w ... ing-wheat/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 neurological
impairment, dementia, heart disease, cataracts, diabetes, arthritis and
visceral fat accumulation, 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 Nutrional Value of Wheat is Practically Non-Existent In Its Current FormSo-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. 60% extraction–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 ModificationThe
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 EffectsA
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, and 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.
1.
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.
2.
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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
I've heard of an individual in Dallas using white wheat flour as a pesticide for his garden.
ReplyDeleteIf you put a little across an ant line they will go around it. Ground whole wheat they will haul off.