Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says

CBS News ^ | September 3, 2012

[2ndDivisionVet]

Modern wheat is a "perfect, chronic poison," according to Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist who has published a book all about the world's most popular grain.

Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."

Asked if the farming industry could change back to the grain it formerly produced, Davis said it could, but it would not be economically feasible because it yields less per acre. However, Davis said a movement has begun with people turning away from wheat - and dropping substantial weight.

"If three people lost eight pounds, big deal," he said. "But we're seeing hundreds of thousands of people losing 30, 80, 150 pounds. Diabetics become no longer diabetic; people with arthritis having dramatic relief. People losing leg swelling, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and on and on every day."

To avoid these wheat-oriented products, Davis suggests eating "real food," such as avocados, olives, olive oil, meats, and vegetables....

[Shadow44]

I read the article. I know people who are all about food politics, and I’m tired of the terminology being used in this debate.

Do people eat too much grain? Probably. But I don’t think that warrants it being labeled a toxin, and the government getting involved telling me how much bread I can eat.

[Ditter]

I gave up all wheat around June 1 because of IBS. I have lost over 20 pounds. I am kind of stuck right now and would like to lose more, I guess I will have to walk the rest off.

[Pollster1]

Maybe Bloomberg will save us: ban sandwiches with more than one slice of wheat bread!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I’m not entirely clear on the reason, but many, many people do not digest wheat well. This isn’t a “peanut” allergy, there isn’t a real noticeable bad reaction, but this is not a fad. I lost 30 lbs by pretty much just quitting eating bread and pasta, things I liked very much. And I definitely eat more and more often than before I quit, but just getting rid of bread lost me a lot of pounds. It’s those carbs...they cause an undesirable digestive & hunger cycle that’s not beneficial. I’m not going to claim I can explain why it has this effect, but on many people, it does.

[muawiyah]

Coeliac will pretty well control how you eat ~ first, no wheat, barley or rice. Else your villiae in your intestines will be killed by our t-cells. They take 3 days to grow back. in the meantime you will get no nutrition from your food. enough of this and you'll starve or have a very miserable and short life, and might even develop bowl cancer.

laughing at it or imagining coeliac to be a leftwingtard power conspiracy is just weird.

[Freedom4US]

Didn’t you know? Food is “bad for you”.

[sayuncledave]

Gliaden is one of the issues for we celiacs, and the initial bloodtest does measure this.

This is a cardiologist selling his book. While there may or may not be merit to what he is claiming, the involved motives are somewhat suspect.

My wife and I don’t necessarily mind the fad gluten free diet, since it makes it easier for us to find a greater amount of food that doesn’t make me or the twins sick. But I do sometimes worry about the after-effect when the fad disappears. While some people might see some benefit from adopting the diet, for myself and two of the fearsome fivesome, it’s an absolute necessity.

[newheart]

Davis makes a compelling case in his book that the wheat we eat today isn’t even close to the wheat that was first called the staff of life some 2000+ years ago. Not just in its processed form but on the plant itself. And, in fact it is damaging to your health. Apparently there are a few strains that come close, but they are not easy to come by.

The whole grains movement, a lot like the low-fat movement, have resulted in a fatter, less healthy population, with more government/corporate control over what we eat.

It may not be necessary for you, but if it is working for a lot of people (and it is), let it be.

[CaspersGh0sts]

I’m a physician who bought into some of Dr. Davis’ and others ideas.

My weight fell from 207 to 168 pounds with very little else changing for me other than tossing out anything with wheat in it and eating more raw nuts. I made few other dietary modifications including limiting potatoes and other grains. I definitely didn’t increase exercise and if anything was working more than ever.

I’m a believer in a grain free diet. My blood pressure normalized without medications, my HDL increased.

[caveat emptor]

Here's a recipe for chocolate cake you might try:

Chickpea Chocolate Cake:

2 cups of drained and rinsed chickpeas 1/3 cups of orange juice

4 large eggs, at room temperature 3/4 cup of brown sugar 1/2 cup of cocoa powder 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda

Puree chickpeas and orange juice in processor. Add eggs one at a time. Add last 4 ingredients and process until well blended.

Pour into a well-greased 8 inch cake pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Cool 15 min . before removing from pan.

Good cake. My wife bakes one occasionally.

[Shadow44]

I’m well aware of Celiac disease. There’s a difference between people who have it, and those who use buzzwords to try and get the government involved in dictating diets.

I have a lethal Peanut allergy, but I don’t go around saying that Peanuts are poisonous and that the general public should stop eating them.

[2ndDivisionVet]

IIRC, wasn’t Dr. Atkins a “cardiologist selling his book” as well?

[GrannyAnn]

Here is my very unscientific opinion:
It's not the wheat! It's all the other crap in processed food where wheat may be the dominant ingredient.

For instance: Frozen pizza or frozen spaghetti dinner. Is it the wheat or all the other questionable ingredients?

Of course you would feel better when you start eating “real” food. Think of all the processed food you can't eat when you are “wheat free.”

Give us this day our daily bread. Personally, I make my own and it is to die for!!!!

[djf]

Think about it.

Wheat is a seed. Basically, a type of grass seed.

And it does not benefit at all if it gets chewed up and digested. Not like some other seeds (fruit seeds) that use animals eating it to spread it around and boost the fertility.

But it does benefit wheat if it contains toxins or proteins that cause grief to anything that eats it.

If wheat grains wanted to get eaten, it wouldn’t be wheat.

It’d be a strawberry!

[muawiyah]

Don’t eat candy bars ~ that’s all i gotta’ say ~ and you know what i mean.

[muawiyah]

The good news is the incidence is increasing ~ your chance of developing it increases with age. They don't quite know what the deal is, but it probably has to do with some quite ordinary process where genes are turned on or off.

The bad news is they keep pumping more gluten into wheat ~

[muawiyah]

Peas do the same thing ~ over time we’ve developed toxin free varieties but down in the Sahel they still keep the old nasty ones that make you go blind ~ they plant them in the bad years because they’ll grow with little water. Then they eat them and go blind

[dalereed]

“This is a cardiologist selling his book.”

If he was a good cardiologist he would have so much money and work he wouldn’t have time or the necessity to write a book!

[Shady]

I love Scotch, it makes me mean, though. Can’t touch it...something in the brew...

[muawiyah]

i make my own bread too ~ from white corn. Drop a little bit of crushed red pepper in it and the stuff tastes like bread.

Doesn't hold together as well as wheat but it tastes right.

BTW, I take a white corn tortilla and put pizza toppings on it and it tastes like pizza and i suffer no ill effects. it's the bread; not the topping!