Absorption of positively-charged minerals, especially iron, zinc, and magnesium, is blocked by the phytates of grains. It means that every time you include a grain in your meal–as advised by our own USDA and other health agencies–you effectively turn off absorption of essential minerals. Obviously, with frequent grain consumption, nutritional deficiencies develop.
You could try and remedy this situation by consuming grains while supplementing minerals, hoping to overcome the effect, but this usually does’nt work to fully compensate for blocked absorption, while also exposing you to all the other destructive effects of wheat and grains. This is how it is done, of course, in conventional circles, or deficiencies are simply overlooked or ignored.
The phytate content of a bagel or two slices of whole wheat bread is enough to block iron absorption by 90%. Iron deficiency results in fatigue, lightheadedness, feelings of being cold, and poor physical performance. The second most common worldwide cause for iron deficiency anemia is grain consumption, second only to blood loss (e.g., menstrual cycles). (The World Health Organization knows all about this phenomenon, as they must contend with iron deficiency that develops when grains are shipped in to relieve hunger in Third World regions.) Wheat and grains are very common causes for “unexplained” iron deficiency anemia that fails to fully respond to iron supplementation, rebounding back to normal with grain elimination.
Zinc deficiency can manifest in myriad ways, but most commonly results in skin rashes (often misdiagnosed as seborrhea, eczema, or other rashes), itchiness, a white coating on the tongue, impaired growth and impaired learning in children, reduced sense of taste and smell, and gastrointestinal distress. Magnesium deficiency shows as muscle cramps in the fingers or “charlie horses” in the calves, higher blood pressure and blood sugar, loss of bone density, and heart rhythm disorders.
Mineral absorption improves dramatically with wheat and grain elimination–that is the essential first step. (You now appreciate the folly of bread “fortification” and the futility of taking mineral supplements in the presence of grains in the diet.)
Iron is best managed by checking a blood level of ferritin (reflecting stored iron) and a complete blood count (CBC) to diagnose anemia. While grain elimination may often be sufficient to allow increased iron absorption, iron supplementation may need to be undertaken if iron deficiency anemia is identified. Iron supplementation should not be undertaken blindly without monitoring ferritin and the hemoglobin value on the CBC, as iron overload can also occur.
Magnesium can be safely supplemented by the majority of people. (People with impaired kidney function can accumulate magnesium and should only supplement if levels are monitored.) I recommend taking the magnesium malate form, 1200 mg twice per day (180 mg “elemental” magnesium twice per day). This helps reverse muscle cramps, reduce blood pressure and modestly reduce blood sugar, increase bone density, and quiet abnormal heart rhythms. Including plentiful pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds, as well as green leafy vegetables, further augments magnesium intake. In my experience, given the consumption of filtered water and the low magnesium content of modern produce, it is best to supplement magnesium for a lifetime.
Zinc can also be safely supplemented, 10-15 mg once per day, without monitoring levels. As gastrointestinal absorption improves and you include zinc-rich animal products, long term supplementation is probably not necessary.
Note that we are talking about how to reverse adverse health effects of wheat and grain consumption, i.e., how to undo the harmful effects of awful advice to eat plenty of “healthy whole grains,” the most disastrous dietary advice ever offered, particularly when coupled with “cut your fat, cut your saturated fat” fictions. Modern dietary advice is not only ineffective, but harmful. But once you understand this fundamental issue, health on a scale you previously thought you’d never achieve becomes possible.
More about these issues can be found in Wheat Belly Total Health.
I was just wondering, can you use Paleo recipes for the Wheat Belly LIfestyle? Paleo seems to use a lot of sugar/fruit, but you did advocate the use of Paleo recipes…
re: … can you use Paleo recipes for the Wheat Belly Lifestyle?
Yes, with caution (and our household does).
The first test to apply is net carbs. Skip over any paleo, primal, low carb or LCHF cookbooks that fail to provide macronutrient data for each recipe, as it will leave you having to figure it out yourself (you have enough work to do just finding acceptable raw ingredients).
I’ve observed that paleo and primal tend to either not pay adequate attention to net carbs, or deceive themselves about the hazards of “natural” sugars, like honey, agave and coconut (which are further often just misrepresented HFCS). This is usually a simple fix – use the WB suggested alternative sweeteners.
http://www.wheatbelly.com/articles/sweeteners
Alternative ancestral cookbooks may also not exclude gluten-bearing grains, and/or may be unaware of the hazards of other grains like rice (hazards beyond just the glycemic impact).
Once you are tuned into the WB targets and recommended ingredients, these alternative cooking styles can be great sources of ideas. We’ve spun several into family staples.
I found rice pasta made with rice flour and water in the gluten free area. Is that an acceptable choice? It tastes great with cream, cheese, and butter sauce!
re: I found rice pasta made with rice flour and water in the gluten free area. Is that an acceptable choice?
No.
1. Rice flour is very high glycemic, typically 25% net carbs, and spikes blood sugar almost like sugar. One cup of rice pasta is nearly the whole day’s carb budget.
2. Arsenic, specifically inorganic As: unless the supplier has included a credible statement on arsenic contamination, it could be frightfully high (and the FDA doesn’t quite know what to do about it). This is a relatively recently discovered problem, and varies with source region and rice variety. Organic and/or wild is no assurance. Brown is actually at higher risk.
3. Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), so named only because it was first isolated in wheat. Rice contains WGA. This lectin is a hazard at any dose, so the less the better.
Use rice and rice products very sparingly. Konjac-based pasta mimics and spaghetti squashes are vastly safer.
Thanks for the quick response! I will give the rest away to my SAD friends!
Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions, says in her book that grains and nuts should be soaked generally for 12-24 hours before consuming to break down phytic acid and release enzymes to improve digestion, and that this was the way primitive cultures instinctively knew how to treat them.
Dr. Davis, what is your opinion on this if one uses ancient grains like einkorn and kamut and properly soaks them? Also, do you think it is possible that the heavy amounts of GMOs in the American diet could be contributing even more so to the increase in diseases we’re seeing these days?
While we await any update that Dr. Davis might offer …
Re: … grains and nuts should be soaked generally for 12-24 hours before consuming to break down phytic acid and release enzymes to improve digestion, …
In addition to Dr. Davis’ remarks at the blog link I posted above, he has also said on the phytate issue: “I am skeptical that the phytates in nuts are sufficiently important that they exert adverse absorption effects on nutrients, so I have not advocated this.”
https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2012/07/wheat-belly-blog-one-million-visits/comment-page-1/#comment-50349
Even if there is a concern with the nut phytates, their anti-nutrient effect can be eliminated with food timing – just don’t eat the nuts or nut-based foods at the same meals as the mineral-supplying foods or outright mineral supplements.
But neither soaking nor timing corrects the major problems with grains to any significant extent: net carbs and adverse proteins.
Re: … ancient grains like einkorn and kamut and properly soaks them?
Still gluten-bearing. Still high glycemic. Like Ötzi the Iceman reminds us:
Eat neolithic grains, get neolithic ailments
(in his case, bad teeth, a fully developed genetic tendency for heart disease, and other issues still being elucidated).
Re: … possible that the heavy amounts of GMOs in the American diet could be contributing even more so to the increase in diseases we’re seeing these days?
Note that wheat is not a GMO™ yet (on the narrow industry definition of that). My opinion is that GMO could easily be a factor in the trends, and due to either the frankengenes, or the field practices they enable (pesticide uptake), or both. The problem is, that like food colorants, every GMO product is different, and would require separate long term food safety testing, with proper attention to eliminating confounding factors (and sponsor bias). That’s not going to happen. There is no RDA for GMO junk. So just avoid it.
In this research is it based on conventional grown grains, organic grains, or sprouted organic grains, or sprouted fermented organic grains?
re: In this research is it based on conventional grown grains, …
Based on a quick look at the footnotes for this topic on p5 of Wheat Belly Total Health, it appears that this issue is attracting research because the problem has grown, probably because modern grains have been selectively bred to improve pest resistance. Phytate content does that, and it has increased with modern grains.
It’s probably safe to assume that any trials or observational studies were based on commodity grains. Had they compared heirloom, or no-grain cohorts, eyes would have been opened, and as far as I know, such studies have only been done to promote heirlooms (and didn’t consider, or suppressed the grain-free results).
> … organic grains, …
That wouldn’t have any effect on phytate content. It would reduce pesticide uptake.
In the specific case of wheat, by the way, there are no GMO wheats yet. So even if organic means non-GMO, it provides no benefit. Heirloom wheats became runt mutant goat grass by other means, and “organic” wheat can still be the genetic result of those processes (radio-mutagenesis, chemo-mutagenesis, embryo rescue, etc.).
> … or sprouted organic grains, or sprouted fermented organic grains?
That does reduce the phytates in crops that might otherwise be safe to consume. The gluten-bearing grains are not among them:
https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2012/02/kick-it-smack-it-sprout-it/