Just because something bad is reduced or eliminated in cigarettes, it should not logically follow that cigarettes must now be good, right? Low-tar, filtered cigarettes may be less harmful than full-tar, unfiltered cigarettes, but still contain heavy metals like mercury, lead, and cadmium, as well as nicotine, naphthalene, arsenic, formaldehyde, ammonia and other toxic compounds. Low- or no-tar does NOT mean healthy. This may seem obvious, but it is surprising how many people—physicians and dietitians included—fall for such flawed logic when applied to nutrition.
We saw this play out in yet another flawed analysis released from the U.K. this week with media headlines proclaiming “Whole grains lengthen life” and the like. This was not a new study, but a re-analysis of prior studies (a “meta-analysis”). In each and every study included in this analysis, increasing consumption of whole grains (usually in quartiles or quintiles of whole grain intake) was compared to consumption of white flour products, and there are indeed benefits (not due to B vitamins nor cellulose fiber, but due to the arabinoxylan and amylose prebiotic fiber content): longer life, less type 2 diabetes, less cardiovascular disease, less weight gain (not weight LOSS)—that is all true.
In other words, if we conducted a study that compared increasing reliance on low-tar filtered cigarettes with smoking full-tar unfiltered cigarettes and demonstrated, say, a 27% reduction in lung cancer and heart disease, and people lived 2 years longer than full-tar smokers, should we therefore conclude that smoking low-tar filtered cigarettes is therefore the key to health and longevity? Of course not, but you can begin to appreciate the flawed house of cards that nutritional thinking follows.
Such epidemiological analyses included in this meta-analysis can therefore not be used to conclude that whole grains are good for you: they are LESS BAD. The full implications of this do not become apparent, however, unless we compare whole grain consumption with NO grain consumption. Such studies have indeed been conducted and demonstrate dramatic reductions in type 2 diabetes and blood sugar, reversal/remission of rheumatoid arthritis and some other autoimmune conditions, reversal of irritable bowel syndrome, reversal of temporal lobe seizures, reversal of cerebellar ataxia, reduction or elimination of small LDL particles that lead to heart disease, reduction in paranoia and auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia, reduction in behavioral outbursts in kids with attention deficit disorder and autistic spectrum disorder, etc.
Remember, wheat and related grains, whole or white, still contain:
- Gliadin (and related proteins, such as zein in corn)–that trigger appetite via gliadin-derived opiate peptides and initiate the process of autoimmunity via intestinal “leak”
- Phytates — that disturb digestion and block iron and zinc absorption by 90%.This is why grain consuming societies experience so much iron deficiency anemia, impaired immunity, and skin rashes.
- Lectins — such as wheat germ agglutinin, grain proteins that exert disruptive effects in the gastrointesinal tract and gain access to the bloodstream, where it yields potent inflammatory effects.
- D-amino acids — Humans, as well as other mammals, have the digestive apparatus to break proteins down in to L-amino acids. But many of the amino acids in grains are the mirror image D-versions. The implications of this peculiar clash between incompatible species–non-ruminant humans and the seeds of grasses–are just starting to be appreciated.
- Amylopectin A — The carbohydrate of grains that is responsible for its extravagant potential to raise blood sugar higher ounce for ounce, than table sugar.
Keep this simple principle in mind—that less bad does not necessarily mean good—and you will see through numerous blunders made in nutrition. “The Mediterranean diet is the ideal diet,” for example, is yet another mistake in that there is simply no logical way to reach that conclusion, only that the Mediterranean style of eating is less harmful than, say, the average American diet.
And anyway, if the millions of people who have enjoyed extravagant weight loss and reversal of health conditions on the Wheat Belly wheat/grain-free lifestyle were to go back to consuming grains, even 100% whole grains, we would re-exposure reactions on a grand scale with weight gain, diarrhea, abdominal distress, recurrence of all symptoms previously relieved with grain elimination such as migraine headaches, acid reflux, rashes, fibromyalgia, and autoimmune conditions.
Stay wheat/grain-free and maintain your extraordinary level of health and control over weight, regardless of the sloppy thinking of nutritional “authorities.”
So this is also wrong i guess?.
Ive studied wheat in take in my family and came to the conclusion that its not the wheat that makes people fat, its whats added with the wheat. Aka pasta, with the COW CHEESE/dairy etc.
My brother eats so much wheat but doesnt get a fat belly. He used to have a fat belly eating a lot of wheat with cheese, dairy milk etc. Also, just because rats have a problem with lectins, does not apply to humans.
refined wheat is probably still bad, but wholegrain i will believe to be healthy, since very few of your points against it actually stand on their merit.
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Punching-holes-in-pop-science-theory-Whole-grains-may-cut-inflammatory-biomarkers-in-obese-kids
Sanatan stringer wrote: «So this is also wrong i guess?.»
What “this” is “wrong”?
«…conclusion that its not the wheat that makes people fat, its whats added with the wheat. Aka pasta, with the COW CHEESE/dairy etc.»
When people eliminate grains (including pasta, which is just a molded wheat flour), but keep or even increase the dairy, and lose both weight and optional ailments, what do you make of it?
Dueling anecdotes won’t settle this, nor will ineptly designed clinical trials with key details hidden behind pay-walls.
«…but wholegrain i will believe to be healthy,…»
No, less unhealthy, which is the point of the base article here. We already know that whole grains nudge the destructo dial down from 100% to perhaps 90%. That dial goes to zero, and needs to.
From the abstract of the paper linked from that 2014 news article:
“No significant effect of whole-grain intake on weight and BMI was seen compared with the control group.” Some markers were nudged. The festering problem (obesity) remained unchanged.
«My brother eats so much wheat but doesnt get a fat belly.»
So let’s then talk about markers. How’s his HbA1c and triglycerides (TG), just to name a couple for which people often have a number handy.
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For last 10 days I am wheat free and my morning sugar is staying at 4.9 to 5.3. In the past twice I decided to be wheat free and again my sugar level was in the same range.
But as soon as I eat bread and within few days my morning sugar level goes up to 6.3 range. I have tried three time (every time for ten days) and I see results within 4-5 days.
The only problem I run into that I quickly loose wait and people ask me if everything is fine with me. I say yes but I know that I always loose wait when ever I go grain free and I am already under weight ( 5’9” and weight is 160 lb).
Dalwinder Hayer wrote: «I am already under weight ( 5’9” and weight is 160 lb).»
That’s not underweight by historical standards (I’m taller and weigh less than that). It may appear underweight to younger people who have no memory of a slender time.
Plus, any weight you are regaining on mere re-exposure to wheat is water (edema) and unhealthy (visceral) fat. The way to gain healthy weight is to build muscle mass.
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Bob, thank you so much. I was always worried because so many people said to me that you are underweight and I could see too that I am loosing weight. Now I really don’t care as long as my blood reports are normal.
Dalwinder wrote: «I was always worried…»
Don’t be. When I plug your numbers into a BMI calculator, such as: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm it says
23.6,
which is at the upper end of “normal” (not necessarily to be confused with “healthy”). Even the NIH doesn’t get worried until your BMI falls below 18.5.
BMI is a very crude measure (muscle mass trivially confounds it), but if we exclude the very fit, the number can be insightful. I don’t know your age, but in general the 50th percentile BMI, for males in the US, is about 28. Your 23.6 BMI puts you in the 15th percentile, which means that 85% of the population here is carrying more weight than you are (and most would prefer not to, but don’t have the information needed to easily fix it).
«…so many people said to me that you are underweight…»
Politely ask them what criteria are they using. If it’s envy, despair, or simply not wanting to be reminded that they weigh more than they’d like to, they aren’t likely to be aware of it or admit it. Perhaps your wardrobe needs to be downsized to conform to the new you. Reactions could also be just a subconscious tribal response to living in a chubby culture. How dare you be different. ☺
«Now I really don’t care as long as my blood reports are normal.»
Indeed. Mind the muscle mass, too. Weight loss usually takes some muscle with it, unless you are doing compensatory exercises.
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Bob, thank you so much for such a detailed reply. I really appreciate it and I do my regular work out three times a week.
Recently had my yearly physical, Dr. said I was going backwards, so much so that I was boring, and I should continue to be boring. Two and one half years on Wheat Belly. Thank you Dr. Davis.
Patti wrote: «Dr. said I was going backwards, so much so that I was boring, and I should continue to be boring.»
So is the doctor fully engaged on why you are so boring (rare), or merely disinterested (too common)?
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The Dr. Is fully aware that I am on the Wheat Belly plan and agrees with it.
patti wrote: «The Dr. Is fully aware that I am on the Wheat Belly plan and agrees with it.»
Excellent. With any luck, it’s a trend. Thanks for the response.
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