Here’s an excerpt from the Revised & Expanded Edition of Wheat Belly, page 184:
I had a heck of a time persuading Gordon to drop the wheat.
I met Gordon because he had coronary disease. Among the causes: abundant small LDL particles along with the usual accompaniments of low HDL, high triglycerides, and high blood sugar. I asked him to completely remove the wheat from his diet in order to reduce or eliminate the small LDL particles and thereby obtain better control over heart health.
Problem: Gordon owned a bakery. Bread, rolls, and muffins were part of his everyday routine, three meals a day, seven days a week. It was only natural that he would eat his products with most meals. For two years, I urged Gordon to drop the wheat—to no avail.
One day Gordon came to the office wearing a ski cap. He told me how he had started to lose clumps of hair, leaving divot-like bald patches scattered over his scalp. His primary care doctor diagnosed alopecia, but couldn’t divine a cause. Likewise, a dermatologist was at a loss to explain Gordon’s dilemma. The hair loss was very upsetting to him, causing him to ask his primary care doctor for an antidepressant prescription and concealing the embarrassing situation with a cap.
Wheat, of course, was my first thought. It fit Gordon’s overall health picture: small LDL particles, wheat belly body configuration, high blood pressure, prediabetic blood sugars, vague stomach complaints, and now hair loss. I made yet another pitch for Gordon to once and for all remove the wheat from his diet. After the emotional trauma of losing most of his hair and now having to conceal his patchy scalp, he finally agreed. It meant bringing food to his bakery and not eating his own products, something he had some difficulty in explaining to his employees. Nonetheless, he stuck to it.
Within three weeks, Gordon reported that hair had begun to sprout up in the bald patches. Over the next two months, vigorous growth resumed. Along with his proud pate, he also lost twelve pounds and two inches from his waist. The intermittent abdominal distress was gone, as was his prediabetic blood sugar. Six months later, reassessment of his small LDL particles demonstrated 67 percent reduction.
Inconvenient? Perhaps. But it sure beats a toupee and a bypass.
Sorry for asking an unrelated question to the “bald” article but I’m about to purchase the updated/revised edition of Wheat Belly and am mostly interested in the chapter “My Particles Are Bigger Than Yours” and am wondering if that chapter in the newer book is just a word for word copy of the older original book — which I own. If there is some updated info in that chapter I will purchase it now. Any clue as to whether or not there is any additional material in that chapter compared to the original? Thanks!
robert wrote: «…chapter “My Particles Are Bigger Than Yours” … Any clue as to whether or not there is any additional material in that chapter compared to the original?»
I have both books, but not in a form that allows a quick ‘diff’ function. At a glance, the new book did drop the discussion of the China Study.
Was there a particular question about LDL particles that I might answer? Since 2011, program targets for lipid panel TG & HDL have not changed. Advanced lipoprotein NMR Small LDL-P now has a target cap (200 nmol/L), but is not in either book as such.
The major changes in the new edition are that it amounts to a roll-up of WB program changes since 2011, incorporating for example, the major topics of gut flora cultivation and SIBO, entirely absent in the original book.
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Bob, thanks for that. I think I will just go ahead and order the book anyway. It’s a good investment. I’ll still keep the Undoctured book. Thanks much for your comments.
I think that his case is pretty much a minority. I’ve lost most all of my hair in the last several years and do not eat wheat or other grains and pretty much never did and follow Dr. Davis’ recommendations and even though I’m pretty healthy nothing, and I mean nothing, has helped growing my hair back. The Wheat Belly lifestyle is a great way to live but let’s get real hoping it’s going to grow your hair back for the great majority of people. Hair loss unfortunately is one condition where your genes will decide who goes bald and who does not.
robert wrote: «…nothing, and I mean nothing, has helped growing my hair back.;»
It may come down to why the hair loss happened. If the follicles are still in place, and the antagonism is reversed, growth might resume. The 2019 WB book was pretty clear (print page 183). It explains the likely mechanism and concludes with (emphasis added): “When caused by wheat, alopecia can persist for as long as wheat consumption continues.”
If the follicles are gone, nothing short of transplant seems to be available yet. Blanket baldness reversal is not something promised by the program.
The L.reuteri not-a-yogurt often results in hair that grows faster, thicker, and/or oilier (my experience), but no reports to date of hair growing where it had vanished entirely.
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