Whole wheat/gluten bad for you? Is this for real?!
Whole wheat/gluten bad for you? Is this for real?
I have heard that whole wheat (and likewise the gluten in it) is bad for you. I have heard a doctor say this to a celiac patient and I have also heard a speaker say that it causes cancer. Is this for real? I just find this very hard to believe. I am under the assumption that all whole grains are good for health. Especially with all of the labeling on food products that whole grains help to prevent heart disease! And with the whole grains comes more nutrients and more fiber. How on earth can natural grains be dangerous? We use a lot of organic, stone ground whole wheat flour.
Answers: Wheat gluten is dangerous for people with celiac. Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, found in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods but may also be found in products we use every day, such as stamp and envelope adhesive, medicines, and vitamins.
When people with celiac disease eat foods or use products containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the small intestine. The tiny, fingerlike protrusions lining the small intestine are damaged or destroyed. Called villi, they normally allow nutrients from food to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Without healthy villi, a person becomes malnourished, regardless of the quantity of food eaten.
Unless you suffer from Celiac you will be fine eating wheat gluten.
A great rule of thumb when eating and buying food is the less ingredients the better for you!!!! It's only bad for you if you're allergic or if you have celiac disease and can't digest it. If it doesn't make you sick, whole grains are good for you.
I think every food at some point has been accused of causing cancer. Whoever said that didn't know what they were talking about, whole grains are a great source of fiber which can prevent some types of cancer. Bad for me - I'm allergic to it.
Wheat allergy is surprisingly common. There will always be a doctor who will say something opposing to other's data. .. just don't believe everything you hear Some people, especially of European extraction, are allergic to gluten. Europeans have only been eating grains for about 10,000 years. Arabs and other equatorial people have been eating it since the dawn of time. They are more adapted to it and are less likely to be allergic.
If you are allergic to it, you may not know it. Toxins build up over many years. The symptoms may mimic other diseases like Lupus, RA, or vasculitis. If you don't have health issues, eating it is better than avoiding it. If you develop health issues later on, eliminating it from your diet for a year or so will tell you if that is the cause of your troubles. This is not a 'better safe than sorry' issue, meaning that avoiding gluten when you aren't faced with chronic health problems is the wrong way to go. The benefits outweigh the risks, as you can eliminate it at any time without permanent damage.
Oh, and I have never heard of any links between gluten and cancer; that is absolutely absurd. As a celiac patient, I can tell you that its highly hazzardous to a celiac-the body views it as poison. Its very hard to avoid gluten, as it is present in wheat, spelt, oats, rye, soy, barley, and many other grains. It can be a frustrating ingredient to avoid! What I wouldnt give for a decent piece of bread, of any sort!! It is very hard to avoid! Add a few other food intolerance in with it, such as eggs and diary, and look out! You are pretty much living on cabbage and potato! It sucks! Yes this is very real. Celiac Sprue is a serious disease, very under diagnosed.
Untreated(by diet ~ forever) it can lead to many illnesses. Just think of eating posion all the time, not enough to kill you but constantly keeping your immune system working to fight it off. That is what happens when a person eats something they are allergic too. It has also been said to put your body in the same state as when you eat meat or drink milk and produce large amounts of mucous to keep it from harming your body too much. Whether that's true or not, not sure. Still deciding this for myself. Here's what Dr. Douglas Graham has to say on the matter.
Don't you have to cook grains in order to get their nutritional benefit?
This question presupposes that grains such as rice, wheat, barley, and oats are helpful to the body's nutrition. Actually, they are not. The fact that they must be cooked to be edible is the first clue that something is wrong with them. They are bland to the taste and are virtually inedible without salt, spices, and condiments, the deadly "excitotoxins". Grains are acid forming in a body that needs to be slightly alkaline. Many people have substituted cooked grains in place of meat in their diet, and as a consequence, have shown a marked reduction in cardiovascular disease. However, because cooked grains create a condition known as acid toxemia, these same people will instead, suffer from a higher risk of arthritis and cancer. Cooked grains also contain opioids (which are addictive), cause daily mood swings, and contribute significantly to obesity. The gluten protein contains over three hundred peptide chains, making it one of the largest and most chemically complex proteins. Some of these peptides mimic the chemical activity of opium, estrogen, and testosterone. The protein that acts the most like it is casein, the protein found in milk - one that can cause similar problems in another portion of the population. Soy is high in hormones, but an opium-like peptide has not been identified, some people have various immune responses to soy as well.
There are three distinct ways this can hurt you (that are known of):
1) Wheat allergy - an immediate serious reaction that causes swelling, difficulty breathing, and irregular heartbeat
2) Celiac Disease - a slow-acting immune response triggered in the intestines. Starts off minor or unnoticeable, slowly over years can become debilitating and can lead to immune disease and cancer. Usually confused with irritable bowel syndrome, depression, anxiety, and hypochondria.
3) Leaky Gut - Damage done to the gut wall by any source can cause partially digested gluten peptides to get into the blood stream directly. Once the chemicals that act like opium and hormones get into the blood stream, it can cause 'brain fog,' irritability, anti-social behavior, and exaggeration of male/female characteristics regardless of gender.
Standard testing methods suggest about 1% of the population has Celiac disease, but there is a newer testing method developed by Dr. Fine that shows 10-30% of the population having an immune reaction. There was another study I read a little bit ago that said people who ate four or more pieces of bread each day had a much higher incidence of digestive cancers. Leaky gut and Celiac Disease can probably be caused just by having too much wheat gluten or triggered by an unrelated infection or a period of unusual stress. Gluten is indeed horrible and deadly to the Celiac Disease patient, and yes, untreated Celiac Disease can lead to cancers and tons of other problems. But if u do not have celiac or an allergy then u need your whole grains.