I was recently reading "Gluten-Free Cooking For Dummies", which I highly recommend, by the way, and I came across some information that I thought was worth sharing! Here is an excerpt from the book:
WHEAT MAY NOT BE GOOD FOR ANYONE
You've probably been raised to believe that wheat - especially whole wheat - is really good for you. Although wheat does offer some health benefits, the same benefits can easily be found in other foods without the unpleasant side effects that many, if not most, people experience. But here's the bottom line: I believe wheat's not good for anyone, whether you have gluten sensitivity or celiac disease or not. Move over, David Letterman - here's my top-ten list of the problems with wheat.
1) Humans don't fully digest wheat
Let's start with some basic biology. It's a simple fact that the human stomach doesn't fully digest wheat. Cows, sheep, and other ruminant animals do just fine with wheat because they have more than one stomach to complete the digestion process. When the partially digested wheat leaves their stomach, it goes to another stomach where it is further broken down, then to another and another until the process is complete.
Unlike our bovine buddies, we humans have only one stomach. When the wheat leaves our tummies, it's not fully digested. Those undigested portions begin to ferment, and do you know what the byproduct of fermentation is? Gas. Icky, belchable, fart-forming gas. For many people, this accounts for the gas and bloating they feel after they eat wheat, whether they have gluten sensitivity or not.
2) Wheat is a pro-inflammatory agent
Recently, lots of books and articles have been written on the subject of pro-inflammatory foods. These foods are rapidly converted to sugar, causing a rise in the body's insulin levels (read more about this in number nine on my top-ten list), causing a burst of inflammation at the cellular level. Almost everyone knows that blood sugar rises from eating sweets (cakes, cookies, and candy). But lots of foods not considered sweets have pro-inflammatory effects - foods that have wheat in them, like cereal, pasta, breads, and bagels. These foods can be high in simple starches; when these are broken down, they act the same as sweet foods, raising blood sugar levels, releasing insulin, and causing inflammation. Bear in mind that the inflammation occurs in all people, not just those with wheat or gluten sensitivities.
It turns out that inflammation, once thought to be limited to "-itis" conditions like arthritis, may actually be at the root of a number of serious conditions, including heart disease, Alzheimer's, and some types of cancer. And if vanity is the only way to prove a point, consider this: Dr. Nicholas Perricone, renowned author of The Wrinkle Cure, considers inflammation to be the "single most powerful cause of the signs of aging."
One great tool for identifying pro-inflammatory foods is the glycemic index (remember this term; I'm going to use it again in number nine). The glycemic index measures how fast your blood sugar rises after you eat a food that contains carbohydrates (like pasta, potatoes, and bread). It rates foods on a scale from 0-100, where water is 0 and table sugar is 100. The lower the glycemic index rating, the less likely the food is to be pro-inflammatory. Foods made from wheat, especially refined wheat, have a glycemic index in the 50 to 80-plus range, putting them on the high side and classifying them as pro-inflammatory.
3) Wheat can cause leaky gut syndrome
So what is leaky gut syndrome? Good question - I'm glad you asked. The simple-and-not-perfectly-correct-but-close-enough answer is that leaky gut syndrome is a condition whereby stuff is leaking from your gut into your bloodstream - stuff that shouldn't be there, like toxins (and large molecules like gluten!).
So how does it happen? When people eat wheat, their bodies produce extra amounts of a protein called zonulin.
The lining of the small intestine is basically a wall of cells that most materials can't pass through on their own. When important vitamins and minerals are present, zonulin tells the passageways in the intestinal wall to open so those nutrients can pass into the bloodstream. The blood then carries the nutrients to other parts of the body, where they can be used to nourish the body.
But when people eat wheat - not just people with celiac disease, but all people - their zonulin levels rise too high, and the passageways open too much and let things into the bloodstream that shouldn't be there. This increased permeability of the lining of the small intestine, known as leaky gut syndrome, can cause a variety of problems health-wise.
For people with celiac disease, leaky-gut syndrome starts the cascade of events that lead to health problems. Gluten is a large molecule that really shouldn't be able to get into the bloodstream, but it does because zonulin levels are too high, and the body allows it in. After it's in the bloodstream, the body sees the gluten molecule as an invader - a toxin - so it launches an attack, and in doing so, it damages the area around the gluten molecule, which includes the lining of the small intestine. The villi, which are short hair-like structures that are designed to increase the surface area of the small intestine so it can absorb more nutrients, are damaged in the attack. That's why people with celiac disease who continue to eat gluten often have serious nutritional deficiencies.
For a lot more details on how gluten affects a person who can't tolerate gluten, grab a copy of my book Living Gluten-Free For Dummies (Wiley).
4) Refined wheat has little nutritional value
Most of the wheat people eat is "refined." That means manufacturers take perfectly good wheat - which has some nutritional value, especially in the bran and germ - and they take the good stuff away, leaving "refined" (read "little nutritional value") wheat. Sadly, that's the form that most of our wheat-based products use - refined wheat nearly void of nutritional value, making it a high-glycemic index food that just makes you fat and messes with your insulin production.
Did you know that manufacturers actually have to enrich refined wheat because they've taken out all the nutrients? And even then, the wheat's not that valuable, nutritionally speaking. Whole wheat provides more nutritional value than non-whole wheat, but it's still wheat, and there are more than just a few reasons that wheat may not be good for anyone.
5. Wheat may cause wrinkles
Aha! Not that got your attention! Okay, so you can live with the gas, bloating and leaky gut syndrome, but wrinkles? I think not! Well then put down that bagel, or buy stock in Botox, because according to some experts, the inflammatory effect of wheat - especially refined wheat - can cause wrinkles (see number two in this top-ten list for more on pro-inflammatory foods).
The most famous of these experts is Dr. Nicholas Perricone, a dermatologist and adjunct professor of medicine at Michigan State University, who maintains that inflammation contributes to accelerated aging and that through diet (and supplements and creams), you can erase scars and wrinkles, increase the production of collagen and elastin, enjoy radiance and glow, and develop a dewy, supple appearance to your skin.
Of course, this wouldn't be relevant unless the "diet" he refers to has something to do with being gluten-free. Although Dr. Perricone doesn't pinpoint gluten as a culprit per se, he does say that the pro-inflammatory response caused by wheat causes the skin to age more quickly, and he maintains that avoiding foods like wheat may help reverse the aging process.
6. Wheat may contribute to menopausal symptoms
Menopause, the time in a woman's life between about ages 45 and 55 marking the completion of her childbearing years and the end of her menstrual cycles, is often a time of marked hormonal changes. Depression, anxiety, headaches, leg cramps, varicose veins, irritability, and the famous "hot flashes" that occur are some of the more common symptoms.
But many doctors believe that lifestyle changes can minimize these symptoms, and one of those lifestyle changes is diet. Although there is some debate over wheat's role in these lifestyle changes, many experts, including Christiane Northrup, MD, author of The Wisdom of Menopause, believe that eliminating wheat from the diet - especially refined wheat - can help relieve menopausal symptoms.
7) Wheat is one of the top-eight allergens
Millions of people are allergic to wheat - so many, in fact, that it has made it onto the top-eight allergen list. Keep in mind that an allergy to wheat is different from celiac disease or other forms of gluten sensitivity - we'll talk more on that later in this chapter.
Allergic reactions to wheat can include gastrointestinal distress (stomach upset), eczema, hay fever, hives, asthma, and even anaphylaxis (a severe whole-body allergic reaction), which is life-threatening.
Other than the anaphylaxis, these symptoms sound a lot like gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, don't they? That's why sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. That's also why sometimes people get allergy testing and find out they're not allergic to wheat - so they're told to go back to a normal diet of pizza, bread, and bagels. Not necessarily good advice, because they could actually have gluten sensitivity or celiac disease. So it's important to be properly tested. (Yep, you guessed it - we'll talk more about that later in this chapter, too.)
8) Wheat can mess up your blood sugar levels
Remember in number two when I talked about the glycemic index? Well, dont' worry - it's not really that complicated (and there's no pop quiz). All you need to know is that some foods cause your blood sugar levels to spike, which causes your body to produce insulin. That, in turn, causes your blood sugar to fall dramatically. Basically, your blood sugar levels go from the even keel they should be on, to being the best roller coaster ride in the park. Easy, Evil Knievel. That's not a good thing in this case.
Our bodies are designed to work with stable blood sugar levels. When they're up, then down, and all around, it causes a domino effect of no-so-healthy things to occur. Lots of people talk about hypoglycemia - a weak, shaky feeling that usually goes away after eating, especially after eating sweet foods. Although most people don't have "true" hypoglycemia, they may feel hypoglycemic when their blood sugar drops too much. The problem with the idea of "fixing" this feeling with sugary foods is that it just continues this roller coaster of blood sugar levels that are too high, and then too low. One of the most serious conditions that can result from blood sugar whiplash is insulin resistance and diabetes.
9) Wheat can make you fat
I'm not talking about the kind of "make you fat" that you deserve if you sit around eating donuts all day. I'm talking about the kind that sneaks up on you when you think you're doing everything right, but those getting-tighter-every-day jeans say otherwise.
It could just be the wheat - especially refined wheat. That's because of what it does to your blood sugar - yeah, you can cheat and look back at number eight if you didn't read it well enough the first time - but again, it's not that complicated. Refined wheat is a high-glycemic index food that causes your blood sugar to spike. That makes our body produce insulin, which, by the way, is often referred to as the "fat-storing hormone."
Yikes. Just when you thought you were being so good by leaving the cream cheese off the bagel - you should probably ditch the bagel altogether.
10) Many people have gluten sensitivity or celiac disease and don't know it
I hear things like, "I think I'm allergic to dairy because the cheese on my pizza makes me bloat." Oh, really? What makes you think it's the cheese? Because more people have heard of lactose intolerance than gluten intolerance, they figure that must be what's making them feel icky.
Truth is, most people have no idea that they have a gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, so they usually start pointing to all the wrong culprits; cheese (dairy), tomato sauce (acids), or soy. But they're blaming the wrong foods. These people have no idea that the typical American diet comprised of bagels, pasta, pizza, cakes, cookies and pretzels could be wreaking havoc on nearly every system in their bodies, so they continue to eat them and wonder why they don't feel good.
So how many people fall into this category? No one knows fur sure. We do know that 1 in 100 people has celiac disease - but most don't know it. No one knows how many people have gluten sensitivity, but estimates are that it may be as high as 50 percent, or even 70 percent, of the population. Top that with those who have a wheat allergy, and - here, let em get my calculator out - tons of people + gobs more = an astoundingly high percentage of the populations!
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