The current wheat-gluten debate and the epidemic of gluten intolerance tends to say more about our modern “diet fad” psychology than what is truly happening in our environments, food supplies, physiology, and biology.1 By making gluten the root of all dietary evils, we once again step into reductionist thinking, where one ingredient or chemical is blamed for most of the woes of mankind, and where the small subset of those genuinely afflicted is made to represent the larger population.
Research shows that one out of five people are self-diagnosing gluten intolerance, and about one-third of the American population claim to have gluten intolerance.2 Yet there is no solid scientific research to back up this trend. Statistics show that a handful of people are truly gluten intolerant, such as individuals who are allergic to wheat or gluten, or people who have an autoimmune disorder called celiac disease.3 And while celiac disease is a well-established entity, the evidence base for gluten as a trigger of symptoms in patients without celiac disease (so-called non-celiac gluten sensitivity or NCGS) is limited.4 Indeed, the exact mechanisms by which gluten triggers the gastrointestinal symptoms have yet to be identified.5 Scientists have not “proven” nor do they even really understand what is exactly behind gluten “intolerance,” let alone that it is a real thing for most of the people who claim to have it.
Testimonials of how cutting out gluten “changed my life,” especially from celebrity doctors, actors, and sports people, are in no short supply, popularizing the gluten-free fad even more. It is not uncommon these days to blame every neuropsychological, neurological, and learning disorder on gluten, even though the actual evidence for this is scant. You may certainly benefit from reducing your wheat and gluten intake, especially the MAD variety (eliminate the MAD kind completely!), but not necessarily because you have an allergy to gluten. No one can tolerate the MAD diet, whether it is highly processed, refined, and industrially manufactured meats or breads or vegetables. Eating real, whole foods, not food-like products, will pay dividends.
Our MAD food system has dramatically changed the grains we eat and the way we eat grains. As we saw in part 1, wheat and other grains have been bastardized through industrial methods that have damaged their ability to nourish us. Equally, people cannot tolerate the MAD diet in general, of which highly processed and refined gluten is a part. Yet gluten-free eating is financially driven by industry: if more people can be labeled as gluten intolerant, food corporations can make more money manufacturing these types of foods.
MAD Science
In 2011, Dr. Peter Gibson, professor of gastroenterology at Monash University, led a study that remains one of the most-cited pieces of evidence for non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS).6 His research gave impetus to the gluten-free diet, which is predicted to increase gluten-free product sales to an estimated $15 billion by 2016. Gibson, however, has reevaluated his results and has become dissatisfied with them, in particular due to the other variables that were not controlled for in the study.7
Questioning the causal links between the consumption of gluten and his subjects’ reactions, he repeated the trial.8 Gibson attempted to remove all potential dietary triggers, including lactose (from milk products), certain preservatives like benzoate, propionate, sulfites, and nitrites, and fermentable, poorly absorbed short-chain carbohydrates (also known as FODMAPs), except gluten.9 Based on his findings, Gibson came to the opposite conclusion of his original research: “In contrast to our first study . . . we could find absolutely no specific response to gluten.”10 Gluten itself was not necessarily the cause of the gastrointestinal symptoms under investigation. What is known as the nocebo effect was occurring among the participants: people suffered digestive issues when they consumed foods containing gluten because they expected to suffer from eating gluten.11 Gluten intolerance among the participants was predominantly psychological.
The work of Gibson and his colleagues has highlighted another dietary issue we should be more concerned about, rather than isolating gluten and putting it in the naughty corner. According to Biesiekierski, who worked with Gibson on the research, “some of the largest dietary sources of FODMAPs (short-chain carbohydrates such as oligosaccharides and sugar alcohols)—specifically bread products—are removed when adopting a gluten-free diet, which could explain why the millions of people worldwide who swear by gluten-free diets feel better after going gluten-free.”12 In a number of individuals, these FODMAPs are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and could potentially be responsible for the impetus behind the gluten-free movement.
Ultimately, however, we should not make FODMAPs the new villain just yet. Nutritional science, as we have seen throughout this book, is a complicated and messy business. Indeed, both Biesiekierski and Gibson conclude that much more research is needed on NCGS, research that is as well controlled as possible and is reproducible. This scientific rigor is especially necessary in light of the fact that non-celiac gluten sensitivity seems “predominantly driven by consumers and commercial interests, not quality scientific research.”13 When money is involved, research that is already complicated gets even more complicated by competing interests.
Yet I have noticed a positive trend in the area of nutritional science. Many researchers, like the aforementioned Gibson and Biesiekierski, cite the need for more research, especially for research that moves beyond the realm of animal studies. Moreover, food needs to be looked at in the context of whole, real food, and in the context of the whole human being. We cannot approach nutrition from a reductionist standpoint, where we pinpoint individual “bad foods” based on complicated correlations with a strong sense of causation. Lastly, scientists and other sources of scientific information ought to think carefully before making sweeping statements that claim that going gluten free is something everyone should do because gluten is the cause of most neurological diseases in the brain.14
These questions do not have easy answers. I cannot write a book telling you what types of real food you as a unique human being should and should not eat, although I can tell you, as I have throughout this book, how eating MAD food-like products instead of real food is always a bad idea. Throughout this book I have tried to find as many of the scientists who question current nutritional practices as I could. You can read their research, books, blogs, and other materials, and then think this through for yourself. In the end, you have to make your own dietary choices, including whether you should go gluten free or not. Remember, the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13 NIV).
Gluten has played an incredibly important role in human history.15 In the Bible alone, gluten-containing grains such as wheat are often referred to throughout both Old and New Testaments. Wheat, which is perhaps the most well-known source of gluten today, is an ancient grain and incredibly nutritious when grown and prepared in the way God designed it to be grown and prepared, according to the way his creation works (biomimicry). It is a good source of B vitamins, potassium, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc, to name just a few of the health benefits. And it certainly is delicious too!
Grains of wheat, or wheat berries, have three layers. The bran layer is the hard outer shell where the fiber is contained. The endosperm is the largest part of the grain and is made up of mostly starch. The germ is the embryo of the grain, loaded with nutrients and fatty acids and capable of sprouting a new wheat plant. Whole grain refers to wheat that has all three of these layers intact—the high nutrient value of wheat is only present when all three of these layers are intact. By grinding grains between large stones (a traditional way of grinding wheat), the flour that is produced contains everything that is in the grain, including the germ, fiber, starch, and a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.16 Without refrigeration or artificial preservatives, fresh stone-ground flour spoils quickly, since the natural wheat-germ oil becomes rancid at about the same rate that milk becomes sour; refrigeration of whole grain breads and flours is necessary.
Today’s wheat, however, is far removed from its ancestors. Modern industrial farming methods have reduced the number of wheat varieties from thirty thousand to roughly a few handfuls.17 In particular, most of us today consume a high-yield, hybrid dwarf wheat variety that originated in the 1960s (through the research efforts of Norman Borlaug, whom I discussed in part 1). This type of wheat has fewer nutrients and is less digestible than its predecessors, like spelt and einkorn. Yet since it is a high-yield variety, food producers have by and large adopted it.18
Even worse, the way this dwarf wheat is processed further destroys its capacity to nourish us. The high spoilage rate of traditionally prepared wheat makes earning large profits off the mass transportation and distribution of thousands of loaves of bread very difficult. The modern food industry’s answer to these “problems” has been to apply faster, hotter, and more refined techniques of processing.19
The result? Finely ground flours that do not spoil in bread products and that can last for months on grocery store shelves—served with a side of real health problems. Refined wheat flour has a larger surface area than coarsely ground wheat grains because the protective, hard-to-digest, and fibrous outer coat that temporarily fends off enzymes from digesting the starch inside too quickly has been stripped away.20 God designed our bodies to use indigestible fiber to carry along partly digested food, shielding it from immediate digestion, which can cause gastrointestinal distress and other health issues like high blood sugar levels and an increased amount of toxins in our bodies. Indeed, according to Walter Willett, head of Harvard’s Nutritional Department, “constipation is the number one gastrointestinal complaint in the United States, costing more than two million physician visits a year, and costs of $1 billion a year on over-the-counter laxatives. By keeping the stool soft and bulky, the fiber in intact whole grains helps prevent this troubling problem.”21 The fiber in whole wheat can save you a lot of stomach pain and social discomfort, to say the least.
Likewise, the refining process used to prepare modern wheat increases the gluten content of flour by removing the germ and keeping the endosperm.22 Many of us today now consume gluten out of context of whole, real wheat, which, as I have discussed in many places throughout this book, is a health accident waiting to happen. Is it any wonder many of us feel we cannot tolerate gluten?
As the wheat grains are first exposed to high temperatures, moreover, the proteins are denatured, and under the high-speed rollers, important nutrients are nearly eliminated. The wheat grains lose up to 77 percent of their thiamine (B1), 80 percent of their riboflavin (B2), 81 percent of their niacin, 72 percent of their pyridoxine (B6), 50 percent of their pantothenic acid, 86 percent of their vitamin E, 60 percent of their calcium, 71 percent of their phosphorus, 84 percent of their magnesium, 77 percent of their potassium, 78 percent of their sodium, 40 percent of their chromium, 86 percent of their manganese, 76 percent of their iron, 89 percent of their cobalt, 78 percent of their zinc, 68 percent of their copper, and 16 percent of their selenium.23 The wheat grains subsequently go through various stages of milling as they are refined even further.24 The wheat that most of us eat today is so far removed from the wheat our ancestors ate that it is any wonder we still call it wheat.
And of course I cannot forget to mention all the added chemicals! Conventional wheat seeds are treated with a fungicide before they are even planted in the ground; the crops are sprayed with pesticides and hormones in the field; after harvest the wheat is stored in bins that have been sprayed with various chemicals to kill insects; and, finally, the wheat is given a final spray of pesticide to kill any “superbugs” (or bugs that have developed a resistance to the previous chemicals) that may have made it through the previous treatments.
Unfortunately, that is not the end of the chemical processing of wheat. As Dr. Chirag R. Patel notes in Brain Foods: Eat Your Way to a Better Brain and Live the Life You and Your Brain Deserve, “chlorine oxide is used to age, bleach, and oxidize the flour.”25 Chlorine oxide can react with the natural proteins in wheat flour, thereby producing alloxan, a compound that may in turn contribute to the onset of diabetes. Similarly, the potentially dangerous chemicals nitrogen oxide, benzoyl peroxide, and nitrosyl can contaminate the wheat flour as it is being milled.26 And, as if all these artificial substances are not alarming enough, hormones are added to influence wheat characteristics.27 What effects can all these substances have on our bodies? MAD wheat is a BAD idea, particularly since the consumption of processed grains can be addictive in a negative sense and has been shown to raise bad cholesterol levels, may interfere with the body’s use of essential fatty acids, and can upset insulin levels, to name just several of the potential health issues.28
Celiac: A MAD Problem?
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten that affects a significant portion of the world population—an estimated 1 in every 100 people.29 Celiac disease appears to have its roots in a preexisting infection or dysbiosis (microbial imbalance on or inside the body).30 The immune system has to recognize that the gluten protein fragment is problematic, so there has to be a “memory” of the problematic protein before it is recognized. In order for a T cell of the immune system to properly recognize the gluten protein, this little protein fragment must first be deamidated. Deamidation involves the removal of nitrogen from certain amino acids to produce their acidic counterparts by an enzyme called tissue transglutaminase. For example, the nitrogen is removed in glutamine by transglutaminase to produce glutamate, a necessary compound for cellular metabolism. Our cells only release transglutaminase when they are attempting to recover from tissue damage. So, first the tissue damage occurred in some way—perhaps due to a poor diet consisting of MAD foods—then tissue transglutaminase was released in response to this damage to remove nitrogen from the relevant amino acids (deamidation happened) and a “memory” of this was formed in the immune system, in case of similar damage in the future.31
What does all this complex scientific information have to do with the price of bread, literally and figuratively? As the nutritional biochemist Chris Masterjohn notes, “What has the food industry decided to do to the wheat gluten it adds to processed junk food in the last several decades? Deamidate it! Sometimes by chemical treatment, and sometimes by treating it with . . . [drumroll please] tissue transglutaminase!”32 The MAD diet adds the very enzyme that is activated when there is tissue damage in the body into processed and refined foods like your average loaf of white bread. Essentially, the substances being added to the bread are the very substances your body produces in response to tissue damage. The epigenetic triggers that signal damage are potentially being activated with every mouthful of this bread, possibly leading to a rising incidence of celiac disease.
Unfortunately, little research is being carried out in this area of gluten intolerance, which should deeply concern us.33 What other questions are not being asked as people buy these types of MAD foods on a daily basis? How can governmental bodies like the FDA deem a food safe, when we know so little about the process in terms of the whole human body?
We should fear the way our current, industrial food system has transformed our real foods into food-like products. In answer to the question posed as the header of this chapter, “To eat gluten or not to eat gluten: that is the question,” here is my proposed answer: your diet should be MAD free, not gluten free!