A rebuttal to the Wheat Belly argument
Ever heard of the book Wheat Belly?
I can’t stand it.
To be fair, I have nothing against Wheat Belly itself – everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Rather, it’s the repercussions of that book that drive me batty. I work part-time at a flour mill, and while I admit that gives me a decidedly biased opinion on the virtue of wheat, I’d like to think I’m justified in my irritation. You see, Wheat Belly has created the Wheat Belly-er, an entire demographic of people for whom Wheat Belly has become a bible of sorts. The typical Wheat Belly-er is a well-dressed, clearly financially solvent woman who is incomplete without either an iPhone or a Starbucks, drives a Toyota Prius, and who feels an obligation to preach to me – the mere cashier – that “wheat is poison.” She does all this while waving her manicured hand, flipping her bleach blonde hair over her shoulder, and oozing the aroma of flowery perfume. Nail polish is mostly butyl acetate, hair dye is essentially diaminotuluene, and perfume’s base is pure ethyl
alcohol – lady, don’t talk to me about poison. A Wheat Belly-er can go on at-length about her personal wheat epiphany, and how her life has become vastly improved since she eliminated the grain from her diet. She peppers her tale with quotations and anecdotes taken from Wheat Belly, and speaks with a conviction normally associated with Baptist ministers and The Good Book.
I’m thoroughly fed up with the Wheat Belly-er.
I’ve heard just about every argument on the topic, I’ve listened to dozens of “personal miracles,” and I’ve become steadily more amazed at the bandwagon approach society takes with regard to science. All it takes is one book – containing statements that are mostly anecdotal and non-scientifically proven – and wheat has been vaulted to the status of The One Great Evil.
The premise of the book is that, through human manipulation, wheat has evolved from its natural, healthy ancestor to a modern, unnatural Frankenfood that is responsible for any and all of the ailments that humans suffer from. “Your grandmother’s wheat,” as the book is fond of calling it, was four-feet-tall with tiny seeds that clung to the stem. The book suggests that the process of genetic modification created modern wheat: a shorter, browner plant that is easier to harvest and mill, and has 10 times the yield of ancient wheat. Wheat Belly argues that modern wheat bears little resemblance – nutritionally or otherwise – to its ancestor. It claims that wheat has increased levels of gluten protein and amylopectin-A starch, two biological macromolecules that are linked to obesity, arthritis, dementia, lethargy, coronary artery disease, diabetes, and a veritable grocery list of other health ailments.
It is true that ancient wheat was very different from modern wheat. However, the notion that a feat of genetic modification was responsible for this shift is false. Contrary to popular belief, all commercially-grown wheat is non-GMO. No one has gone into the wheat genome and spliced it to include another gene from a different organism. The process that wheat underwent to transform it into the dwarf variety that we know today is called “hybridization,” and is, essentially, selective breeding. Wheat farmers looked at the plant, and noticed that the stalk was very long and the wheat berry was very small. Cleverly, they deduced that if the plant used less energy to manufacture a lengthy stalk, it would have more energy available to invest in creating a large wheat berry. So the plant shrunk, the yield grew, and modern wheat as-we-know-it was created.
As a consequence of this hybridization, the amount of amylopectin-A starch in the plant has indeed increased, raising the glycemic index of wheat. There are health issues associated with this, mostly due to the increase in blood sugar levels a high GI food induces. However, as far as gluten content is concerned, recent studies done by the American Chemical Society show that gluten levels in modern wheat do not differ greatly from ancient wheat. Health issues that were supposedly linked to the “increased level of gluten in modern wheat” are now rendered obsolete.
The wheat-free craze that Wheat Belly-ers are enthralled by is largely irrational. Wheat Belly-ers claim that wheat caused them to feel “bloated and lethargic.” Might I be one to suggest that wheat should not be scapegoated for our society’s tendency to over-eat and under-sleep? We want one easy solution though, and Wheat Belly gives it to us – blame wheat. The mindset that the elimination of wheat from our diets will cause our waistlines to shrink, our mental fog to clear, and our health issues to vanish, is simply wrong. For the people who preach their personal wheat-free success stories, I’m skeptical. Was the absence of the wheat itself the reason that you lost weight, or was it that the wheat-free diet deprived you of a lot of yummy baked treats that you typically would have indulged in? Did you really feel less tired, or was that just a mental trick you coaxed yourself into believing?
Wheat is a wonderful grain. It bakes into beautiful, delicious products, and is a safe and reliable cash crop for farmers. The hybridization of wheat has – in my opinion – been a breeding success story.
That being said, there is no denying that the amount of people in North America who suffer from celiac disease is on the rise. Celiac disease is a case in which the villi in the small intestine are not able to digest the gluten protein in wheat, and as such, the gluten does severe damage to the lining of the intestinal tract. This phenomenon has less to do with the wheat society eats, and more to do with the amount of wheat society eats. North Americans consume a lot of wheat. We have toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and pasta for dinner. It’s no wonder that we have so many cases of wheat allergies and celiac disease. Quantity is significant. Guess what the number one food allergy in China and Japan is? Rice. You can connect the dots.
The solution is simple: moderation. Diversify your plate. Eat more vegetables. Try other grains. Have you ever eaten barley? What about kamut? Have you tried amaranth? Did you know that millet isn’t just bird feed? There is a whole world of grains out there that you can try. Eat less wheat, but don’t boycott it because Wheat Belly told you to. Wheat isn’t poison. It’s a great source of carbohydrates, dietary minerals like niacin and thyamin, and a fantastic source of vitamin B6. It’s also delicious.
So to the Wheat Belly-ers out there: you’re missing out.