Grains may be hazardous to your health. Also, you DON’T NEED GRAINS to survive. Let me first begin with these two straightforward statements. When man first started out, he didn’t have grains, but he did have a lot of fats and protein in his diet… and he survived tremendously well on that (disease-free). So what’s with this animosity towards grains? Seriously though, grains have recently received a huge amount of negative attention. Why? It’s because of the possible dangers they can impose on our health.
Which foods are composed of grains again?
When we refer to grains in this article, we refer to both whole grains (the ones which contain all 3 parts of the grain namely endosperm, bran and germ) and refined grains (after processing). As most of us are probably aware, grains are simply the seeds of plants. These seeds are sometimes referred to as kernels.
Here are some examples of common grains we consume on an almost daily basis: wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, corn, sorghum, millet, buckwheat, amaranth.
There are six billion people here on Earth (including you and me), 90 percent of whom depend on grains as part of their food supply. Can you imagine how important that figure is? Ninety percent! This 90 percent could have the signs and symptoms of a variety of PREVENTABLE diseases reportedly caused by eating grains. Are you a part of that huge 90 percent?
Before agriculture or farming came into the big picture, people relied heavily on hunting for food. This was around 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. Then man settled down and started growing his own crops which he started relying on heavily for food instead. This was the time we lost our adaptive abilities and tried to control what we wanted for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We stopped chasing wild animals and preferred the ease of planting and harvesting crops instead. We lost our survival instincts and adopted a laid back lifestyle.
We also became sedentary, planted to the ground like the crops we started to eat and enjoy. Along with this lifestyle came an army of new diseases. These included diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, certain musculoskeletal diseases and some neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease.
How are these diseases linked to eating grains?
People who favour eating a lot of grains argue that even though grains are ultimately broken down to glucose, they’re still healthy. They point out that grains are broken down to glucose more slowly than sugary foods; that the insulin response isn’t as dramatic as with your chocolate bar. This argument is far from being over. They’ll try and complicate the situation with technical terms, but in the end it all boils down to what a grain is made up of and how those components are utilised by your body.
Let’s paint a more concrete picture shall we? For example, your typical cereal grain is mostly made up of starch (65 – 75%). Other components include water, fats, protein, vitamins and minerals. Let’s focus on starch. Starch is made up of polymers of glucose. These are repeating molecules of glucose linked together. When these polymers are broken down, the glucose is the same as what you get from the digestion of sucrose (table sugar) in your chocolate bar. The only difference is where the glucose came from. Your digestive system doesn’t have a complex brain to distinguish between the two sources. All it does is digest the chocolate bar and wheat bread to glucose which then crosses your intestinal wall into your bloodstream.
An interesting and surprising experiment featured during an episode of the Dr. Oz Show found that the consumption of whole grain bread can raise blood glucose levels higher than eating a Snickers bar. Who would have thought? We are not advocating that chocolate is healthier than bread! We simply want to highlight that many foods can raise blood glucose, not just the obvious ones like sweets. As stated before, the more glucose that’s in your blood the more insulin that’s secreted. More insulin secretion ultimately leads to greater fat and glycogen storage. The endpoint? You can gain a lot of excess weight and in the long term you could develop one of the lifestyle diseases mentioned earlier.
Unfortunately, glucose isn’t the only bad guy present in grains. That’s the whole, unbiased truth my friend. Let’s explore how grains contribute to the development of common diseases:
Alzheimer’s disease is the latest type of diabetes. Did you know that Alzheimer’s disease is being labelled as possibly the newest kind of diabetes out there (diabetes mellitus type 3)? This is all because of glucose coming from grains and sugar we consume on a daily basis. Studies have shown that…
While both
HIGH or LOW glucose levels can affect normal brain function, studies have consistently shown that high blood glucose levels can negatively impact brain health. This was found to be true even for people who don’t suffer from diabetes. So you don’t need to be diabetic to develop dementia (Alzheimer’s disease, for example). Surprising huh?
In addition, they found that the brain volume (how much your brain weighs) of people with high blood glucose was lower than those with normal levels. This observation was more evident in parts of your brain concerned with cognition and memory. The cognitive area of your brain is responsible for recognising your loved ones. Other factors which can contribute or fast track these changes are high blood pressure, smoking, age, and alcohol use. All of these, except aging can be prevented. Aging is the only valid scapegoat you have. Isn’t it astonishing that we could prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases simply by changing our diet?
Dear gluten sensitive intestine, there’s nothing sweet about eating more wheat. The thought of eating healthy was more often than not connected with diets rich in wheat products. Wheat is a very common grain. It contains the protein gluten. A few people on this planet are allergic or sensitive to gluten (gluten sensitive people and those with coeliac disease). Gluten enables your dough, bread, pasta, and other processed foods to expand because of its viscoelastic properties.
What’s alarming today is that the number of gluten sensitive people is on the rise. The majority of them go about their daily lives not noticing it. When you have coeliac disease, gluten flattens the lining of your intestines over time and prevents it from absorbing the nutrients you need. Not being able to absorb nutrients will equate to a lot of deficiencies, the most common ones are zinc, iron, folate, fatty acids, proteins, vitamin B12, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K deficiencies.
On the other hand, the abnormal lining allows wheat and other grains you consume to gain entry into your system. They deposit in different organs and interfere with the normal functions of those organs. These organs will then develop various derangements leading to an assorted array of signs and symptoms.
Recent studies have confirmed that the majority of the population is negatively affected by gluten at the MICROSCOPIC, UNSUSPECTING (you don’t feel or see the symptoms) level. This was discovered from biopsies taken from your gastrointestinal tract for other medical reasons and not primarily from symptoms related to gluten. Imagine the surprise of the doctors and scientists! However the exact mechanisms as to why this happens are still being explored.
Oh, just to remind you, coeliac disease doesn’t operate alone. It likes to initiate and invite other diseases as well like the following:
The fight against phytates. Nutrients present in grains don’t always get absorbed because of phytates. The phytates in grains prevent absorption of nutrients because they form non-absorbable complexes with calcium, zinc, iron, and several other minerals.
For example, let’s say you consume enough calcium in your diet. But unfortunately the phytates in the grains you eat prevent most of the calcium from reaching your muscles (for contraction) or your bones where its needed. If calcium levels are inadequate for a considerable length of time, you may be setting yourself up for a condition called osteoporosis. Osteoporosis makes your bones brittle and weak leading to fractures.
Wheat worsens your diabetes. If you have diabetes, please listen closely to what this article has to say. Wheat ultimately breaks down to glucose which floods your system with a lot of metabolic end products. These end products will accumulate and mess up your organs’ daily routines. Numerous studies have painstakingly shown that when diabetics lessen their carbohydrate intake (especially of wheat), they lose weight and improve their glucose control. In another study, they’ve documented that a low carbohydrate diet is even more effective for losing weight than a low fat diet.
A grainy heart. Let’s not forget about one of your most important organs, your heart. Your heart and blood vessels also suffer when you consume a lot of grains. As you now know, grains break down to glucose. Excess glucose loitering around in your system produces an abundance of advanced glycation end products (AGEs for short). These harmful molecules will not spare any cell in your body.
Let me tell you a little bit about these nasty molecules. When your body is in a hyperglycaemic state (high blood glucose), the excess glucose hunts for stable proteins making them less stable. Glycation happens when glucose is attached to protein without using an enzyme. You produce a stiff and nonconforming AGE molecule. Over time these proteins become deformed and more prone to oxidation. Oxidation ultimately destroys them and renders them useless. The most vulnerable structures in your body are your heart and blood vessels because they come into regular contact with excess glucose.
We are not saying that all grains are inherently bad or that everyone should stop eating all grains. These are a few reasons why the over-consumption of grains (especially wheat) at every meal day in and day out may not be such a good idea. Lifestyle diseases are the result of the cumulative effects of poor diet and lifestyle habits over a lifetime. So why not take your health into your own hands. Prevention is the key to a long and healthy life!
Davis, William. Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health. Emmaus, Penn.: Rodale, 2011.
Perlmutter, David, and Kristin Loberg. Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--your Brain's Silent Killers. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Co., 2013.
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For example, let’s say you consume enough calcium in your diet. But unfortunately the phytates in the grains you eat prevent most of the calcium from reaching your muscles (for contraction) or your bones where its needed. If calcium levels are inadequate for a considerable length of time, you may be setting yourself up for a condition called osteoporosis. Osteoporosis makes your bones brittle and weak leading to fractures.
Wheat worsens your diabetes. If you have diabetes, please listen closely to what this article has to say. Wheat ultimately breaks down to glucose which floods your system with a lot of metabolic end products. These end products will accumulate and mess up your organs’ daily routines. Numerous studies have painstakingly shown that when diabetics lessen their carbohydrate intake (especially of wheat), they lose weight and improve their glucose control. In another study, they’ve documented that a low carbohydrate diet is even more effective for losing weight than a low fat diet.
A grainy heart. Let’s not forget about one of your most important organs, your heart. Your heart and blood vessels also suffer when you consume a lot of grains. As you now know, grains break down to glucose. Excess glucose loitering around in your system produces an abundance of advanced glycation end products (AGEs for short). These harmful molecules will not spare any cell in your body.
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