Episode Transcript
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William Davis, MD (00:05):
Despite
having written seven books in
the Webelly series pointing outthe harms that this food has
inflicted on people harms thatdoctors nearly always
misdiagnose as an opportunity totreat with pharmaceuticals and
procedures, questions and ideasto the contrary continue to crop
up.
Some of these ideas are simplydue to the barrage of
(00:26):
advertising that comes from bigfood and big agribusiness
industries that continue to makea lot of money by propagating
fictitious claims that grainsare healthy.
Some of it is due to thecontinued, repeated urgings by
the US government insisting thatgrains should remain a staple
of the American diet.
Dietitians stick to theirargument that all foods fit into
(00:47):
a healthy diet, includingsugary soft drinks, candy bars
and grains, provided it's allconsumed in moderation and in
the context of a balanced diet.
And sometimes it's just thatsome people are looking for
novelty, the newest and shiniestthing to titillate their
dietary habits.
And make no mistake, the grainindustry is extremely
(01:08):
well-funded, keeping manydietitians, nutritionists,
publicists, etc.
On the payroll to repeat thesame misconceptions over and
over again, such as there's noevidence that wheat is bad for
you, with the caveat that youeat the right amounts, as
recommended.
So let me dispel common mythsand misconceptions that continue
to swirl and threaten to derailyou off the path of health and
(01:32):
slenderness, as in my books, myuse of the term wheat
encapsulates all forms of grainsas they share numerous genetic
and outward characteristics.
So in this episode of theDefiant Health Podcast, let's
dispel some of these commonlyheld myths and misconceptions
surrounding wheat and grains toprotect you from the flood of
(01:53):
misinformation anddisinformation.
Later in the podcast, let'stalk about Defiant Health
sponsors Paleo Valley, ourpreferred provider for many
excellent organic and grass-fedfood products, and BioDequest,
my number one choice forprobiotics that are
scientifically formulated,unlike most of the other
commercial probiotic productsavailable today.
(02:14):
You know, in helping to dispelany of the myths and
misconceptions that surroundwheat and related grains, it
helps to understand that a lotof this misinformation is
intentional.
That is, there are companies,there are industries, there are
many people involved in that, inpromoting the idea of consuming
(02:34):
grains, including grains in thediet, that they purposely
propagate half-truths oruntruths for the sake of money,
for revenue, for profit.
So that it really helpsunderstand this is not all
innocent scientific meanderings.
These are intentional pieces ofmisinformation that are meant
to sell you things, to encourageyou to continue to buy their
(02:55):
products.
So the first myth ormisconception is that modern
wheat is unhealthy for you.
They do give us that, buttraditional wheat is perfectly
fine.
Is that true?
Of course it's not true.
So all wheat are grasses, thatis, seeds of grasses.
Whether it's einkorn, kamut,red fife, mori, emmer spelt,
(03:16):
they're all forms of wheat.
So what happened to the firsthumans?
That gives us some perspectiveon what happened to the first
humans who consumed wheat thatgrew wild in the Fertile
Crescent, what is now Israel andSyria?
Well, those first humans whoconsumed wild-growing einkorn
wheat had explosive tooth decay.
So it's a very telling factthat prior to the consumption of
(03:39):
wheat and grains, 10,000 to12,000 years ago, tooth decay
was uncommon.
That is, people who did notbrush their teeth, did not have
fluoridated toothpaste, did nothave dental floss, did not have
dentists, of course, but justate their food and maybe at most
had a stick or twig and to prysome loose fragments of food
from between their teeth.
(04:00):
But the concept of dentalhygiene had not yet emerged.
But despite that, tooth decaywas unknown.
That is, cavities, misalignment, tooth loss, abscess all the
things that can go wrong withteeth was uncommon.
So of all the teeth recoveredfrom that period prior to the
consumption of grains.
(04:20):
Only one to three percent ofall teeth recovered shows some
kind of defect.
When grains were added, whetherit was einkorn wheat in the
Fertile Crescent, or millet inSub-Saharan Africa, or maize or
teosint, the forerunner of cornin Central America, there was an
explosion of tooth decay.
16-49% of all teeth recoveredshowed cavity formation, abscess
(04:45):
formation, tooth loss,misalignment.
There was also a markedincrease in arthritis.
You know, these are the thingsthat are preserved in the fossil
record and the remnants ofthings like bones and teeth,
because liver and intestines andbrain are not preserved right,
but bones and teeth are.
So there was an explosion inarthritis, especially of the
knee, with the consumption ofgrains.
(05:07):
There's also the appearance ofevidence for nutrient
deficiencies, especially iron.
There's changes in the bonystructure when people become
iron deficient because there'san increase, or we say
hyperplasia, a growth of bonemarrow leaves an effect in the
bony record and that's evidencefor iron deficiency and that is
due to the consumption ofphytates in grains that bind
(05:31):
iron as well as other positivelycharged minerals like zinc and
calcium and magnesium.
That makes them unavailable forabsorption and so if you eat
something made of wheat orgrains, the phytates bind these
minerals and you pass them outunabsorbed into the toilet, and
so it causes deficiencies ofthese multiple minerals.
(05:52):
Now, all forms of wheat modernwheat, high-yield, semi-dwarf
wheat, ancient wheat, emmerspelt, einkorn, all those
different forms these are allgrasses.
They all have phytates thatbind minerals and cause mineral
deficiencies.
They all have a form of thegliadin protein.
The most modern form of gliadinprotein that comes from
(06:13):
high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat isprobably the worst, but all
these forms of wheat have thegliadin protein that we know
initiates the steps that lead toautoimmune diseases such as
rheumatoid arthritis or type 1diabetes.
They increase intestinalpermeability.
Very few things increaseintestinal permeability and the
gliadin protein of wheat andrelated proteins in other grains
(06:36):
, like the zeon in corn, thesecalin in rye these all
increase intestinal permeabilityand that leads to changes in
bowel flora composition.
It leads to the process thatleads to autoimmune diseases.
It leads to body wideinflammation.
All these forms of wheat alsocontain the amylopectin A
supercarbohydrate.
I call it supercarbohydratebecause it raises blood glucose
(06:59):
higher than nearly all otherfoods, including table sugar.
All forms of wheat also containthe lectin wheat germ agglutinin
.
Wheat germ agglutinin iscompletely impervious to
digestion, so it's ingestedintact.
It passes through all 30 feetof the gastrointestinal tract
intact and it's then passed outinto the toilet intact.
(07:20):
Why is that harmful?
Well, wheat germaglutinin is avery potent bowel toxin.
It tends to inflame and denudeor eliminate the absorptive
villi, the hair-like projectionsthat line the intestinal tract
that help absorb nutrients.
Wheat germaglutinin is verytoxic to those villi and to the
intestinal wall, and so anythingthat contains wheat germ
(07:42):
agglutinin and that includes allforms of wheat, ancient and
modern, have these toxic effects.
Another reason is that thatgliadin protein, mentioned
earlier, not only initiatesinflammation and the autoimmune
process.
Although wheat germ and glutenis completely indigestible, the
gliadin protein is partiallydigestible.
So when you eat any kind ofprotein, whether it's an egg or
(08:06):
a piece of beef, your body'sdigestive processes break those
proteins down into single aminoacids.
That's how it's supposed tohappen, and those single amino
acids go towards manufacturingother body parts that require
protein, like the liver or skinor muscle.
When you consume the gliadinprotein of wheat, it's broken
down into four or five aminoacid-long peptide fragments, and
(08:30):
these have unique properties,including going to the brain.
They cross the blood-brainbarrier and bind to opioid
receptors, but they don't makeyou high like other opioids.
They stimulate appetite, and soanybody who consumes the
gliadin protein of wheat andthereby gliadin-derived opioid
peptides, experiences a markedincrease in appetite.
(08:51):
You can see this in its mostextreme form in people who have
tendency towards bulimia andbinge eating disorder.
These are the people who youcan often find sitting in front
of their refrigerator at 3 ambinging, and then they go to the
toilet, put a finger down theirthroat and vomit, binging and
purging.
These people have 24-hour-a-dayobsessions with food that often
(09:13):
go away with getting rid of allsources of gliadin-derived
opioid peptides.
Most of us who don't have thoseconditions, of course, don't
have it to that extreme, but youcan still have dramatic
amplification increase inappetite when exposed to
gliadin-derived opioid peptides,and this is true for all forms
of wheat because they all havethe gliadin protein.
(09:34):
Another common myth andmisconception is that, consumed
in moderation, wheat fits into ahealthy diet.
This, of course, is not truefor the reasons I cited in the
first myth, but there's someadditional reasons.
The amylopectin, a carbohydrateof wheat, not only raises blood
glucose and thereby insulincauses insulin resistance.
It's also a potent trigger forthe small LDL particles.
(09:57):
Those are the particles thatare the real causes of heart
disease and heart attack, notLDL cholesterol.
Ldl cholesterol is an inventionof the 1960s when it was used as
a means to guesstimate how manyof these particles were
actually in the bloodstreamcausing heart disease.
In other words, they usedcholesterol as an indirect
marker for the particles, thelipoproteins, the fat-carrying
(10:20):
proteins that actually causeheart disease.
Well, even though your doctorobsesses about a cholesterol
panel, you can actually measurethe particles that really do
cause heart disease.
One method, for instance, isNMR nuclear magnetic resonance.
Lipoprotein analysis I've beendoing for over 30 years.
It's been around, it's beenvalidated and it is quite clear.
(10:41):
The science is crystal clear onthis.
The driver of cardiovascularrisk heart attack, sudden
cardiac death, etc is an excessof the small LDL particle.
Not LDL cholesterol that's anindirect marker for these
particles, but the actualparticles themselves.
So the amylopectin A of allforms of wheat, whether it's
(11:02):
kamut or spelt or red fife,doesn't matter, they all have
the amylopectin A that triggersformation of the small LDL
particle.
That is the real cause forcoronary disease, for heart
disease.
Small LDL particles are verypersistent.
A large LDL particle, provoked,say, by eating bacon or other
fats and oils, is rapidlycleared by the liver because the
(11:24):
liver recognizes the large LDLparticle.
The small LDL particle is notwell recognized by the liver
because the recognition proteinon its surface, called
apoprotein B.
Because of the small size ofthe particle, that apoproteinB
is partially concealed and theliver does not recognize that
particle very easily and itcirculates around and around for
(11:46):
about five to seven days,allowing lots of opportunity for
that small LDL particle tointeract with the arterial wall,
like in your heart's arteriesor coronary arteries, and add to
growth of expansion, ofatherosclerotic plaque.
The small LDL particle is alsovery adherent to structural
tissues in the walls of arteries.
It's much more prone tooxidation.
(12:08):
It's much more prone toglycation, glucose modification.
So you can see it's a doublewhammy.
You consume the amylopectin Aof any form of wheat and it
causes formation of small LDLparticles.
That is in turn moresusceptible to glycation, which
makes it more, we say,atherogenic, more likely to
cause atherosclerotic plaque inthe arteries.
(12:30):
And small LDL particles aremuch more likely to be able to
penetrate into the walls ofarteries because they're smaller
and they're much more potent inprovoking the inflammatory
process.
So small LDL particles, thereal cause for heart disease,
are perfectly crafted to giveyou heart disease.
And it's provoked extravagantlyby the amylopectin A of all
(12:51):
forms of wheat, ancient andmodern.
What about glyphosate?
Glyphosate is the activeingredient in the Roundup
herbicide.
Millions and millions of tonsof this stuff is sprayed all
around the globe.
It becomes so ubiquitous thateven organic foods have some
traces of glyphosate andvirtually all modern humans have
(13:11):
glyphosate at measurable levelsin their bloodstream.
Why is that important?
Well, at measurable levels intheir bloodstream.
Why is that important?
Well, glyphosate used as bothan herbicide as well as a
desiccant to dry out and preventmold growth in wheat that's
been harvested.
Glyphosate is an antibiotic.
That is when Monsanto firstapplied for its patents for
glyphosate as an herbicide.
(13:33):
They also filed patents forglyphosate as an antibiotic.
But it became clear thatglyphosate is a lousy antibiotic
because it kills beneficialmicrobes.
These are species likelactobacillus species or
bifidobacteria species, but it'sineffective in killing what are
called proteobacteria.
These are fecal microbes like Ecoli, salmonella.
(13:56):
In other words, glyphosateessentially selects for
unhealthy microbial species andthereby we need better evidence.
But the evidence is pointingtowards glyphosate being a major
driver of dysbiosis in thecolon and SIBO small intestinal
bacterial overgrowth.
Glyphosate is also known to bea carcinogen, specifically for
(14:16):
increasing risk fornon-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
You know it takes very little ofthe gliadin protein to initiate
that appetite stimulatingeffect through gliadin-derived
opioid peptides.
So my original Wheat Belly bookI called that chapter Beware
the Mighty Breadcrumb trying tomake the point that it takes
very little to set that appetitestimulating effect in motion.
(14:38):
I also called it the I ate onecookie and gained 30 pounds
effect.
Of course no one gains 30pounds just by eating one cookie
.
But what I meant by that issomeone will, let's say, be
wheat and grain free.
They're in full control oftheir appetite.
But then they have anindulgence.
Maybe it's an office party or aneighborhood party where
they're serving some kind offood that has wheat in it and
(14:58):
you say to yourself you know,just one won't hurt, I'll
exercise an extra 30 minutesthis weekend or something like
that.
You know how people justifythese kinds of behaviors.
So you eat it and appetite ishugely amplified and you find
that you can't control yourselfand before you know it you've
gained 20 to 30 pounds over amonth because of the appetite
(15:19):
stimuli effects of glide anddrive opioid peptides.
That is very difficult to turnoff once you were wheat or grain
free.
So be aware of that effect.
So, consumed in moderation,wheat fills into a healthy diet?
Of course not.
It is horrible.
Some of the effects are sopowerful that you can't help
yourself.
So, consumed not in moderation,consumed not at all is a better
(15:41):
approach.
Another common myth ormisconception.
Another common misconception isthat sprouted or fermented
grains, such as sourdough, arehealthy and lack the harmful
ingredients of unsprouted ornon-fermented grains.
This, of course, is not true.
The process of sprouting theseeds or fermenting bread does
(16:03):
reduce some of the components,some of the undesired components
.
It reduces the lectin a littlebit, wheat germagglutinin.
It does reduce some of theamylopectin A content.
It converts it, by the way,from the complex carbohydrate
amylopectin A to simple sugars.
They still contain phytates,reduced a little bit by those
processes, but still there.
In other words, all the adverse, all the unhealthy and harmful
(16:24):
components of wheat and grainsare present, regardless of
whether you sprouted orfermented.
And, of course, if you madesourdough bread, you're going to
bake it and when you bake it,all the microbes that may have
been beneficial are now killedby the process of baking.
So sprouted, fermented grainsyes, slightly less harmful, but
still harmful.
Just because something is lessbad does not necessarily make it
(16:47):
good.
Now let me take a Paleo Valleyand BioDequest.
When we come back, let'sdiscuss further other myths and
misconceptions that surroundconsumption of grains.
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Now let's get back to ourdiscussion.
Another common myth ormisconception surrounding wheat
and related grains is that we'reoften told that whole grains
help control weight.
Of course that's completenonsense.
In fact, the opposite is true.
(19:46):
Recall that gliadin-derivedopioid peptides increase
appetite significantly and theamylopectin, a supercarbohydrate
, raises blood glucose, therebyblood insulin that causes weight
gain, especially in abdominalvisceral fat that is
inflammatory fat that drivesrisk for heart disease, diabetes
and other conditions.
So whole grains cause weightgain.
(20:07):
They don't help control weight.
That fiction comes from a seriesof studies that were
epidemiologic studies, wherepeople's eating habits were
assessed and the weight ofpeople who consume more white
flour processed products werecompared to people who consume
more whole grains.
So, for instance, in one of thenurses' health studies, in
(20:28):
which about 47,000 nurses weretracked and asked about their
eating habits, the nurses whoate more white flour products
gained 12 pounds over severalyears, while the nurses who ate
more white flour products gained12 pounds over several years,
while the nurses who ate morewhole grains gained 11 pounds.
The conclusion of the studywhole grains are part of an
effort to control weight.
Well, I think you can see theproblem here.
I think a better statement ofthe conclusion is that white
(20:51):
flour products cause weight gainand whole grains cause weight
gain also just a little bit lessthan white flour products.
So when you hear that wholegrains are part of an effort to
control weight, this is, ofcourse, a complete fiction.
Another common myth ormisconception is that American
wheat may be problematic, butEuropean wheat, such as that in
(21:11):
France or Italy, is not, onceagain, only incomplete thinking,
in that if you go to, say,france and you consume some
French bread and you don't getbloating or diarrhea.
You still have provocation ofsmall LDL particles.
You still have glycation ofvarious proteins around the body
, that is, glucose modificationof proteins from the rise in
(21:33):
blood glucose from theamylopectin A.
You still havegliadin-initiated autoimmune
diseases.
You still have wheat germagglutinin and its toxic effects
on the GI tract.
You still have phytates thatbind minerals like iron, zinc
and magnesium that cause you topass them out to the toilet and
make them unavailable forabsorption.
In other words, all the othercomponents are still there, even
(21:56):
though you didn't get thegastrointestinal or other
symptoms provoked by consumingit.
Recognize that there are about200 different strains of wheat.
They're going to differsomewhat in their overt symptoms
the overt symptoms that theycause but the basic ingredients
are still there and you stillexperience risk for heart
disease, diabetes and all thoseother conditions, even if you
(22:17):
didn't have somegastrointestinal intolerance.
Another common myth is thatintolerance to wheat products is
really intolerance to FODMAPs,that is, fermentable
oligosaccharides, disaccharides,monosaccharides and polyols
essentially, fibers and sugars.
So this evidence came out ofAustralia, where this group who
(22:37):
has tried to propagate this ideaof people with irritable bowel
syndrome should avoid theseFODMAPs, fibers and sugars.
And they do indeed.
People with IBS do indeedexperience a reduction in
bloating and diarrhea, butthey've argued that people who
have wheat intolerance reallyhave intolerance to FODMAPs.
There's a lot of unclearthinking going on here.
One of the problems here isthat intolerance to FODMAPs is
(23:02):
really SIBO small intestinalbacterial overgrowth.
And this is true, by the way,of virtually all food
intolerances, whether it'sFODMAPs or nightshades like
tomatoes and eggplant, orhistamine-containing foods like
cheese and wine, tomatoes andeggplant, or
histamine-containing foods likecheese and wine, or nuts or eggs
, or all the other forms of foodintolerances.
(23:26):
These are almost all forms ofSIBO, that is, an overgrowth of
fecal.
Microbial species like E coliand salmonella in the small
intestine really don't belong.
Those microbes are supposed tostay in the colon, which is well
suited to having fecal microbes, but the 24 feet of small
intestine is not well equippedto deal with fecal microbes.
When that happens 24 feet ofsmall intestine infested by
(23:47):
fecal microbes that live and dierapidly, trillions of them.
They release their toxiccompounds.
It's very inflammatory at theintestinal wall and they also
release the endotoxin from theircell walls into the bloodstream
.
And that's how you getconditions like fibromyalgia,
weight gain, visceral fat, fattyliver, depression, anxiety,
(24:08):
rheumatoid arthritis, et cetera,all from microbes in the
gastrointestinal tract.
So when somebody with SIBO whichis, by the way, about half the
US population there's a reason Isay half the US population
that's a topic for another day.
Or see my blog, mydrdavidsinfinitehealthcom blog,
or my Super Gut book or otherepisodes of this Divine Health
(24:28):
podcast where I detail why Iargue that half the US
population has this problem.
So if you have SIBO 24 feet ofsmall intestine populated by
fecal microbes and you consumeFODMAPs, you're going to get
sick.
You're going to have bloating,diarrhea, abdominal discomfort,
symptoms like anxiety, panicattacks, depression, suicidal
(24:50):
thoughts.
The problem is not the food,the problem is the SIBO, and so,
whether it's triggered byFODMAPs or triggered by the
fibers in wheat, like thearabinoxylan and the amylose,
those are the fibers in wheatthat will also trigger symptoms
in someone with SIBO and allthose other food intolerances.
So we got to be clearer in ourthinking.
(25:11):
It's not that wheat is just avehicle for FODMAPs, it's that
people who have SIBO will beintolerant to all kinds of
things, fodmaps, wheat andgrains included.
Another common myth ormisconception is that wheat and
grains are essential for humanhealth because they provide
fiber, b vitamins and othernutrients.
(25:31):
Well, that's also unclearthinking.
It is indeed true.
If you were to replace wheatand grains with soft drinks and
sodas and candy bars and otherjunk foods, you will indeed lack
fiber and other nutrients.
But what if you instead replacethose lost calories with real
whole foods like avocados,lettuce, nuts, salmon, beef?
(25:56):
Your intake of fiber andnutrients actually goes up, not
down.
And, of course, when youeliminate wheat and grains, also
eliminate the phytates thatwould have bound up all the
minerals that you would pass outinto the toilet.
And if you go further andcultivate a healthy
gastrointestinal microbiome, aswe do in my programs, you'll
(26:17):
find that many microbes producevitamins B1, b2, b3, b5, b6, b9,
and B12, as well as K2, thatyou have an apparent need for,
not because you lack them inyour diet, but because you have
a disrupted gastrointestinalmicrobiome, lacking the speech
that produce these nutrients.
(26:38):
In truth, if you follow ahealthy diet, there is no
nutrient deficiency thatdevelops.
We also, by the way, reject alot of other conventional
dietary advice.
We never limit saturated fat ortotal fat.
We never limit calories.
The only thing we limit ourexposure to is carbohydrates,
outside of grains, of course,because about 70% of all the
(27:00):
people who start on my programsalready have insulin resistance
and have higher blood sugar,higher blood glucose.
You can accelerate your successby limiting your exposure to
carbohydrates, and that's why wefollow a very simple rule of
consuming no more than 15 gramsof net carbs per meal, net carbs
referring to totalcarbohydrates minus fiber,
(27:20):
because fiber, while it'sbiochemically a carbohydrate, is
not metabolized by humans as acarbohydrate.
So it really helps to put asidethese myths and misconceptions
about wheat and grains, eventhough you're going to hear
arguments to the contrary everyday from food manufacturers,
from the US Department of Healthand Human Services or the USDA,
(27:41):
or dieticians or other people,many of whom have a stake in
keeping you misinformed andconsuming grains.
Now, by knowing all this, youare now freed from the tyranny
of misinformation that comesfrom these sources and you now
have an open door to regainingcontrol over health, shape and
(28:02):
body composition.
Thanks for listening.