Wheat : An Unhealthy Food Staple

Wheat may be the most unhealthy food staple of the Western diet next to sugar and contributes significantly to ill health and disease. We all know how bad sugar is for health due to its high-glycemic nature—but wheat and wheat products can actually be worse due to an even higher glycemic index. Eating that piece of bread is not unlike eating several spoonfuls of white table sugar, and your body turns much of this wheat into fat. Almost half of that so-called fat-free bagel can end up becoming stored fat.

Wheat is a lobbying success story, like the tobacco industry, as it’s found in most people’s media-driven diets. It’s certainly not recommended for nutritional reasons as we can obtain whatever nutritional benefits wheat contains from many other healthy foods. And considering the health risks, wheat’s place on any food pyramid can only be a scheme that serves those who are addicted and the companies that sell it.

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Wheat is a common cause of intestinal problems, allergies and asthma, and skin problems; it can prevent absorption of various nutrients, contribute to weight gain, and occasionally causes death.

The reason for wheat’s failure as a healthy item is twofold: the protein component of wheat, called gluten, causes allergies in many people, including infants who are unfortunately given this as their first food. And many people are adversely affected by gluten without realizing it, through a slow, silent buildup of chronic illness. Gluten is what makes bread rise, so most baked goods and packaged foods are full of it.

The second reason wheat is unhealthy is that almost all wheat products are high glycemic—from bread, bagels, and muffins to cereals and additives to many packaged foods to wheat flour itself, a staple in almost all kitchens and recipes. Gone are the days when people would buy real whole-wheat berries, grind them, and make flour or sprout them for use in food products. While the berries still contain gluten, they’re not high glycemic. But almost all wheat used today is highly processed, making it high glycemic.

The list of specific conditions associated with consuming wheat keeps growing—from autoimmune diseases (such as arthritis, type 1 diabetes, lupus, MS) and chronic inflammation to infertility and skin disorders (such as eczema, acne, and psoriasis), and even cancer. Some people are more sensitive to the harmful effects of wheat than others. Wheat is among the most common cause of allergies in children and adults, along with milk, soy, peanuts, and corn. The most practical way to assess this is to note how you feel after ingesting wheat. The most common symptom is intestinal bloating, but signs and symptoms are associated with skin, breathing, and edema, and may be immediate or delayed. If you’re sensitive to wheat, significantly reducing or eliminating it from your diet is the most effective remedy.

Here are some other points regarding wheat’s harmful effects:

In the intestines, wheat can prevent the absorption of important minerals. These include calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper—all essential for good health.

Wheat can reduce digestive enzymes, especially those from the pancreas, rendering key foods less digestible—including protein and fats. Not digesting protein impairs amino acid absorption, and whole protein absorption can cause allergies. And if fat is not digested, essential fatty acids may not be absorbed, adversely affecting a whole spectrum of problems from skin quality to inflammation and hormonal balance.

Since refined wheat is higher glycemic, it can lead to the production of higher amounts of insulin by the pancreas. In addition to causing more fat storage, this can also increase your risk of various diseases including diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

Combining exercise and wheat can trigger allergic reactions in some people, although it’s not common. This occurs when a person eats some form of wheat and exercises within a given time period. This is followed by some allergic reaction, from mild problems (sometimes so mild people are used to it) like skin rash or hives to more severe problems including anaphylaxis and, in rare occasions, even death. This may also include breathing difficulty. It is sometimes difficult to diagnose because of the need for both triggers (wheat and exercise) around the same time period. It’s conceivable that some of the deaths reported in athletes are due to this problem.

High-glycemic wheat products, which are often sweetened with more sugar, can result in a sweet tooth—or addiction—that not only perpetuates the desire for more sweets, but the dislike for health-promoting but bitter or less sweet-tasting foods, like vegetables.

Wheat can sometimes cause mental or emotional symptoms, including depression, mood swings, attention problems in children, and anxiety. One long-term illness associated with wheat allergy is dementia due to cerebral (brain) atrophy.

Osteoporosis may be strongly associated with wheat allergy.

Other quality of life issues can also be associated with wheat consumption. These include belching or gas, diarrhea, or other abdominal discomfort; reduced mental focus and poor concentration; and fatigue—some people actually fall asleep after a meal containing wheat, even just a sandwich.

A serious wheat-intolerance problem once thought of as rare is celiac disease, an autoimmune condition where patients must avoid any amount of wheat or risk serious, sometimes life-threatening reactions. Many professionals agree that even mild forms of wheat allergy are really the same thing—a subclinical celiac condition. In fact, this problem is more recognized today, with a recent article in the Journal of Family Practice sowing that for every person diagnosed with celiac disease, there are eight others who go undiagnosed. Millions of Americans—including endurance athletes—and many more people throughout the world have this condition.

If you’re in doubt about what wheat may be doing to your health, consider strictly avoiding it for a couple of weeks or a month. You just may become a new, healthier person, and your training and racing can improve.