4 Reasons Wheat Might Be Bad for You
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It seems that people are either anti-wheat or think it’s a superfood. But one thing is for sure, and that is that wheat is in so many foods. So while it’s not easy to do, it’s important to try to figure out if wheat is a nutritious grain or if wheat is bad for you.
When we told friends and family that we were cutting out wheat from our diet, one of the more common reactions we got was,
“That’s crazy. I mean, if you have celiac disease or something, alright, but wheat is natural. It’s what we were made to eat.”
Yes, wheat is a staple of the American diet. It takes up a fair share of the food pyramid. It is the primary ingredient in breads, pastas, cookies, cake, and is in many sauces, soups, spice mixes, and more. It’s hard to imagine life without wheat.
But what if this staple of life is really an agent of death?
Thanks to modern breeding practices, today’s wheat is unlike its ancient ancestor: wheat seeds have been exposed to high doses of gamma and microwave radiation and grown with harmful pesticides.
In fact, modern wheat has been so transformed that it can’t even grow in the wild anymore (so much for being “natural”).
Why Wheat Might Be Bad for You
Here are 4 things to consider when evaluating whether you should have wheat in your diet or not.
Wheat Might Cause Leaky Gut
Although Leaky Gut Syndrome isn’t something that is recognized as a medical diagnosis, it is known that leaky gut exists and some mainstream sources recognize it as being a health concern (source).
The body makes zonulin to regulate how permeable our intestines are: how much liquid or gas can pass through it. Too much zonulin is a marker for of impaired gut condition and is called “leaky gut” (source).
Gluten, one of the proteins in wheat, causes more zonulin to be released in your body.
The more gluten you eat, the more zonulin you have and the leakier your gut becomes.
The leakier your gut becomes, the more bacteria and undigested food in your intestine (i.e. poop) can enter your bloodstream. Ick (source).
In case it isn’t obvious, your body doesn’t like this happening.
It’s thought by some practitioners that our immune system mounts up for an attack when this occurs, and over time, that this can lead to food allergies and intolerances, in addition to multiple autoimmune diseases (like celiac disease, arthritis, thyroid disorders, and others (source).
Note that fermenting grains and consuming sprouted and soaked grains is thought to cause the body to release less zonulin, but I haven’t found data on this.
Wheat Might Cause Weight Gain
While there are mixed thoughts and mixed results of research on this, it’s true that wheat might cause weight gain.
Some studies appear to show that wheat helps with loss, but it seems that these studies are mostly comparing refined grain with whole grains (source).
Blood Sugar
It is true that wheat is broken down into sugar in your body, causing your pancreas to secrete insulin. This is known as an insulin spike.
After this comes the blood sugar “crash,” bringing back hunger cravings with a vengeance. Furthermore, when your insulin levels are continually high, you store fat rather than burn it.
Lectins
Some people believe that the lectins in wheat are a problem, that lectins don’t break down in your gut, but instead bind to receptors in your intestinal wall and these cause you to become resistant to the hormone leptin.
Leptin regulates hunger cravings, and when you become resistant to leptin, this can lead to weight gain, sleep disturbances, and nutritional deficiencies.
Note that soaking grains greatly reduces lectins, so if lectins are a significant problem, that’s one way to approach this issue.
Reduced Thermogenesis
One study showed that wheat caused weight gain in animals due to reduced thermogenesis of fat cells (source).
Wheat Can Cause Inflammation
Inflammation is your body’s natural defense against invaders. If, for instance, you have a wheat allergy, the proteins from wheat are seen by your body as invaders.
Even if you don’t have a wheat allergy, wheat can still cause inflammation (source) and leaky gut (source), and leaky gut puts digested bits of food (i.e. poop) in your blood. All of this leads to inflammation, which can lead to all kinds of issues.
One good way to fight potential (or actual) illness is to cut out all or most inflammatory foods.
Wheat Can Affect Your Brain
After gluten (one of the proteins in wheat) crosses the blood-brain barrier, it can attack the central nervous system. Researches have started noticing a connection between wheat consumption and some conditions like autism spectrum disorders (source), anxiety, depression, (source) and ADHD (source).
In addition, when some people eat gluten, the opiate receptors in their brains react the same way they might react to heroine. Some researchers think this actually causes a “wheat addiction” and even binge eating disorders (source).
What Do You Think?
What do you think? Do you think that wheat could be causing issues for you or is it truly a healthy food?
Check out this post on Gluten–No Big Deal or Silent Killer for more of my thoughts.
Did YOU know all of these things about wheat?
As mentioned before, I have been eating whole grain, multi grain breads since the 70s.. Years later, I heard of a study that claimed an adult male of 40 years old could end up with 30 to 45 lbs of red meat adhering to the intestines.. Whole grains and bran heavy foods were said to help prevent this build up. This just reinforced my whole grain bread habit..
Hmmm I haven’t heard that. Do you have a link to that study please? That’s a lot of meat.
No link; I believe I heard it on the radio many years ago.. You know how it goes. “A recent study says….” It’s got to be true, right??? LOL!!!
You’ve got that right, LOL! It’s getting harder and harder to know what’s right. I’m dealing with this very issue right now where I know some facts about a local issue but I’m being accused of spreading misinformation and being paid to post because the info isn’t hitting the local news. So…….
Aha!!! Hope this is it!’
Hi, my question is not just about wheat. Although I avoided wheat for a number of years due to a mis-diagnosis. Still keeping it to a minimum. Went vegan and the last few years have had to re think some things due to Dr.Gundry ads . So am hoping to find some people who have avoided rice (????? ), legumes, cashews, etc. The slick ads are everywhere , showing images of avocados while asking what they are doing to your body?? If you can help me be sensible about lectins and whatever else he advocates we avoid, I would appreciate it. ?
You got it in the right place :).
I looked into this awhile ago when I was still sick (SO nice saying “was” in that sentence :).
First of all that avocado “ad” is click bait. And I’m confused about what he says about avocados. I found one article on his site saying to eat as many as you like–I think it said “you can’t eat too many avocados” and then in another place it says just one per day.
The click bait part is that he likes them but is giving you the impression that he doesn’t.
About the lectins, I’m trying to remember exactly what my concern was. I had a few but the main one, I think, was that, if I’m not mistaken, he’s fine with eating low lectin foods, correct?
But he’s a “NO” for beans and grains, correct?
But soaking greatly reduces lectins so why isn’t it ok to eat them if they are soaked?
I asked another blogger that on her site–she was, I think, a Gundry / No Lectin Blogger.
I believe her answer was, “Oh he’s helped so many people and has done the research.”
I don’t understand it. If low lectin foods are OK and soaking removes most of the lectins, then why would you avoid a whole food group when you can deal with the problem?
For that reason, I disagree with him and think there are much better choices. Hope that helps :).
Yes, that does help. It is annoying to have a professional medical person use clickbait and the slick hype. I have to be careful where I use my energy because it can disappear suddenly. I guess part of the rationale is to force people to stay engaged for longer than they wanted . ?
Well, people want to make money and the extent to which they go to do it varies.
Have you seen my About Page? I just updated it.
Perhaps I can help. Let me know why you were looking at Gundry’s information and maybe there’s another approach that I have heard about.
For those who have said or are saying or thinking that God made wheat and gave it to us, and therefore it must still be good…
Isn’t it like Satan to corrupt the things that God has given in order that they are no longer good/useful? Remember, he hates us.
Yes, it is. And it’s a shame. So much is corrupted these days that it’s really hard to stay afloat.
My husband went through this, modern wheat is nothing like it was decades ago. My husband developed adult onset asthma out of the blue, and we found out it was a reaction he developed to gluten. No more gluten, no more asthma. What a blessing to have found this out as his specialist said his asthma was so severe they wanted him to partake in a study, and laughed at him when he asked if it could be linked to his diet.
That happens sometimes, doesn’t it? I had an expert tell me something just this week that I told him was wrong and it was proven that I was right on a subsequent test. I’ll be writing about it soon :).
Sorry, I don’t but into this logic. This info is okay for people who have an allergy to wheat but the fact is that the vast majority of people do not. Wheat was created by God and has been a staple in people’s diets for thousands of years AND it is NOT put down in the bible. Your article tries to scare everyone in thinking it’s bad for everyone. Why don’t you just come out and say God made a mistake and that you know better than he does.
Hi Gene. I am sure Trisha will be by later to respond but I know she has a really busy week so I am going to chime in for now. First of all, the wheat of today is very different from the wheat of Bible times. There has been a lot going on that has been done by man and there is a lot more gluten in it now. There are folks who can eat the wheat in Europe but not in the US so that is evidence that something is going on here.
Secondly, it is possible that the wheat of today is bad for everyone, but that most have no idea what it is doing to them. Maybe not everyone, but I suspect that there are many many more people who are affected by wheat issues than any of us know.
I think your last sentence is rather brash. God doesn’t make mistakes, but man has done things to our food supply and our environments that has cost us dearly. The effect on humans even in the way of epigenetics is something we need to recognize and not ignore.
I hope you will open your mind to realize that this isn’t scare tactics but truth. Trisha worked very hard to make her book something that was based on a lot of facts and she is right on. My husband had a ferritin level of about 3 and it was only by taking gluten out of his diet that we were finally able to bring it back up to almost normal.
Please feel free to respond but I would appreciate your being a little more kind in your comments -thanks in advance :).
Hi Gene,
I think Adrienne pretty much addressed the points I would address. If you’d like more reading on this we also have a couple of posts on our site about this. My husband wrote these 2 posts:
5 Ways Modern Wheat is Different than Biblical Wheat: https://www.intoxicatedonlife.com/2013/11/07/5-ways-modern-wheat-different-biblical-wheat/
Is Gluten-Free Biblical? Wheat and Bread in the Bible: https://www.intoxicatedonlife.com/2013/11/07/5-ways-modern-wheat-different-biblical-wheat/
I hope you’ll take the time to read through these posts. My husband took a lot of time to flesh out some of these questions and issues you have. But when it comes down to it, we do not say that God made a mistake. We don’t say that eating wheat is sinful. But for many, and I’d argue most, abstaining from the wheat grown today is likely the most healthful option.
Do you think this is still true for organic wheat?
This is an issue that I am interested in and was happy to find it here. I started grinding my own wheat a few years ago based on the Bread Beckers info and some other research I did. Only after we invested in an expensive kitchen appliance, the grinder, did I find any of the info on soaking and sprouting, etc. Bummer!!
On a separate note, I find it sad that some of the dialog? In the comments is so snarky by those claiming to be representatives of Christ.
I did as well. Sad.
When I tap on the Kindle link to purchase the ebook, I get the Amazon site, bit the Kindle is $9.95 instead of $1.99. Has that offer expired?
I am so sorry Nancy but the post stated that it was a very short time.