David Lader

THE DOWNFALL OF MODERN WHEAT

The food that used to be at the heart of many diets for thousands of years, bread, is now considered ‘poisonous’ by many health experts because of the gradual modification of wheat.

Nowadays, it’s very common to hear terms like “gluten-free” and “celiac’s disease” thrown around, and a lot of people I come across are skeptical. “Bread’s been around forever so how can it be bad?” they say. “Our ancestors never had bread-related digestive issues or diseases. I bet all this talk about gluten is just a bunch of new age nonsense.”

The truth, however, is that there’s a very good reason why these problems didn’t arise until relatively recently – the wheat we eat today is a far cry from the wheat we ate in the past, even as few as 60 or 70 years ago.

1. ProcessingThe food industry has developed new ways of processing wheat that strip away all nutritious components (such as bran and germ) and leave only starchy carbs and highly refined flour that has contributed to huge spikes in blood sugar in many consumers.

2. PreparationBread used to be baked by soaking, sprouting, and fermenting wheat and then baking the bread with slow rise yeast. This fermenting process is where a lot of the benefits of bread came from, like increased amino acid lysine and reduced anti-nutrients such as phytic acid, lectins and enzyme inhibitors. Today, however, our flour is not fermented but bleached, and our bread is baked with quick rise yeast to save time and money.

3. The Plant ItselfOlder, highly nutritious varieties of wheat like Emmer, Einkorn and Kamut have fallen by the wayside, replaced by various versions of high-yield dwarf wheat. This plant came about from genetic modification in the 1960s, and its concentrations of zinc, copper, iron, and magnesium are about 28% lower than non-modified wheat of the past. Scientists have confirmed through samples that soil has not changed over the years – the decrease in nutrients comes only from the modification of the wheat itself.

Celiac disease indicates that a person has a severe form of gluten intolerance. The reality is these intolerances have always been around; they just were never an issue until modern bread started containing higher amounts of problematic glutens. In fact, none of us are meant to be consuming as much gluten as we do now.

Unhealthy breads are now ubiquitous, and it’s increasingly hard to find older bread strains like Einkorn. The safest bet is to make bread yourself, or leave wheat out of your diet completely. All of the nutrients I’ve mentioned that used to be found in bread can now be found in other foods, so you won’t be starving your body of anything it really needs if you give up wheat entirely. Try eating more vegetables instead – they are far more nutritious, and far less toxic!