What was this Wheat Belly thing all about?

When the first Wheat Belly book was released in 2011, it quickly leapt to centerstage, gaining a huge worldwide following. Millions of copies of the book were sold in 37 countries, the conversation was featured in major media from network news to Dr. Oz to . I don’t believe that this was due to my personal charm or charisma, but because it worked: people experienced unexpected and substantial health and weight loss benefits even if such things had eluded them for years. 

Well, over those 15 years, memories have faded and, sadly, some people have gradually gravitated back to consuming this thing that was essentially created in a laboratory with geneticists and farmers amplifying its toxic effects. People succumb to media, marketing, and the pressures of people around them who are ready to say things like “How can that possibly be true?” or “Everything in moderation” or “Just a little won’t hurt.”  

In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, let’s review the arguments I made in the original Wheat Belly book to remind you that, yes, this is among the most toxic things that has ever emerged from the food and agribusiness industries. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Wheat Belly's Global Impact
• 1:40 Why People Gravitate Back to Grains
• 3:16 Ancient vs Modern Wheat Problems
• 6:24 Amylopectin A and Heart Disease
• 9:14 Gliadin, Addiction, and Autoimmunity
• 11:50 Phytates, WGA, and Gut Destruction
• 13:45 Health Benefits of Going Grain-Free

Transcript

William Davis, MD: 0:07

When the first Wheat Belly book was released in 2011, it quickly leapt to center stage, gaining a huge worldwide following. Millions of copies of the book were sold in 37 countries. The conversation featured in major media, from network news to Dr Oz, to public TV and radio. I don't believe that this was due to my personal charm or charisma, but because it worked. People experienced unexpected and substantial health and weight loss benefits, even if such things had eluded them for years. Lost benefits, even if such things had eluded them for years. Well, over those 15 years, memories have faded and, sadly, many people have gradually gravitated back to consuming this thing that was essentially created in a laboratory, with geneticists and farmers amplifying its toxic effects. People succumb to media marketing and the pressures of people around them who are ready to say things like how can that possibly be true? Or everything in moderation, or just a little won't hurt. In this episode of the Defiant Health Podcast, let's review the arguments I made in the original Wheat Belly book To remind you that, yes, this is among the most toxic things that has ever emerged from the food and agribusiness industries. Why am I talking about Wheat Belly again about 15 years after the first Wheat Belly book was released. Well, I find that a lot of these things recede from consciousness and I see people even those who have had extravagant, huge health successes doing this gravitate back because there's a lot of money at stake here and a lot of people who are interested in keeping you as a grain consumer. Think of all the processed, ultra-processed foods that have wheat and grains in them, from breakfast cereals to granola to baked products, of course, pasta. It's a huge industry and there's a lot of money at stake here, so there's a great stake in continuing to persuade you that you should include grains in your lifestyle. I've seen people do things like lose 73 pounds by going wheat and grain free, becoming a non-diabetic after years of being a type 2 diabetic, reversing fatty liver, losing abdominal fat, eight inches off their waist, sometimes more. In other words, there's incredible, very significant health benefits when you go wheat and grain free and do some of the other issues that I raise that address factors like insulin resistance.

William Davis, MD: 2:47

But why do people drift off? Well, they often forget. That's how it's human nature right To forget, even if you had a large success at the start. People around you may even encourage you to go back. Oh, one bite won't hurt. It's your birthday, go ahead and have a slice of birthday cake. So there's all this pressure around you peer pressure and media pressure to conclude grains in your diet. So this is just a reminder. This video is a reminder of the dangers of consuming wheat and grains.

William Davis, MD: 3:16

Now, remember, while traditional forms of wheat and grains, like einkorn wheat that's the original form, the ancestral form of wheat, a 14 chromosome plant that grew wild Humans who ate that, formorn wheat that's the original form, the ancestral form of wheat a 14 chromosome plant that grew wild Humans who ate that form of wheat the ancestral, naturally occurring form had a lot of problems with it. We know this with confidence because there was an explosion in tooth decay that went from one to three percent of all teeth recovered showing decay. And then, with the addition of wheat and grains to the diet, 16 to 49 percent of all teeth recovered showed decay. And then, with the addition of wheat and grains to the diet, 16 to 49% of all teeth recoverers showed decay, cavities, tooth loss, abscess formation, misalignment and other dental problems. So the problems with dental health were uncommon Prior to the age of consuming wheat and grains.

William Davis, MD: 4:01

It exploded with consumption of wheat and that's because of the amylopectin A and the shift in the composition of the oral microbiome with the adoption of wheat and grains. We also know that there was an explosion in arthritis, because when you look at the fossil record of ancient civilizations, we don't have fossilized livers right, we have mostly bones and teeth, things that get preserved. So we know these kinds of things teeth, bone, large increase in arthritis. We also know that multiple deficiencies develop, especially iron deficiency, because you can see this in the bones by such things as cribrorbitalis. These are shifts in bone shape and composition due to overgrowth of red blood cells trying to compensate for the lack of iron, and that's from the phytates in grains. It causes iron deficiency, anemia and does so in modern times also. But this was a problem when humans first turned to the consumption of wheat and grains about 10,000, 11,000 years ago. So we know that there are problems with wheat and grain consumption, even of the ancestral 14-chromosome einkorn form. Now, as years passed and humans adopted different kinds of wheat strains like emmer and red fife.

William Davis, MD: 5:16

Then agribusiness and geneticists got into the act about 1960, when they introduced huge changes into the wheat plant such that it's no longer a four and a half or five foot tall plant, it's an 18 inch tall or less, thick, stalked, large seed, large seed head plant. That increased yield per acre many fold, and so this was a great success if you're a farmer and could sell your product and if you're trying to feed the hungry of the world. So the increase in yield per acre was hailed as a great success. It led to the Nobel Peace Prize given to a researcher who essentially invented this what's called high-yield semi-dwarf wheat, this very short, thick-stalked form of wheat that increased yield per acre. Thick-stalked form of wheat. That increased yield per acre. But they introduced all kinds of genetic changes into this plant that made it worse, more harmful to humans, and some of these changes were also introduced by farmers.

William Davis, MD: 6:15

So what are the problems that you get re-exposed to when you drift away and bring back wheat grains back into your diet? Well, first of all, the amylopectin A. People often think of the only problem with wheat and grains being gluten. This, of course, is not true. That's only one of many problems.

William Davis, MD: 6:36

So, for instance, this amylopectin A, that's the carbohydrate unique to wheat and grains, that is highly digestible, which is odd, because most of the problematic components of wheat and grains are indigestible or not fully digestible. The amylopectin A is the exception. It's highly digestible and that's because we have an enzyme in our mouth and in our stomachs called amylase that rapidly digests the amylopectin A. That's why people get tooth decay when they consume wheat and grains. The amylase breaks the amylopectin A. That's why people get tooth decay when they consume wheat and grains. The amylase breaks the amylopectin A down immediately into sugars and they serve to feed the microbes in your mouth that cause tooth decay and cavities, abscess, etc.

William Davis, MD: 7:19

So the amylopectin A extravagant cause of tooth decay. It's also the trigger for the formation of VLDL and small LDL particles. Those are the particles in the bloodstream that are responsible for heart disease heart attack, sudden cardiac death, coronary atherosclerosis that leads to implantation of stents and bypass surgery. It's not LDL cholesterol, by the way, that crude, outdated measure that should have been abandoned decades ago. The real causes are the lipoproteins, vldl and small LDL, and that's because the liver is very good at converting carbohydrates like the amylopectin A of wheat and grains into those VLDL particles that in turn lead to small LDL particles.

William Davis, MD: 8:07

So wheat and grains are an extravagant cause for heart disease. Ironic, isn't it? Because we're told to cut our fat and saturated fat. Eat more healthy, whole grains for heart health. That is a flagrant misinterpretation of the evidence. The evidence does not tell us that. The evidence tells you things like if you eat more whole grains over white flour, there'll be some modest health benefits, like a little less weight gain, a little less high blood sugar. It does not tell you that it protects you from heart disease. That's a misinterpretation and in fact the opposite is true. Consumption of wheat and grains via amylopectin A causes formation of the particles the lipoprotein particles in the bloodstream that lead to coronary disease.

William Davis, MD: 8:51

How about that gluten protein? Well, gluten is really two proteins. It's a gliadin protein, a globular gliadin protein, and a polymeric or chain glutenin protein. That's what gives dough its stretchability. That's the glutenin protein. That's what gives dough its stretchability. That's the glutenin polymer.

William Davis, MD: 9:07

But the real problem is the gliadin protein, and gliadin has all kinds of problems. But among the biggest problems with consumption of foods that contain gliadin, we are unable to digest it fully into single amino acids. As you would say with a piece of beef or an egg. With the gliadin protein you break it down into four or five amino acid long peptide fragments. That's as far as you can go. We don't have the enzymes to break it down into single amino acids. Well, those four and five amino acid long peptides are small enough to cross into the brain through the blood-brain barrier and bind to the opioid receptors where they don't make you high like some opioids do, but they stimulate appetite, so they're a very potent appetite stimulant. This is why people have addictive relationships with baked products or chips or other things made of wheat and grains, because they need that opioid hit. But it also means that big food and food producers know how to stimulate your buying behavior your eating and buying behavior by putting wheat and grains into everything because it stimulates appetite. Typical increase in intake is about 400, sometimes as much as 800 more calories per day when you include gliadin-derived opioid peptides in your life.

William Davis, MD: 10:25

Another problem with the gliadin protein is that it's also the initiating factor in autoimmune diseases. It's not quite clear just how many autoimmune diseases we know, for instance, that rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes are clearly initiated by the gliadin protein, but probably for many others also. So it's the gliadin protein that initiates the process that leads to such things as inflammation of your joints and muscle and destruction of beta cells in your pancreas that leads to dependence on insulin and type 1 diabetes, and so the gliadin protein. If we knew this, why would people tell us to eat this thing? That is the initiating factor in many forms of autoimmune diseases. How about those phytates I mentioned in the beginning? So why would people tell us to eat this thing that is the initiating factor in many forms of autoimmune diseases.

William Davis, MD: 11:08

How about those phytates I mentioned in the beginning? So phytates are great binders of minerals in your gut. So if you have, say, a ham sandwich and some of the foods have, say, iron or magnesium or calcium or zinc anything that's positively charged, those phytates will bind those minerals and make them unavailable for absorption. So it causes multiple mineral deficiencies. You're often told you need to eat grains for their fiber and B vitamins. Actually, the opposite is true it causes many nutrient deficiencies because of those phytates. The opposite is true it causes many nutrient deficiencies because of those phytates. Now, phytates have been enriched in modern wheat because farmers like phytates, because it confers pest resistance to the wheat plant. So farmers have to contend with insects and molds and when they increase the phytate content by hybridization and cultivation, it protects the wheat plant from those pests.

William Davis, MD: 12:07

Likewise, another compound, wheat germ agglutinin. It sounds like gluten, but it's not, it's agglutinin. It's called agglutinin because it causes red blood cells to agglutinate or clot when wheat germ agglutinin contacts blood. Now, wheat germagglutinin is largely non-absorbable, so it doesn't get much of a chance to get into your bloodstream and cause clots. Sometimes it can, though, especially if you have a gut permeability issue.

William Davis, MD: 12:33

But wheat germagglutinin is a potent bowel toxin. If you and I were to purify even a little speck of wheat germagglutinin a milligram, just a little speck and give that to a lab rat, it would destroy its gastrointestinal tract because it denudes or it kills off the villi, the absorptive hair-like projections that line your intestines. It wipes them out. So when humans consume wheat germagglutinin maybe not in purified form, but as part of your baked products, breakfast cereals, whatever you expose yourself to a very potent bowel toxin and that thereby amplifies inflammation and gut permeability. That's a partial list. In other words, this idea that it's all just about gluten and if you don't have gluten intolerance, wheat and grains are good for you, is complete, utter nonsense. There are numerous, and that's a partial list. There are numerous toxic compounds in wheat and grains that have been amplified by the work of geneticists and of farmers, and now it is highly toxic.

William Davis, MD: 13:35

Yet it's the thing that we're told to include in every meal every day snacks, dinner, everything, which is extremely destructive advice. Doing the opposite is therefore freeing. It frees you from so many health problems. You'll see blood glucose drop. You'll see fatty liver recede. You'll see triglycerides drop. If you were tracking lipoproteins not that stupid cholesterol nonsense, but actual lipoproteins you would see VLDL and small LDL drop to the floor Not 10% better, not 30% better, but typically eradicated. Huge change. You'll see your hemoglobin A1c drop. You see your fasting glucose drop. You see your abdominal visceral fat, your waistline shrink. In other words, you'll see spectacular health improvements. But you can't get it typically from most doctors.

William Davis, MD: 14:30

Now, if you learned something from this video or you'd like to pursue it farther, maybe read about the evidence, rationale, the science behind such things as wheat and grain elimination. I invite you to take a look at my revised and updated version of Wheat Belly that just came out a few years ago. And, of course, if you want the further, more recent, most recent arguments, take a look at my Super Gut book, as well as my thousands of blog posts on my williamdavismdcom blog. And, of course, if you need a little bit of guidance, join our two-way conversations and other supportive resources in my innercircledrdavisinfinitehealthcom.