Are Grains Really Dangerous to Our Health?

By Brane Žilavec, May 2015

In the United States we can witness the emergence of a strong anti-grain movement amongst the nutritional researchers and health experts who are condemning grains – especially the gluten containing grains – as God’s scourge. They are calling them ‘dangerous’, ‘silent killers’, ‘destroyers of brain’, ‘one of the most toxic food’…

Here is a list of the books which have been selected as being very influential in exposing these new revelations about the 'true nature' of grains:

• Dangerous Grains, Why Gluten Cereal Grains May Be Hazardous to Your Health, by James Braly, MD, and Ron Hoggan, MA, first published in USA in 2002 [1]
• The No-Grain Diet: Conquer Carbohydrate Addiction & Stay Slim for Life, by Dr Joseph Mercola, first published in USA in 2003 [2]
• Wheat Belly, The Effortless Health and Weight-Loss Solution, by Dr William Davis, first published in USA in 2011. [3]
• Grain Brain, The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs and Sugar – Your Brain's Silent Killers, by Dr David Perlmutter, first published in USA in 2013 [4]
• Dark Side of the Wheat, A Critical Appraisal of the Role of Wheat in Human Disease, by Sayer Ji, GreenMedInfo.com [5]

The health experts listed above do not agree about all aspects of their research – they even disagree about some of them; but what they all have in common is exclusion of gluten grains from the human nutrition. Now there are also websites that either promote or are exclusively dedicated to "educating doctors and patients about gluten sensitivity." In recent years this movement culminated in 'gluten-free health summits' where "some of the most influential doctors, health practitioners and experts in the world … (have presentations) on gluten sensitivity." [6]

These books, websites and conferences have had and still have powerful influence on many health-concerned consumers, especially in United States. Numerous people have been experiencing positive health changes after elimination of foods containing gluten from their diet and then spreading the good news. For example, "nearly twenty million people contend that they regularly experience distress after eating products that contain gluten, and a third of American adults say that they are trying to eliminate it from their diets." [7] This instigated growing demands for gluten-free food products to such extent that "sales of gluten-free products will exceed fifteen billion dollars by 2016, twice the amount of five years earlier." [8]

What are the arguments given by the representatives of these new 'revelations' about the real nature of (gluten) grains? The summary of their arguments can be formulated in three main points:

• Evolutionary genetic argument: Human beings have not really adapted to consumption of grains since they are relatively late dietary arrivals in the transition from hunter-gatherers to agricultural forms of society. Our genes are for that reason still predetermined to the diet of hunter-gatherers and people are thus suffering under the burden of the modern overconsumption of grains.
• Medical arguments: The recent escalation of modern illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, autoimmune and intestinal diseases can be linked by specific metabolic pathways to the consumption of gluten grains, thus confirming the evolutionary genetic argument. The increase of coeliac disease in recent decades is not just providing clear proof that grains are the culprit; it is the tip of the widespread, hidden pandemic of gluten sensitivity (see Appendix 1: The Gluten Glossary).
• Dietary argument: The gluten-free diet has demonstrated astounding therapeutic effects on the variety of modern illnesses in the medical practices of the anti-grain health experts and practitioners. For that reason exclusion of (gluten) grains is recommended as the life-long therapeutic diet not just for all people suffering from the same illnesses, but also for the rest of the population as a preventive health measure.

This, in a nutshell, is what they claim and what we will investigate in this report. We will survey to which degree their evidences can pass the test of critical objective evaluation. For the purpose of cutting through the complexities of this burning issue my investigation is focused on the six key questions in regard to the use of grains for human nutrition.

CONTENT OF THE REPORT

NOTES

1. James Braly, MD, Ron Hoggan, MA, Dangerous Grains, Why Gluten Cereal Grains May Be Hazardous to Your Health, Avery, New York, 2002
2. Dr Joseph Mercola, The No-Grain Diet: Conquer Carbohydrate Addiction & Stay Slim for Life, Penguin Group, USA, 2003
3. William Davis, MD, Wheat Belly, Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health, Harper Thorsons, London, 2014
4. Dr David Perlmutter, Grain Brain, The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs and Sugar – Your Brain's Silent Killers, Yellow Kite Books, London, 2014
5. Sayer Ji, The Dark Side of the Wheat, A Critical Appraisal of the Role of Wheat in Human Disease, pdf report available for free if you register at www.greenmedinfo.com
6. Web leaflet for Women's Gluten-Free Health Summit, 8 to 12 September, 2014
7. Michael Specter, Against the Grain – Should you go gluten-free? www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/03/grain
8. As above