The a Perfect Balance case against Heart Healthy Whole Wheat. In my youth I recall adverts for Shredded Wheat where Ian Botham assured me this Breakfast was great for your heart. I was convinced! Anytime anybody at school did anything of Athletic achievement, there would be a whisper that so and so had their Weetabix that morning! It was truly wonderful marketing, and cereal boxes across the nation carry a little green logo proudly claiming their products to be a Whole Wheat product, and thus heart healthy! In the beginnings of learning about nutrition, it was no surprise to learn that whole grain products were being advised to be the main staple of our diet. Breads, pastas, cereals up to 7 times daily but something in me smelled a Rat (and I am not talking about the Rat droppings commonly found in wheat bundles - yes there is plenty of evidence for this!). I used to personally advocate whole wheat products to my early clients and myself to the letter, but I noticed that this advice very rarely helped anybody lose weight, and more often than not caused bloating and other issues. Whole wheat is commonly mistaken for a health food yet whole wheat contains large amounts of a protein called GLUTEN. People often tell me they have no problems with Gluten, yet I have never worked with one person who did not feel the benefits of removing Gluten from their diet, not one. Clever people tell me Gluten is only a problem if you have Celiac disease but now studies have identified a less severe form called gluten sensitivity, which is much more common (1,2,3). People who are gluten sensitive mount an immune response in the digestive tract when they consume it. This can damage the lining of the intestine and cause pain, stool inconsistency, bloating, tiredness and other symptoms (4,5,6) and these symptoms may not occur until days after consumption, thus not is difficult to link your symptoms to the food you eat. I always notice when people eliminate gluten for a period of time, then reintroduce, many notice instant symptoms like bloating, which I believe where always there, but the person is just much more sensitive to the symptoms now. There is also evidence that gluten can make the intestinal lining more permeable, potentially allowing other substances from the digestive tract to “leak” into the bloodstream, which can lead to a host of problems (7). This leads to the more understood condition of leaky gut syndrome, which I personally believe most people have an issue with, especially if they eat like to food pyramid. This means they will build up sensitivities to other foods also, simply because the food proteins are leaking outside of the gut wall and creating an immune response because the food is regarded as a foreign body, as it is in a place where it should not be. I could mention the research on Phytic acid which is present in all grains, and how these Phytates prevent the absorption of other nutrients in the body, however I have come across new positive research on Phytates, thus I will stay open minded on this. Wheat may also increase your risk of heart disease. In one study, whole wheat increased LDL cholesterol by 8%, LDL particle number by 14% and small, dense LDL by a whopping 60.4% compared to whole oats (8). Several controlled trials show that a gluten free diet can improve some cases of schizophrenia, autism and cerebellar ataxia (9,10,11,12) Saying that whole wheat is better than refined wheat is like saying that one poison is slightly better for you that another deadlier poison (refined grains). Whole wheat certainly does not come close to being defined as a health food in our book, and generally is best avoided! So it seems Ian Botham lied to me,and the kid who scored at hat trick at lunchtime school football didnt actually have Weetabix for breakfast, he actually had steak and nuts instead! Kind Regards, Perfect Balance
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 11:15:05 +0000
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