Chapter 4-2 of Healing Foods
by Walter Last
Have a
closer look at wheat and gluten. In some form they can be beneficial but as
commonly used they tend to create a lot of problems for our health
Gluten is a mixture of two groups of proteins - gliadins
and glutelins. Wheat has the highest content of
gluten, especially hard wheat, and makes it possible to bake leavened bread and
cakes. Under the conditions of baking, gluten forms a network of molecules,
similar to a wire mesh. This molecule mesh traps small bubbles of carbon
dioxide gas and prevents them from escaping. This makes the baked product light
and easy to chew.
However, in this way we create a problem for our digestion because the
gluten network is more difficult to break down. The gluten network is only
partly digested, especially if the food is not very well chewed; this is a main
cause of intestinal inflammation and wheat allergy.
MALABSORPTION
Gluten seriously weakens the intestinal wall. Its effect on the tiny
absorption villi in the small intestine may be
compared to the action of sandpaper on wood. Animal experiments have shown that
the intestinal absorption villi are long and slender
before they come into repeated contact with wheat protein. Afterwards, they
become blunt and broad, with a much-reduced ability to absorb.
Therefore, people on wheat diets absorb nutrients less well than those
reared on wheat-free diets. This greatly contributes to the widespread
incidence in our society of people with problems of malabsorption and who are
missing out on vital nutrients. In such people, not only are the absorption villi blunted, the irritation caused by the sandpaper
effect of gluten produces a protective mucus coating over the intestinal wall
and this makes it still more difficult for nutrients to pass through the
intestinal wall.
Thus we find gluten, and especially wheat gluten, implicated not only in
the cause of typical malabsorption diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, celiac
disease and sprue, but frequently also with arthritis,
autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, kidney problems, multiple sclerosis and
schizophrenia. In addition, the irritation caused by gluten is a main factor in
causing appendicitis, colitis and inflammation of the small intestines (for
example Crohn's disease) as well as gastric and
duodenal ulcers.
The degree of damage to the intestinal wall is proportional to the
amount of gluten used. Most affected are close relatives of those with gluten
allergy. But even so-called normal and healthy volunteers on high-gluten test
diets showed a deterioration of their intestinal walls and that their ability
to absorb nutrients had been reduced.
Malabsorption is even more of a problem if white bread is used because
it has lost about 80 per cent of its vitamin and mineral content compared to
that of wholemeal bread. What makes it even worse is
the modern fast-baking method: instead of fermenting the bread for four to
seven hours, it is now whipped with chemicals for two minutes. Thus the few
remaining minerals stay tightly bound to phytic acid and cannot be absorbed.
GLUTEN ALLERGY
When the intestinal wall deteriorates it becomes permeable so that
molecules bigger than normal can pass through. This allows partly digested
proteins and bacterial toxins to enter the bloodstream, causing allergies and a
deterioration of the immune system. Thus gluten is actually the main agent
causing allergies. Without a weakening of the intestinal wall, other potential
food allergens would be prevented from reaching the bloodstream, except in the
case of babies with intestinal walls that are still immature.
Young babies also are unable to digest starches. Feeding them wheat
products, which is very common indeed, almost automatically leads to the
development of wheat allergy. Therefore cow's milk and wheat are the two
primary food allergies in our society; not only do they precede the development
of other allergies, but their initial appearance makes it so much easier for
secondary allergies to develop.
It
has been estimated that about 90 million Americans suffer from gluten
sensitivity, while celiac disease, a severe form of malabsorption caused by
gluten, has now been found 50 times more prevalent than previously suspected.
About 1.5 million Americans are thought to suffer from it. In its conclusions,
the report states that celiac disease occurs frequently not only in patients
with gastrointestinal symptoms, but also in relatives and others with numerous
common disorders, even in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms.
All these problems caused by gluten are greatly intensified by the tough
network of gluten molecules formed in baking with gluten-rich flour. In former
centuries only low-gluten wheat was available; high-gluten wheat is a modern
achievement. In addition, the amount of wheat baking, especially with
high-gluten wheat, has greatly increased in our society compared to former
centuries, while at the same time our digestive powers have very much declined.
As this trend has existed already for several generations, most of us
are by now sensitized to some degree against wheat gluten, and wheat-baking
products have become problem foods for most individuals, including wholemeal wheat bread and not just the white variety. Our
ancestors used mainly millet, rye and oats as staple grains in addition to
low-gluten wheat and spelt. They also used grains more in the form of porridge
or wafers than as leavened bread. However, when leavened bread was used, it was
mainly as sourdough bread, except in the cities where yeast baking gradually
dominated.
Processed food, including tablets and soy sauce, often contain added
wheat starch or gluten. If you have a wheat allergy and use processed food,
then read labels carefully. Wheat grass, however, is safe to use; wheat-germ
oil needs to be tested.
IRIS DIAGNOSIS
Blue-eyed individuals with wheat or gluten intolerance usually have a
whitish color in the area of the iris denoting the intestines. This reflex zone
that surrounds the pupil indicates the irritation and mucus covering of the
intestinal wall. Frequently, the white fans out to other parts of the iris, but
especially to the head and brain reflex areas that are in the upper part of the
iris (between 10 and 2 o'clock). This indicates gluten-induced mucus congestion
of the head and irritation of the brain tissues. Such people are vulnerable to
emotional irritability, bursts of temper and, in the case of brain allergy, to
epilepsy and mental disease. They cannot relax easily, and attending emotional
workshops or seeking psychiatric help will do little permanent good if the
nutritional cause of the problem is not corrected.
In addition, these individuals often have oversensitive sense organs and
tend towards far-sightedness. As long as there is no serious mucus congestion
in the head, the sharpened senses provide good eyesight and excellent hearing.
The disadvantages are oversensitive taste buds, an oversensitive sense of
smell, and distress caused by loud noise. Magnesium supplements will help but
not remove the basic cause. In later life, mucus congestion may lead to
deafness and eye diseases. If there is, in addition to wheat or gluten
intolerance, difficulty in digesting fats, the white iris areas will become
increasingly yellow.
Baked wheat products, especially in combination with sugars, are the
most 'fattening' food for susceptible individuals. The metabolism of such
individuals becomes inefficient and the wheat starch is mainly converted into
body fat instead of energy. Frequently individuals allergic to wheat, gluten
and beer have a distended abdomen (potbelly).
For many individuals, gluten products especially wheat and beer, are
strongly mucus forming. Generally, the whiter the iris, the more mucus-forming
is the gluten. Wheat and gluten are often a problem for those with asthma and
hay fever. If you have any problem with mucus, avoid all gluten products
initially together with all foods containing lactose. After sufficient
improvement you may introduce small amounts of rye and oats and explore how
much of these your body tolerates.
Most 'improved' or 'health' breads contain added gluten, skim-milk
powder, or dried whole grain and are worse than plain wholemeal
bread. Most recommended are rye sourdough bread and rye crispbread.
However, rye sourdough bread often contains added wheat described as wholemeal or bread-making flour.
Oats are high in proteins and nucleic acids, while the fiber (oat bran)
is useful for binding and expelling surplus cholesterol from the intestines.
Barley has an even higher cholesterol-reducing effect and both oats and barley
are superior to wheat. However, oats are also rather high in gluten and easily
cause the same problems as wheat in gluten-sensitive individuals. It may be no
coincidence that Scotland has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis as well as a diet traditionally
high in oats in
addition to
vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunshine.
Chapter
4: PROBLEM FOODS AND FOOD PROLEMS
·
Cow’s Milk Products and Lactose
·
Chemicals and other Food Problems