More about diets - the dangers of eating grains

[Guest guest]

Here is an eye -opening article taken from Dr. Mercola's site:

The Awful Truth About Eating Grains

Written

by Dr. Del Thiessen

At the University of Minnesota,

epidemiologist David R. Jacobs has found that those who ate whole-grain

products daily had about a 15 percent to 25 percent reduction in death from all

causes, including heart disease and cancer (The Washington Post: 8-4-99). This finding is in keeping with guidelines by the

American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the National

Institutes of Health, and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, who

would all like to see an increased consumption of whole-grain foods to at least

three servings per day.

Current dietary guidelines recommend that

consumers eat six to 11 servings of grain products daily, including at least

three whole-grain foods. A draft of health goals published by the Department of

Health and Human Services calls for 75 percent of Americans to meet this intake

by the year 2010. The fact is that most Americans fall short of those goals,

with only 7 percent eating three or more whole-grain foods daily, according to

the latest U.S. department of Agriculture consumption figures.

Whole-grain foods contain higher amounts of fiber. But research suggests that

it's the whole-grain that delivers abundant amounts of antioxidant vitamins and

phytochemicals that appear to act together to provide protective effects.

Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is

allowing whole-grain products to carry a new health claim that touts their

potential to help reduce the risk of heart disease and some types of cancer.

Under the new claim, foods that contain 51 percent or more of whole-grain

ingredients by weight may say on their labels "Diets rich in whole-grain

foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol

may reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers." Whole Grain

Total and Wheaties are just two cereals that fall in this category. Look for

more of this type of advertising on whole-grain products.

The Other Side Of The Story

Very few people know that there are strong

arguments against eating a lot of whole-grain products, and that researchers

don't agree on their value. Those interested in a natural "Darwinian"

diet may be in the minority, still, the arguments are strong that whole-grain

products may have their health costs.

One individual who has researched this

problem extensively is Dr. Loren Cordain, Professor of Exercise Physiology at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado, 80523.Dr. Cordain is a well-known expert in the

area of Paleolithic nutrition. This newsletter features some of his work on

grain and grain products. Readers are referred to a recent

interview of Dr. Cordain in Life Service Supplement News of July

26, 1999 and an exhaustive

recent chapter, Cereal Grains: Humanity's Double-Edged Sword, A.P. Simopoulos

(Ed.), (1999), Evolutionary aspects of nutrition and health: Diet, exercise,

genetics and chronic disease. Basel: Karger, pp 19-73. Unfortunately this remarkable

book chapter will likely be buried along with the book, which costs about $187

with tax.

Building The Evidence

Approximately 17 plants species provides 90

percent of the world's food supply. The top 10 are: wheat, maize, rice, barley,

soybean, cane sugar, sorghum, potato, oats, and cassava. Without these plants

there is no way that the world could support the existing 6 billion people and

the anticipated 12 to 15 billion people expected during the next century. If

agriculture gave us anything, it was an easily grown mass diet that was

calorically dense that could be stored, shipped, and processed in hundreds of

different ways.

Around 20,000 to 10,000 years ago there was

a mass extinction of large mammals throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. The

environment was exploited until other forms of hunting and gathering was

demanded. Birds and waterfowl appeared more frequently in the fossil record,

and for the first time grindstones and crude mortars appeared in the archaeological

record in the near east. This was the beginning of humanity's use of cereal

grains for food.

Hunters and gatherers derived most of their

calories from about 100-200 different species of wild animal fruits and

vegetables. But with the advent of agriculture man became dependent upon a few

staple cereal foods, 3-5 domesticated meat species, and 15-20 other plant

foods. Many populations got up to 80 percent of their calories from a single

cereal staple.

This was the turning point in human

evolution. We abandoned the typical hunter-gatherer lifestyle, with its

dependence on wild meat, fruits, vegetables, and nuts and took up dietary and

activity patterns that were entirely new to us. We had evolved to adapt to the

life of hunters and gatherers and now accepted a life that was incompatible

with our adaptive qualities. The consequences were evident in a reduction in

body size, from which we have only recently recovered, and in the appearance of

diseases of sedentary and agricultural populations, such as cardiovascular

disease, cancers, diabetes, high blood pressure, and bone diseases.

Many of our current problems can be blamed

on our current nutritional and activity differences from our early

hunter-gatherer existence. Agriculture may have launched civilizations, with

all their advantages, but it also led to disease, wars, and a restructuring of

social organizations. This is why Dr. Cordain refers to the development of

agriculture as a two-edge sword.

So What's The Problem With Cereal Grains?

All grains have nutritional deficiencies. Moreover, as we eat more and more

grain products we tend to eliminate other nutritional meats, fruits, and

vegetables. In half the world, bread provides more than 50 percent of the total

caloric intake, and in a few countries of Southern Asia, Central

America and the Far East and Africa cereal products comprise up to 80 percent or more of

the total caloric intake.

Think about your own intake of grain

products. In a month's time, most of us will have eaten several slices of

bread, several bowls of cereal with milk, pasta, rice, bagels, rolls, muffins,

crackers, cookies, pastries, corn or other forms of chips, and tortillas. Most

of these are refined and lack many important nutrients. Cereal grains contain

undetectable amounts of vitamin C, B12, carotenoids, and other vitamins and

minerals, and they tend to displace foods rich in these substances that are

associated with a decreased risk of heart disease and many forms of common

cancers. Moreover, cereal grains may actually inhibit the metabolism of these

nutrients and cause autoimmune reactions.

Where Have The Vitamins And Minerals

Gone?

Diets based primarily on plant foods tend to

be low or deficient in vitamin B12. This nutrient is found exclusively in

animal products. Vitamin B12 deficiency is related to megaloblastic anemia that

results in cognitive dysfunction, and it increases the risk for arterial

vascular disease and thrombosis. Obviously a diet based primarily on grains

will be deficient in vitamin B12, including strict vegetarian diets. We were

not evolved to eat plants exclusively.

Not only are cereal grains deficient in

vitamins but many contain substances that decrease the intestinal absorption of

many other important nutrients. Both wheat and sorghum are not only low in biotin

but seem to have elements within them that elicit a depression of biotin

metabolism. Vitamin D utilization by the body can be inhibited by an excessive

consumption of cereal grains.

Cereal grains are good sources of

phosphorous, potassium, and magnesium, but are poor sources of sodium and

calcium. The high phytate content of whole grain cereals forms insoluble

complexes with calcium, so that the net effect is a low Ca/P ratio. Phytate is

a salt or ester of phytic acid that is capable of forming insoluble complexes

with calcium, zinc, iron, and other nutrients and interfering with their

absorption by the body. Thus a high phytate content frequently induces bone

mineral pathologies in populations dependent upon cereal grains as a primary

food source.

Iron metabolism is affected negatively by a

diet high in phytate and fiber. Iron deficiency is the most prevalent

nutritional problem in the world today. An iron deficiency has been associated

with an irreversible impairment of a child's learning capabilities. The

bioavailability of zinc, copper, and magnesium in cereal grains is generally

low. The absorption of manganese, chromium, and selenium does not seem

impaired. Zinc deficiency can result in hypogonadal dwarfism in which there is

arrested growth. In countries with high cereal grain intake and hence low zinc

absorption, hypogonadal dwarfism is nearly 3 percent and skeletal growth may be

limited. The bioavailability of zinc from meat is four times higher than that

from cereals.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFA)

Increased consumption of n-3 fatty acids

(omega-3 acids), particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) decreases

triglycerides, decreases thrombotic tendencies, and reduces symptoms of many

inflammatory and autoimmune diseases including arthritis and inflammatory bowel

disease. In addition, n-3 fatty acids are associated with reduced mortality

from coronary heart disease. N-3 fatty acids are found in meat and especially

oily fish.

Cereal grains are low in fats, including the

omega-3 fatty acids, including EPA and docasahexaenoic acid (DHA). Vegetarian diets based primarily upon cereals, legumes, and plant

products have a high n-6 (omega-6) to n-3 ratio. Infants deprived of DHA show both visual and neural cortical abnormalities. In pregnant women

with low DHA levels, duration of gestation is about 5.6 days

shorter than for meat-eating controls. In these women emergency cesarean

section were more common, and birth weight, head circumference, and body length

were lower in the infants born to the vegetarian women.

Dr. Cordain concludes from these studies

that, "Human dietary lipid requirements were shaped eons ago, long before

the agricultural revolution, and long before humanity's adoption of cereal

grains as staple foods. Hence, the lipid composition of diets based upon cereal

grains, legumes, vegetable oils and other plant products is vastly at odds with

that found in wild game meat and organs, the primary, evolutionary source of

lipids to which the human genetic constitution is optimally adapted." (p 36)

 

Protein Loss In Grain Diets

Cereal diets lead to inadequate growth

because of a reduction of protein and amino acids, compared to

meat-supplemented diets. The fossil record shows a characteristic reduction in

stature with the adoption of cereal-based diets. Further, vegan and vegetarian

children often fail to grow as well as their omnivorous cohorts. The associated

deficiencies include energy, protein, zinc, iron, copper, calcium, vitamin D,

vitamin B12, and vitamin A. Just looking at protein content, the content of

protein in cereal grains is about 12 percent, whereas in lean beef it is about

22 percent. Inadequate protein intake in cereals depending on cereal grains,

and especially in the elderly who have difficulties with plant-only diets, is

probably quite common.

Antinutrients In Cereal Grains

Plants produce chemicals to defend against

predators, such as insects and birds. These secondary metabolites may protect

the plants but they can have negative effects on human metabolism. Without

naming all of these chemicals, it is clear that some can cause slower growth in

mammals either by depressing growth directly or by depressing appetite. Some of

these plant chemicals can act as allergens. Alpha-amylase inhibitor proteins

are responsible for bakers' allergenic reaction to cereal flours, and can

result in hypersensitivity reactions following wheat ingestion in children.

Lectins, which are proteins that are

widespread in the plant kingdom, are recognized as major antinutrients of food.

Cereal grain lectins are wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). It can interfere with digestive/absorptive activities and can shift

the balance in bacterial flora shown to cause problems with normal gut

metabolism. The potential to disrupt human health is high.

Autoimmune Diseases And Cereal Grain

Consumption

Autoimmune diseases occur when the body

loses the ability to distinguish invading proteins from self-proteins that make

up the body. The loss results in destruction of self-tissues by the immune

system. These diseases are thought to result from a combined influence of

environmental and genetic influences.

Dietary cereal grains are noted to be

causative agents for celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis, both

autoimmune diseases. While the incidence of celiac disease is only about 2 percent

of the population exposed to cereal grains the consequences can be severe.

There are a number of diseases that may occur simultaneously with celiac

disease, including Addison's disease, asthma, autoimmune thyroid disease,

dental enamel defects, epilepsy, liver disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Withdrawal of gluten-containing cereals from the diet can ameliorate symptoms

of celiac disease and herpetiformis.

The form of protein believed to be

associated with celiac disease in gliadin, but since at least 40 different

protein components occur in a single variety of wheat it is unlikely that a

single gliadin protein causes the disease. Other autoimmune diseases may be

related to a high intake of cereal grains, including insulin-dependent diabetes

mellitus (IDDM), rheumatoid arthritis, nephropathy, aphthous stomatitis (canker

sores), and even multiple sclerosis. A myelin basic protein (MBP) is a suspected target antigen in multiple sclerosis. There are

epidemiological reports that link both wheat and milk consumption to the

incidence of MS. And there are reports showing remission of MS on gluten-free

diets.

Beyond this, many neurological complications

may be associated with immune reactivity to antigens found in cereal grains. It

is suspected that autoimmune processes are involved. Even autism and

schizophrenia show susceptibilities to grain glutens that aggravate (or even

cause) the conditions. There are clinical studies indicating that there is a

rapid remission of schizophrenic symptoms by introducing gluten-free diets.

What All Of This Means For You

If you have digestive problems or suffer

some of the classic autoimmune reactions (e.g. allergies) consider the

possibilities that grains may be problematical. Look at your family members and

your family history for clues about dietary problems. Adjust the ratio of

cereal grains to meat, vegetables, and fruits and see if the adjustment has

physiological and psychological effects. In my opinion one should supplement

with vitamins, minerals, protein, and free fatty acids. Above all, eat a varied

diet and not too much of one thing. And, finally, exercise regularly and with

vigor. Put it all together and you have the "Darwinian" diet and

exercise program.

Moderator's Note: I am not sure that all natural grains, or other natural foods, which have made their way into our diets over the past 10,000 years are inherently unhealthy - just because a food item was not part of our diet eons ago does not in and of itself make it unhealthy. On the other hand, what our ancestors adapted/evolved to eat cannot be discounted and eating too much grains appears to be a good example, because the science I have seen tends to agree that doing so leads to problems.Live long, live healthy, live happy!Tony

[Guest guest]

I read the blood typing diet book, "Eat Right for Your Type", in 1999. I am a blood type O, and by eliminating many grains, I dropped 20 pounds of fat and experienced much better digestion. And yes, I do believe that blood type A does much better on a higher proportion of grains rather than the flesh foods. The best cancer treatment diet protocol I ever saw was the Birch-Benner Clinics raw juice diet. Of course today, we would add mangosteen, pomengranate, blue-green algae, and some others into their basic mix. Dr, Curtis White in Houston, TX has the largest applied clinical nutritionist practice in the state of Texas. I

have adopted his phase II diet. It is Atkins modified with many raw greens, fibrous vegetables, and some fruits. Grains are not entirely eliminated but kept to a minimum. Wheat is generally completely eliminated for the majority of people. Upon implementing this diet, I could eat as much butter, flaxseed, and hempseed oil as I wished in my nightly serving of pinto beans, -------- and still lost 30 pounds in 3 months with no changes in my physical routine. I love sushi; I can only hope the Japanese restaurants have untainted sources for the fish they serve. I am currently seeking a source of Longhorn (no fat marbelling in this kind) beef that has been raised w/o hormones or antibiotics, and a Kosher butcher. I have been told that this is still possible in the San Antonio area. To sum up: one can eat a very good daily diet with some planning

in advance and investigating your sources of food. Dr. Goebel

Don't be flakey. Get Mail for Mobile and always stay connected to friends.

[Guest guest]

I tend to agree with the critics of Dr D’Adamo’s theory (Eat Right 4 Your Type) that this is just bad science. Blood types evolved thousands of years before agriculture and we were all hunter/gatherers way back then. These same critics tell us that you can still get a lot out of this book by eating the Type O diet, regardless of your blood type.See what's free at AOL.com.

[Guest guest]

I agree with you - the type O diet is a good one, but lumping everyone

into blood type categories and prescribing a diet based on that alone

is kind of like using astrological signs to group everyone into 12

broad groups of behavior and other characteristics. I don't think the

science is there.

 

 

 

oleander soup , ahzoov wrote:

>

> I tend to agree with the critics of Dr D’Adamo’s theory (Eat

Right 4 Your

> Type) that this is just bad science. Blood types evolved thousands

of years

> before agriculture and we were all hunter/gatherers way back then.

These same

> critics tell us that you can still get a lot out of this book by

eating the

> Type O diet, regardless of your blood type.

>

>

>

> ************************************** See what's free at

http://www.aol.com.

>