Put lipstick on a dwarf

2. December 2010 William Davis (24)
Today, virtually all wheat products are produced from the Triticum aestivum dwarf mutant.

You might call it "multi-grain bread,""oat bread," or "flaxseed bread." You could call it "organic," "pesticide-free," "non-GMO," or "no preservatives." It might be shaped into a ciabatta, bruschetta, focaccia, or panini. It might be sourdough, unleavened, or sprouted. It could be brown, black, Pumpernickel, or white. It could be shaped into a roll, bun, bagel, pizza, loaf, pretzel, cracker, pancake, brioche, baguette, or pita. It could be matzah, challah, naan, or Communion wafers.

No matter what you call it, it's all the same. It's all from the dwarf mutant Triticum aestivum plant, the 18-inch tall product of hybridizations, backcrossings, and introgressions that emerged from genetics research during the 1960s and 70s.

According to Dr. Allan Fritz, Professor of Wheat Breeding at Kansas State University, and Dr. Gary Vocke at the USDA, over 99% of all wheat grown today is the dwarf variant of Triticum aestivum. (For you genetics types, Triticum aestivum is the hexaploid, i.e., 3 combined genomes, product of extensive hybridizations, while ancestral einkorn is a diploid, i.e., a single genome, grass. Hexaploid Triticum aestivum contains the especially hazardous "D" genome, the set of genes most commonly the recipient of genetic manipulations to modify the characteristics of flour, such as gluten content. Einkorn contains only the original "A" genome.)

No matter what you call it, add to it, how you shape it, etc., it's all the same. It's all the dwarf mutant product of tens of thousands of hybridizations.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. By the way, lipstick may contain wheat.
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Comments (24) -

  • Anonymous

    12/2/2010 2:32:40 PM |

    lol, well written doc. i miss pizza and naan.

  • Chuck

    12/2/2010 3:02:22 PM |

    i have been grain free for almost 4 years now.  just got my LDL particle size tested and was surprised to see i was predominately small particle.  i eat pretty low carb with very little sugar.

  • Marie-Anne

    12/2/2010 3:43:40 PM |

    Hi, my name is Marie-Anne.  I am a carbivore - a whole grain junkie with a sweet tooth to boot.  Changing is hard but your blog is very helpful and informative, thank you!  Now if only I could get the rest of my household on board.

  • Vick

    12/2/2010 7:55:58 PM |

    We tested einkorn flour to see how it would elevate blood sugar.

    Einkorn wheat bread:

    Blood sugar pre: 154.8 mg/dl (8.6 mmol/L)

    Blood sugar post: 160.2 mg/dl (8.9 mmol/L)

    Convention wheat bread:

    Blood sugar pre: 149.4 mg/dl (8.3 mmol/L)

    Blood sugar post: 190.8 mg/dl (10.6 mmol/L)

    Post was based on 1 hour 15 minutes.  Quanity was about 1 oz.  (a slice of white bread)

  • Anonymous

    12/2/2010 8:06:53 PM |

    Has anyone tried using Einkorn in any of the other ways
    that wheat flour is commonly employed,
    like as a thickener for sauces or in making noodles?

    By the way, has Barley also gone through the mutations that wheat has?

    Regards,

    Scott

  • Anonymous

    12/2/2010 8:14:17 PM |

    I would be curious if this were true of the "ancient" grains showing up in the bread aisle.

  • DogwoodTree05

    12/3/2010 12:20:30 AM |

    Thank you for cotinuing to remind us why wheat is not healthful.  I have been trying to give it up completely for about a year.  Gluten-free foods tasty gritty and chalky, not spongy and chewy like wheat, so wheat-free means no pastries or breads.  I picked the most challenging time, the month of December, to try again to banish wheat from my diet.  If I can get past Christmas without eating a cookie or cranberry-walnut scone, I'll have unacquired my acquired taste for wheat.  As an added bonus, my consumption of added sugars in any form will be zero since most of it came from pastries and sweet snacks.

  • Judy

    12/3/2010 2:33:27 AM |

    Where do I find einkorn?  I've not been eating grains for about 3 months now, but I'd like to have something occasionally.

  • Stan (Heretic)

    12/3/2010 2:47:06 AM |

    Re:  According to Dr. Allan Fritz, Professor of Wheat Breeding at Kansas State University, and Dr. Gary Vocke at the USDA,...

    Have they got any hard data (and willing to make it public) that would allow statistically correlating the rate of coronary heart disease with the spread of this breed of wheat, historically and across various areas of the Earth?  

    I wonder if they use the same variety in France and in other low heart diase countries?

    If that dwarf variety of wheat is really more harmfull than the old wheat, that could perhaps explain the sudden onset of heart disease among the population of the UK and USA in the 1920-ties, and in other countries after 1945?

    Stan (Heretic)

  • Anonymous

    12/3/2010 3:53:31 PM |

    Would you add beer to this list?

  • Anonymous

    12/3/2010 3:54:56 PM |

    http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/obituaries/article_3af7cf24-af69-50f6-8d70-20ac78da15e9.html

    Thought you might have something to say about his "egg white and granola" diet.

  • Travis Culp

    12/3/2010 7:25:53 PM |

    Chuck...what were the specific test results that you received?

  • Dr. William Davis

    12/3/2010 10:44:55 PM |

    Hi, Vick--

    That's what I would have expected, though I'm a bit surprised that the standard wheat didn't send blood glucose even higher.

    Experiences like yours make me more hopeful that einkorn may indeed be a reasonable alternative for some people.

  • Dr. William Davis

    12/3/2010 10:46:51 PM |

    Judy-

    Try the Jovial brand pasta at Whole Foods.


    Stan--

    Great question, though I doubt it. We would probably have to perform the correlation ourselves, since their focus is not health, but agriculture.

  • Anonymous

    12/4/2010 2:49:55 AM |

    I have finally found a substitute for toast/ bread at breakfast--organic green beans with organic butter from grass-feed cows. So far, I am not missing the wheat and the beans are very satisfying.

  • First aid kits

    12/4/2010 12:22:04 PM |

    I will have unacquired my acquired taste for wheat. As an added bonus, my consumption of added sugars in any form will be zero since most of it came from pastries and sweet snacks.

  • Foodfreak

    12/4/2010 3:55:54 PM |

    some nit-picking: traditional pumpernickel is made from rye exclusively (at least in my part of the world where it originates). So, this has been dwarved, too, I am aware, but it ain't wheat. Period.

  • Anonymous

    12/4/2010 5:17:47 PM |

    I tried the jovial "spirals" last week. Starting blood sugar  86. 2 hours later blood sugar 91. Gluten destroys my digestion but several days later no noticeable change in digestion. I plan on testing it again this week. One year of grain free lowered my average blood sugar from 124 to 86. our blog was a great resource. Thanks Doc!

  • Steven

    12/5/2010 4:16:07 PM |

    I worked on a wheat farm in the early 70's. The shorter varieties raised the yield per acre because they put less energy into building stalk, and were less likely to fall over during high winds and become difficult or impossible to harvest. Nothing nefarious, just practical. Also around that time the Russians, who were huge importers of wheat, started paying for the protein content rather than just by volume. High protein yield became important as a result.

  • PoohBah

    12/8/2010 12:39:19 AM |

    Other than the dwarfing mutation, which seems to be a symptom rather than a cause, what changes have taken place in the dwarf mutant wheat, especially chemically and nutritionally?

  • Anonymous

    12/14/2010 2:23:57 AM |

    Speaking of costs ...
    my own CEO of my own HMO (I live in this quite stupid country now) "made" in 2007 over 1 BILLION and nobody investigated the deaths.

  • Anonymous

    12/14/2010 2:25:36 AM |

    Wow, a miraculous disappearance of intelligent posts.

  • Dr. William Davis

    12/14/2010 2:44:45 AM |

    Anonymous--

    I didn't think that penis enlargement ads were "intelligent." I can forward them to you if you'd like.

    Also, I think you meant "curious," not miraculous.

  • Anonymous

    4/13/2011 9:56:15 PM |

    Even organic whole wheat suffers from "genetic manipulations"? Really?

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Cardiology Confidential

Cardiology Confidential

11. June 2008 William Davis (9)

Okay, so it's a shameless knockoff of chef Anthony Bourdain's titillating Kitchen Confidential.

But the confidences that I've heard whispered in the corridors of health involve something more provocative than how your food was prepared. Any service for humans performed by other humans is subject to the idiosyncrasies and weaknesses of human behavior. That's just life.

In healthcare for your heart, the consequences can be more profound than eating three day old fish on Monday's dinner menu.

Over my 15 years practicing cardiology in a variety of settings in three different cities, I've witnessed just about everything from shocking to sublime. Some of it speaks to the extraordinary commitment of people in healthcare, the unexpected courage people show in the midst of illness, the devotion of family in difficult times. It can also speak of mewling, sobbing carryings-on over the most minor conditions, the meanness that emerges when people are frightened, the vultures circling just waiting for Grandpa to kick the bucket and leave his will declaring the spoils.

For the most part, my cardiology colleagues are a hard-working bunch committed to . . . Uh oh. I was going to say "Saving lives, preserving health." But that's not true. Once upon a time, it was true for many of my colleagues, often revealed over $2-a-pitcher beer-softened, "we're going to save people" conversations in medical school. Ahhh, medical school. I remember walking along the street alongside my medical school in St. Louis, bursting with pride and a sense of purpose.

But, for many of us, something sours our purpose through the years. Maybe it's the smell of money, maybe it's the series of distasteful experiences that show that healthcare providers are, in the midst of health crises, the innocent recipients of anger, frustration, disappointment.

Whatever the genesis, the stage is set for an imperfect scenario that pits healthcare provider against patient in a less-than-perfect system.

This would read as a mindless rant if it wasn't based on such pervasive and pravalent truths, tales of the flawed deliverers of healthcare driven by motives less lofty than "saving people."

Take Dr. S, a doctor who performs a large number of procedures on patients. I'm told he is very capable. He manages an extraordinary amount of heart work--in between jail time for wife beating and Medicare fraud.

Or Dr. C, well-known in the region for his procedural talents, also. Usually acerbic and freely-swearing, he opens up engagingly when drinking--which is most of the time. Paradoxically, as is true for some serious drinkers, he works more effectively while intoxicated.

Or Dr. ST, who proudly admitted to me one evening over dinner that he has accepted 6-figure payments from medical device companies on a number of occasions to use their products.

Or the manic ups and downs of Dr. J, who refers just about every patient he sees for emergency bypass surgery when in his down phase, mangles coronary arteries in daring angioplasties during his up phase.

How about 310-lb Dr. P, who hounds her patients about indulgent lifestyles? That would be excusable as innocent lack of self-insight if it weren't for her propensity to use heart procedures on patients as punishment. "I have no choice but to take you to the hospital."

Dr. M. manages to maintain the appearance of straight-and-narrow during the day, all the way to attending church twice a week with his children. His daytime persona effectively covers up his frequent visits to prostitutes.


We are ALL flawed. My colleagues are no different. But some circumstances cultivate the flaws, fertilize corruptibility, reward it. Such has become the state of affairs in healthcare for heart disease. Why? Is it the excessive potential for money-making that existed until recently? Is there something about the save-the-day mentality of heart disease that attracts imperfect personalities looking for the adrenaline-charged thrill but morphs over time into near-psychopathic lives?

It's not the end of the world. The fact that my colleagues' behavior has reached such extravagant lows signals a bottom: things are about to change.

In the meantime, let me tell you a few more secrets . . .



Copyright 2008 William Davis, MD
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Comments (9) -

  • Zute

    6/11/2008 2:50:00 PM |

    Oh my!  Sounds like you have the makings of a juicy book in your head, Dr. D!

  • mike V

    6/11/2008 3:35:00 PM |

    Sometimes I think there is hope for my grandchildren.
    I find you inspiring, Dr. Davis. Not perfect, but nevertheless, inspiring!
    MikeV

  • Anonymous

    6/11/2008 3:48:00 PM |

    Come on Dr Davis... Tell it like it is!

    I Love it. Just plain Love it!

  • Jessica

    6/11/2008 10:25:00 PM |

    It's refreshing to hear this from a physician. So many of them are content with keeping up the perception of perfection and I'm sure its draining.

  • Anonymous

    6/11/2008 10:36:00 PM |

    It is absolutely time for us to wake up to the fire-fighting mentality of the larger medical community.  Sometimes treatment and intervention is necessary, but the focus of medical attention ought to be on Prevention in the most natural way.  Dr. Davis thank you for getting that message to us.

    Recently I came across another book, with a title that might be too strong for some, but it does reflect a very sad, flawed, state of affairs:  "Genocide: How Your Doctor's Dietary Ignorance Will Kill You!!!!  By Dr. James Carlson.

    Al.

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419685821/ref=s9sims_c4_at1-rfc_p-2991_g1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=0WKGJXG9ZNM2PVRJCSE0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=372728601&pf_rd_i=507846

  • Anonymous

    6/12/2008 10:12:00 AM |

    What I have found funny is the large # of people that feel the need to defend hospitals or the practices of  doctor.  It doesn't seem to matter what political persuasion a person is, many just seem to have a need to believe the marketing hype that America has the very best doctors and medical care available, and that doctors always have your best interests at heart.  You don't find this kind of loyalty for other industries.  I often thought this high level of trust is caused by Hollywood shows.  Ever since we were little kids many Americans have been bombarded with movies and television programs glorifying doctors and hospitals.

  • Anonymous

    6/13/2008 12:04:00 AM |

    If only these flaws were limited to cardiolopgy. Over the past 15 years these same themes of unethical and immoral lifestyles has become the norm not the exception in our "new society". It will all end and for the better. The cost for this change to the better will be enourmous.

  • Henry C

    6/14/2008 3:16:00 PM |

    It's amazing what is happening around us and we don't see it.

    Thanks Dr. Davis for opening up our eyes.

    Henry C

  • dotslady

    6/16/2008 2:04:00 AM |

    I befriended my daughter's pediatrician's wife and learned then and there about how imperfect people are.  I learned of his depression and family alcoholism.

    Since my celiac diagnosis (and despite my daughter's medical history he didn't diagnose her as being on the autism spectrum - but that's another story), I've learned so much and have shared with her my thoughts about sugar, grains, carbs etc, which have been scoffed at.  I have all but diagnosed HER son because they have not been enlightened.  It's not appreciated.  And she shared with me about other doctors' lives as well.  What you say is true; you need to be in that culture to know more truths for your own safety!

    BTW, I enjoy living vicariously through Chef Bordain and wonder about his lipid panel ... he smokes and gets out of breath easily.  When the time comes, I wonder what medical advice he'll get.  Knowing him, he won't care.

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