In search of wheat: Emmer

While einkorn is a 14-chromosome ancient wheat (containing the so-called "A" genome), emmer is a 28-chromosome wheat (containing the "A" and "B" genomes, the "B" likely contributed by goat grass 9000 years ago).

Both einkorn and emmer originally grew wild in the Fertile Crescent, allowing Neolithic Natufians to harvest the wild grasses with stone sickles and grind the seeds into porridge.

Having tested einkorn with only a modest rise in blood sugar but without the gastrointestinal or neurological effects I experienced with conventional whole wheat bread, I next tested bread made with emmer grain.

The emmer grain was ground just like the other two grains, cardiac dietitian Margaret Pfeiffer doing all the work of grinding and baking. Margaret added nothing but water, yeast, and a little salt. The emmer rose a little more than einkorn, but not to the degree of conventional whole wheat.

I tested my blood sugar beforehand: 89 mg/dl. I then ate 4 oz of the emmer bread. It tasted very similar to conventional whole wheat, but not as nutty as einkorn. Also not as heavy as einkorn, only slightly heavier than conventional whole wheat.

One hour later, blood sugar: 147 mg/dl. I felt slightly queasy for about 2-3 hours, but that was the end of it. No abdominal cramps, no sleep disturbance or crazy dreams, no nausea, no change in ability to concentrate.

I asked four other wheat-sensitive people to try the emmer bread. Likewise, nobody reacted negatively (though nobody tested blood sugar).

So it seems to me, based on this small, unscientific experience, that ancient einkorn (A) and emmer (AB) wheat seem to act like carbohydrates, similar to, say, rice or quinoa, but lack many of the other adverse effects induced by conventional wheat.

Modern wheat , Triticum aestivum, contains variations on the "A," "B," and "D" genomes, the "D" contributed by hybridization with Triticum tauschii at about the same time that emmer wheat hybridization occurred. It is likely that proteins coded by the "D" genome are the source of most of the problems with wheat products: immune, neurologic, gastrointestinal destruction, airway inflammation (asthma), increase in appetite, etc. This is consistent with observations made in studies that attempt to pinpoint the gliadin proteins that trigger celiac, the area in which much of this research originates.

If I ever would like an indulgence of cookies or cupcakes, I think that I will order some more einkorn grain from Eli Rogosa.

Comments (13) -

  • Stephan

    6/23/2010 5:24:11 PM |

    Thanks for subjecting yourself to these experiments!  Very interesting.  I have a friend who reacts poorly to wheat but tolerates spelt.

  • Anonymous

    6/23/2010 5:35:44 PM |

    Wheat is eaten everywhere in the world. I'd hope GM crop scientists design a variety which can solve this problem.

  • k

    6/24/2010 2:40:27 AM |

    If I am not mistaken, corn is also the result of the domestication of wild grasses existing some 8,000 years ago. Fooling with mother nature put us on a collision course with consequences.

  • Anne

    6/25/2010 2:25:31 AM |

    My concern is that the body could be reacting without symptoms. Could  these ancient grains cause inflammation even though there is no obvious reaction? I have lived 7 years without gluten and have no desire to add it back to my diet. Before I eliminated gluten I was very ill. It is not worth the risk to me.

  • Anonymous

    6/25/2010 4:11:10 AM |

    Dr. Davis,

    In your experience, in terms of small LDL and the like, what's better: a high peak of 150 that's brought down relatively quickly or a lower peak, but extended over a longer duration?

    Thanks,
    David

  • Dr. William Davis

    6/25/2010 3:25:38 PM |

    Anne--

    Please don't interpret these casual observations to mean that we should eat einkorn.

    My goal with this little experience is to gain an understanding of where along the way of wheat's 10,000+ year human consumption history did things go wrong.

    It seems to me that humans could have gotten away with eating einkorn much more freely, with fewer health problems than with modern wheat. I still would like to know where the extreme adverse effects were acquired, however. I suspect this occured in the 1960s and 1970s with the hybridization experiments conducted in Mexico. more on that later.

  • Dr. William Davis

    6/25/2010 3:26:15 PM |

    Anon--

    No data. I suspect that the high peak is worse, but that is based on no formal data.

  • Anonymous

    6/26/2010 9:48:57 AM |

    FODMAPs comprise a monosaccharide (fructose), a disaccharide (lactose), oligosaccharides (fructans and galactans), and polyols.

    In one study, as obese people lose weight, the balance between the Firmicutes and the Bacteroidetes changes - the latter increasing in abundance as an overweight person gets slimmer.

    Fructans, found in wheat, are fermented by bacteria in the large intestine into short chain fatty acids.


    Besides human metabolism, the digestion of wheat is also affected by how it is metabolized by the particular intestinal flora inhabiting a person.


    Sources:

    Evidence-based dietary management of functional gastrointestinal symptoms: The FODMAP approach

    An obesity-associated gut microbiome with increased capacity for energy harvest


    Food tables: fructose




    Fructose in the diet appears to be even more dangerous in the presence of trans-fats.


    Source:

    High Levels of Fructose, Trans Fats Lead to Significant Liver Disease, Says Study

    "The investigators found that mice fed the normal calorie chow diet remained lean and did not have fatty liver disease. Mice fed high calorie diets (trans-fat alone or a combination of trans-fat and high fructose) became obese and had fatty liver disease.

    "Interestingly, it was only the group fed the combination of trans-fat and high fructose which developed the advanced fatty liver disease which had fibrosis," says Dr. Kohli. "This same group also had increased oxidative stress in the liver, increased inflammatory cells, and increased levels of plasma oxidative stress markers.""

  • Tom Moertel

    6/26/2010 7:47:08 PM |

    Your experience with einkorn and emmer is interesting. They do not seem to cause you the problems that wheat does, and that evidence supports the theory that they are less harmful than wheat.  But the same evidence makes another theory equally plausible: that foods such as wheat harm you through pathways that form only through repeated exposure.  Under this theory, einkorn and emmer could be just as harmful as wheat but, being novel to your diet, haven't had enough time for their pathways to form.

    It would be interesting, then, to learn what happens if you were to incorporate einkorn or emmer into your diet more regularly.

  • carrmh37

    6/27/2010 1:48:06 AM |

    This abstract would seem to support your view that it may be a modern phenomenon.

    Journal of Medicinal Food
    Effects of Short-Term Consumption of Bread Obtained by an Old Italian Grain Variety on Lipid, Inflammatory, and Hemorheological Variables: An Intervention Study

    http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jmf.2009.0092

    Michael

  • Anya

    9/9/2010 11:45:05 AM |

    Naturopath David Getoff recently did a podcast on this subject, it is worth listening to: http://naturopath4you.com/mp3s/Gluten%202010%20Final.MP3

  • lindaharper

    9/11/2010 8:47:02 PM |

    Just wondering if you have experimented with fermenting the wheat or sprouting wheat and then drying it to make bread. I've read  that making bread through this method helps celiac problems and wondered if there is a connection  since soaking and/or sprouting neutralizes the phytic acid and supposedly aids in digestion and keeps blood sugars from rising as much.

  • Janet Creamer

    11/30/2012 3:07:09 AM |

    Wondering if there is a difference in European wheat types verses American. I have illness, vomiting and nausea when I consume wheat here in the US. But when I tried it in France, Germany and Switzerland, I did not have any problems. I thought it might be the way US wheat is processed, but it might be the wheat type, as well.

    Thank you,
    Janet Creamer

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Where do you find fructose?

Where do you find fructose?

Apple, 1 medium: Fructose 10.74 g




Honey: Fructose 17.19 grams per 2 tablespoons



Barbecue Sauce: HFCS number 1 ingredient
Ingredients: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Vinegar, Concentrated Tomato Juice (Water, Tomato Paste), Water, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Honey, Contains Less Than 2% of Molasses, Natural Flavor, Paprika, Spice, Mustard Flour, Guar Gum, Red 40.



A1 Steak Sauce: HFCS number 2 ingredient
Ingredients: Tomato puree (water, tomato paste), high fructose corn syrup, vinegar, salt, water dried onions, contains less than 2% of black pepper, modified food starch, citric acid, dried parsley, dried garlic, xanthan gum, caramel color, potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA as preservatives, molasses, corn syrup, sugar, spices, tamarind, natural flavor

Comments (25) -

  • Gretchen

    7/15/2009 1:04:39 PM |

    You forgot agave syrup, which a lot of people are using as an "all natural" low-glycemic replacement for HFCS. In fact, it contains more fructose than HFCS.

    One manufacturer's products include “low glycemic monosacharide.” Gosh, I wonder what that is.

  • PERKDOUG

    7/15/2009 3:10:43 PM |

    It would be a service, if you (or someone) posted a "fructose" content list which includes all the common fruits and berries. I eat a lot of berries and have wondered if that is such a good idea. A list would help us define "good calories" regarding these possible fructose bombs.

  • Anonymous

    7/15/2009 4:23:16 PM |

    Thanks for the visuals and labels on fructose...I am very aware of fructose contents and fruit -- especially since I have experience with fruit and gout attacks that may or may not be supported in literature.  I will only add that every time you purchase a product DO NOT ASSUME CONTENTS ARE THE SAME as when you last purchased.  For example, Classico pasta sauces which I used as base for soups and stews (all LC) has started adding sugar.  CostCo Kirkland brand marinated artichoke hearts (again LC) started out using olive oil, now uses cannola oil. My experience as label-reading shopper is food producers are now adding sugars including fructose to just about everything because the buying public perceives sugar to be tastier...even the rotisserie chickens most grocery delis have now...be careful if you very LC to whether the spice rub has sugar in it.

  • Anonymous

    7/15/2009 4:38:34 PM |

    What don't you find it in?

  • Anonymous

    7/15/2009 5:11:25 PM |

    Finding it hard to believe that an apple wouldn't have some other redeeming value that counteracts or balances the fructose content: soluble fiber, fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc.  Hopefully this is not an indictment of all fresh fruits?

  • GK

    7/15/2009 5:30:00 PM |

    It's all very well to measure fructose content, but it is meaningless unless we know what intake levels have to be before they become problematic.

    In my own case, when I went "paleo" a couple of years ago, I swore off sugar, grain, and processed foods.  I lost 15 lbs over six months without trying.  Now this was before I heard about the fructose issue, and I was eating fruit like I never had before in my life, 3 to 4 pieces a day, and the sweet ones, too:  apples, bananas, grapes, dates, etc.  Surely I was ingesting more fructose than I had been before with a blob of ketchup here, steak sauce there...

  • Anonymous

    7/15/2009 9:49:50 PM |

    Not to put too fine a point on it, but what you show as A.1. Steak Sauce is actually their marinade. Real A.1. Steak Sauce (at least my bottle) contains no HFCS, but does have 2g sugar per serving. Thank you for spending the time you do on this blog; you, along with some others, have given me the intellectual and scientific basis I needed to change my diet. The improvements, physical and mental, have been astounding.

  • Nameless

    7/16/2009 12:01:15 AM |

    The fructose info is interesting, but I agree with GK. We really need to know what is considered a safe level before condemning all fructose sources.

    Fruits do have certain health benefits, some more than others, especially berries. There is also the possibility that by becoming super fructose-phobic and avoiding all fruits/berries,  that one could decrease their chances of heart disease, just to succumb to cancer instead.

  • Laura in Arizona

    7/16/2009 2:19:25 AM |

    Perkdoug, I have found that the web site "nutrition data" has a breakdown of sugars for things. Go to nutritiondata.com and type in the food you are interested in. Choose the right food and quantity and then go down to the section on carbohydrate and click the see more details. When I did that for dates, 1 medjool has about 7.6 grams of fructose (eek!). Like many folks I am cutting down on my fructose consumption so use this table a lot.

  • Anonymous

    7/16/2009 3:01:42 PM |

    How about the king of HFCS--Soft drinks and candy.

  • pmpctek

    7/17/2009 3:22:57 AM |

    As someone else asked, "what don't you find it in?"

    Fructose can be found in many vegetables too.  One sweet onion has 6.69 grams, a half head of cabbage has 6.58 grams, a head of lettuce has 5 grams, a cup of chopped red peppers has 3.37 grams, a medium sized cucumber has 2.62 grams.  In fact nutritiondata.com lists 138 vegetables which have some amount of fructose in them (albeit many having very small amounts.)

    So, if one's goal is to avoid all sources of fructose and still maintain any semblance of good health, well good luck.

  • Anonymous

    7/17/2009 5:00:37 PM |

    @Nameless: Well put!

  • country mouse

    7/17/2009 6:56:16 PM |

    I think tossing fruit is a bit of the baby out with the bathwater.Fruit has the most wonderful spectrum of bright tastes and flavors of any food we have on the planet. "Healthy" vegetables encompassed the bitter, the flat, and the algae like part of the flavor spectrum. Me, is meet and nice in small to medium quantities but when eaten in low-carb volumes, it just becomes something you shovel in to make hunger go way.

    Fruit is a wonderful gift. Adding a little sugar and heating some berries produces this wonderful sauce you can pour over pancakes or creps (if my diabetes let me have crepes). Some fat, flour, and salt makes a wonderful crust that you wrap around sliced and spiced fruit. Cold cherries crunch between your teeth dribble juice around your tongue while you roll the stone around your mouth cleaning off the last of the fruit meat. Peaches with ginger, peach blackberry, blueberry pie. Sliced and cored apples cooked in red-hot cinnamon sauce on the stove and then chilled before serving on Christmas Eve. On a hot August day, wandering through an orchard and dodging Yellowjackets when picking a beautifully ripe peach off the tree.  Pulling a crisp apple out of winter store in November and tasting what will become cider.

    On a more practical level, I also need to make the decision on how much fruit versus how much bulk  laxative? If I eat one piece every days, I'm looking 8+ tablespoons of Metamucil.  bleck.  I'd rather starve myself in  other areas to make room for the delightful sweetness of fruit.

  • Dr. William Davis

    7/18/2009 2:50:28 AM |

    Who said throw fruit out?

    I believe you are reading things that aren't there.

  • country mouse

    7/18/2009 4:51:08 AM |

    I disagree.  without giving a threshold of "bad", your presentation implies that all fructose at any level is bad.  I read some comments as expressing fear or doubt that they were eating too much fruit.  others like me what to know the threshold of bad.

    just between you and me, I'd give up living before I gave up fruit.  no joke.  the flavours of fruit are that important to me.  I've already lost enough food ground with diabetes, I'm not giving up any more.

  • Anne

    7/18/2009 12:51:34 PM |

    According to Dr. Richard Bernstein, fruit does not have to be a part of a healthy diet. Here is what he says in his book, Diabetes Solution:

    "Although eliminating fruit and fruit juices from the diet can initially be a big sacrifice for many of my patients, they usually get use to this rapidly, and they appreciate the effect upon blood sugar control. I haven't eaten fruit in almost forty years and I haven't suffered in any respect. Some people fear that they will lose important nutrients by eliminating fruit, but that shouldn't be a worry. Nutrients found in fruits are also present in the vegetables you can safely eat."

    Dr. Bernstein has had T1DM for about 50 years and advocates a very low carb diet to help normalize blood sugars. http://www.diabetes-book.com/

    Because of blood sugar problems I have eliminated all sources of HFCS and have greatly limited my fruits. I find I can eat a few berries or a bite or two of other fruits without raising my blood glucose, but I mostly stick with colorful low carb veges.

  • Nameless

    7/18/2009 6:28:10 PM |

    Dr: Davis -- "Who said throw fruit out? I believe you are reading things that aren't there."

    Yet you start this post with a photo of an apple. Although perhaps it wasn't  your intention, it certainly implies that fruit is bad.

  • TedHutchinson

    7/19/2009 8:44:44 AM |

    National estimates of dietary fructose intake increased from 1977 to 2004 in the United States.
    high-fructose corn syrup percentage of sweeteners increased from 16% in 1978 to 42% in 1998
    Since 1978, mean daily intakes of added and total fructose increased in all gender and age groups, whereas naturally occurring fructose intake decreased or remained constant.
    If you can't get the full text at least read the abstract. The full text has some interesting charts presenting the data more clearly.
    It isn't eating naturally sourced fructose from whole fruit driving increased obesity. Increases in fruit consumption are dwarfed by greater increases in total daily energy and carbohydrate intakes.

  • Anonymous

    7/20/2009 9:20:21 PM |

    RE: Comment by Nameless (“Yet you start this post with a photo of an apple. Although perhaps it wasn't your intention, it certainly implies that fruit is bad”)
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The good doctor is merely demonstrating in effective graphic terms that
    too much of a good thing is not good. The numbers (ie gms of fructose)
    are important guidelines. There’s no point in getting your nuts in wringer over it!

  • Anonymous

    8/4/2009 11:19:11 PM |

    Bernstein developed Diabetes at age 12. He was born in 1934, so at age 75, he has been diabetic for 63 years. No diabetic complications. Normal blood sugar for all!!

  • David Gillespie

    8/23/2009 10:35:41 PM |

    I think its more helpful to express sugar content (and fructose if known) as a percentage rather than an amount per (varying) serve.  It makes it easier to compare apples to apples (scuse pun).  I've prepared a few listings of various food groups (several hundred items in each) on this basis at www.howmuchsugar.com if you are interested.

  • Anonymous

    8/30/2009 8:58:49 PM |

    Some people suffer from fructose malabsorption. One source states that it is found in approximately 30-40% of the population of Central Europe. If one has that condition, then it would be prudent to avoid all fructose, even the fructose found in fruit. I love the taste of fruit, but it is destroying my health due to malabsorption issues. Fortunately, we know that some cultures lived very healthy lives without eating fruit (e.g. Eskimos).

  • John

    12/1/2009 7:17:24 PM |

    I don't get it. What am I not seeing?

    How much high fructose corn syrup is in a serving of the BBQ sauce? How much in a serving of the steak marinade?

    You state such figures for a serving of apple (1 medium), and for a serving of honey (2 Tablespoons).

  • Anonymous

    10/19/2010 10:53:28 PM |

    I had to give up fruit to prevent further beta cell damage (above 140 apparently for pre-diabetics, and maybe everyone, I don't know). Fruit and many veggies are toxic to people with glucose intolerance. I had to give up veggies for now, until I can find one that I can tolerate. Cabbage was too hard on my blood sugar. I am slowly trying to figure out what I can eat and how to minimize the glycemic impact. Unfortunately, I might have to damage my beta cells to find out what works. The system told me I was fine, even though I told them I had sugar problems. I gave up on doctors 10 years ago, since they were useless. I finally bought a meter and started testing, and the truth is painful.

  • buy jeans

    11/3/2010 6:47:15 PM |

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