Pardon me,     Server error makes me post here ....
Colon cancer runs in my family & 1st cousin succumbed in his early 40s; USA colon cancer affects +/- 2% of men and +/-1.5% women aged 50 - 70, with higher rates among African-americans. Cancer pathology does not follow lineal constructs, so I will be generalizing (again); colon cancer can be hereditary non-polyposis, familial adenomatous polyposis (polyps), flat adenoma or sporadic colorectal cancer.

Dietary fiber provides the environment for intestinal bacteria to make butyrate for us; and butyrate is beneficial when it produces hydrogen sulfide (H2S). In the large intestine (colon) epithelial cells this butyrate H2S induces a proton "leak" in that cell's mitochondrial electron transfer chain (that cell uses & needs  less oxygen); this uncoupling slows that cell's cycle so that there is less cell division, and simultaneously depresses cytochrome c oxidase 1 & 2 enzymes which prevents that mitochondria from signalling for apoptosis (death). The boost in colonocyte (cellular) H2S also raises that cell's level of the anti-oxidant glutathione; and fosters other beneficial mitochondrial  processes by opening the mitochondrial membrane's K-ATP channel.

Dietary derived H2S comes from sulfurous protein (ie: amino acids methionine, taurine, cysteine & cystine) metabolized by intestinal bacteria;  and more significantly this type of  dietary induced load of H2S depresses the beta-oxidation of butyrate in colonocytes. When it comes to the sexes it is women who more readily produce H2S from sulfurous protein, yet men will produce a higher total amount of H2S; which may indicate why both sexes have similar colon cancer rates.

Sulphur rich cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage & kale) are not high in sulfurous proteins;  metabolism of their sulphur favors a bit more sulphur uptake into local colon tissue than bacterial H2S pathways. Think of the slow steady butyrate H2S output in colonocytes as a pre-treatment; this pre-conditioning is hormetic (hormesis is how a little bit of something potentially dangerous, like H2S, can be good for you that some might phrase as "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger").


Cancer of the colon unfortunately can side-step the preventative action of butyrate H2S when one of the enzymes (cystathine Beta-synthase) butyrate uses to generate H2S gets knocked out. How or why this happens in an individual is not dealt with here; the point is that a certain level of reliable H2S from butyrate will hold down the viabilty of colon cancer cells. Once the colon cancer cell has shifted  it's pheno-type from epithelial pheno-type to mesencymal pheno-type the same cellular protective effects of H2S (see 2nd paragraph above) will then unfortunately help that cancer cell avoid dying (apoptosis).

In a petri dish H2S will kill some colon cancer cell lines; this works because those cancers are not interfacing with the colon's bacterial dynamic. The "nooks and crannys" of the intestinal crypts have 2 distinct mucus (mucin) made up from long chain carbohydrates (oligo-saccharides); the sialo-mucin is more to the surface and usually deals with microbes, while the sulfo-mucins are in the lower depths of the crypts. We individuals have different antigens that affect the rate at which we degrade the sialo-mucin; furthermore, there is a drop in the number of sialo-mucins when the transformation of colo-rectal cancer occurs. It should be noted that the density of sialo-mucin and sulfo-mucin has differences all along the length of the colon and rectum, with nuances related to gender and can shift their ratios at a site.

There are specific colon bacteria which utilize the sulfate they get from sulfo-mucin; sulfate reducing bacteria use it for their own "respiration" and put out H2S. Yet "normally" sulfate reducing bacteria  are apparently not mostly using the sulfate we add to the colon from our food (this may be because certain  sulfur bacteria varieties, like "normal" desulfovibrio, have a cellular program to interact readily with an oligo-saccharide property of sulfo-mucin in order to take up that sulfate). When there is a shift to depleted sialo-mucin and extra ordinary sulfo-mucin the colon sulfur bacteria population varieties also alters; and certain sulfate reducing bacterial varieties become enriched at the expense of other bacteria.

At which time the colon levels of  bacterial produced H2S can rise and, just like high dietary spin off H2S; this then will depress butyrate's output of H2S  in colonocytes (where any incipient colon cancer's epithelial pheno-type needs to be held in limbo). The natural anti-cancer slow release of H2S from butyrate is then an altered state of high level of H2S in the colon;  with not enough sialo-mucin in the upper portions of colon crypts epithelial cells deeper in the crypt are more vulnerable .

Furthermore, with the shift toward excessive sulfate reducing bacteria (ex: desulfobacter, desulfobolbus and desulfotomaculum as opposed to  "normal" desulfovibrio) , there is the possibility that some cancer cell lines will use that bacterial supplied H2S to more readily morph into their mesenchymal pheno-type. This would be due to H2S impairing certain coloncyte cell line's DNA repair so that there is then damage to the original genome. For details see Mol Cancer Res 2006;4(1):9-14 "Evidence that H2S is a Genotoxic Agent"  complete text at http://
mcr.aacrjournals.org/content/4/1/9.full

To Greensleeves  (Server blocking where belongs),
You might enjoy this all sourdough rye study "Structural diff. btwn. Rye & wheat ...lower post-prandial insulin ..." in 2003 Am J Clin Nutri; 78(5):957-964 full text http://www.ajcn.org/content/78/5/957.full

And 2009 "Endosperm & whole grain rye breads ... beneficial blood glucose profile" in Nutrition Journal 2009, 8:42 full text http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-8-42.pdf

Thought this interesting, talking about wheat, saw yesterday on the news that NBC is hosting "health week" this week.  It is sponsored by General Mills, if I remember correctly, with emphasis on the importance of eating whole wheat for good health.

1. Should I continue to take all my supplements and medications during fasting, e.g. Niacin, or does it depend?
2. If upon fasting, satiety comes after eating a small amount of food, how do I make sure my nutrition is sufficient to maintain the muscle mass? How do you combine fasting and exercise?

Gene, my guess is that you can't. Or shouldn't. But then you're probably not going to fast for more than a few days at most, so going without exercise for a few days is probably not going to cost you any muscle mass.

I would also think it's probably okay to take your usual supplements, too.  Medicines may be a problem, depending on what they are.  People with serious health issues probably should avoid fasting altogether, unless under the close supervision of his or her doctor.

I'm interested in hearing what Dr. Davis has to say regarding fasting.  Hurry up doc!

Joe

Is it true that fasting can also improve LP(a)?

Agreed Dr. Davis.

I am a big fan of intermittent fasting.... looking forward to more posts.

I've had a similar experience to your post-fast feeling upon eating by doing a 2 or 3 day liquid-only diet that's heavy on water and includes a large protein shake each day.  It's as though you have to periodically remind the part of your brain that listens to the stomach what "full" means.

Like the others, I'm very interested in what the doc has to say in the next article in this series!

To what extent does a person with impaired adrenal and/or thyroid function need to be careful when fasting or low-carbing?

Type 1 diabetic for 40 years, and nowadays I eat about a thousand-calorie high-fat breakfast and a similar dinner.  I rarely eat lunch, and skipping breakfast (simply omit the pre-meal shot of insulin) as well is usually not a big deal any more: I do it occasionally.  Control of blood sugar is much easier now, and Hb A1c around 6 rather than over 10: still room for improvement.  When I was eating skimmed milk with Grape-Nuts or Uncle Sam (whole wheat flakes with whole flaxseed) for breakfast I would have blood sugars as high as 300 by mid-morning and a powerful hunger by lunchtime.  Whatever benefits fasting may have, I find it a lot easier now than it once was, and plan to try it more often, as I'm still overweight.

Is snacking on raw green vegetables between meals also considered grazing?

I experimented with intermittent fasting (IF) for a little over a year. I first got interested in IF through calorie restriction (CR) -- there were a couple papers suggesting that you could extend lifespan through IF without the CR, which seemed like the perfect combination.

These papers are still quoted on many blogs, but I doubt many have actually read them, since none of them actually show you can increase lifespan without restricting calories. See this post for a more detailed analysis:

http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2010/05/does-intermittent-fasting-increase.html

Anyhow, I still think there might be benefits for doing intermittent fasting -- though I've also seen some studies showing it might have negative effects as well -- and certainly it seems pretty good for weight loss. When I was on a high-fat, low-carb diet and fasting for 24 hours, then eating for 24 hours, I was the leanest I'd ever been. And that was without trying or counting calories:

http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/08/year-of-intermittent-fasting-adf.html

And one more shameless plug, some tips for those who have trouble going without food for 24 hours (or more):

http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-5-most-common.html

Personally, I never went for several days without food. I'm not sure it's needed for weight loss anyway, although it might have other health benefits.

- JLL

Hi, Gene--

Green vegetables have no discernible postprandial chylomicron/VLDL consequence and is the exception. I'd consider that safe "grazing."

We usually hold niacin during a fast due to the fluid struggles, which can magnify the hot "flush." We usually continue the other supplements, however.

Hi, Paul--

If not yet corrected, I don't think it would be a good time to fast, since you could feel pretty crumby during your fast.

Fasting should be a positive experience, not something to endure. I'd wait until these issues are corrected.

Hi, JLL--

Agreed. In fact, I believe that the greatest benefits of intermittent fasting are the subjective benefits of reawakened taste and appreciation of food, rather than the physiologic benefits. Nonetheless, it makes sense that, since atherosclerosis and arterial dysfunction are to a large degree postprandial phenomena, prolonged "no-prandial" periods might facilitate arterial health.

Is it possible that current wheat strains have been selected or genetically engineered to be addictive?

Today's Urban Dictionary Word of the Day: Carb Coma -- The sleepy feeling after eating a large meal comprised chiefly of carbohydrates, whether in the form of rice, noodles, bread or dough.  "Dude, I was totally dozing at the office after that giant serving of chow mein for lunch. Total carb coma."

I have been following Fast-5 for three years, and quickly got down to a healthy weight. I'm 58 years old and lost 25 lbs to get down to 160lb (5'-11''), and a reasonable BMI. I fast daily for 19 to 21 hours with absolutely no effort required - it is just the way I live now. During this whole time I have made no effort to restrict wheat in any way. I don't eat a lot of wheat and I don't eat it every day, but on the day after pigging out on pizza I have no trouble with my fasting. There's your black swan.

Ketone metabolites from Beta oxidation of fatty acid, B-hydroxy-butyrate , increase when fasting;  these metabolites act on visceral fat receptor HM74A. The result is upregulation of the anti-inflammatory  molecule adiponectin;  it (adiponectin)  also keeps less glycerols  (think of tri-glyceride group).

The increased adiponectin upshot is the white visceral adipose (not subcutaneous fat) does less lypo-lysis (fat cleaving) and there is a reduced level of free fatty acids going into circulation.  This relief, from excessive "freed" fatty acids ,  permits the response to insulin to improve (ie: sensitivity to insulin better) when go back to eating;  and the longer the fast went on for  the longer the boost of circulating adipinectins stays  around   than before.

Low serum adiponectin levels are common in the obese, hyper-glycaemic,  diabetic;  individuals with  hyper-triglycerides, coronary artery disease (and often even the children of  hyper-tensives.  Metabolic syndrome tends to low adiponectin and concurrent high levesls of circulating triglycerides.

The  actual anti-inflammatory action of adiponectin is a major  part of why the fast makes the body feel so much better;  the digestive  organ rest is given too much focus.   Many individuals report  " pain gone"  from diets  that favor more ketone derived energy
production (like low carb,  calorie restriction &/or  ferments for gut bacteria) ;  because,  there too, the metabolite Beta hydroxy-butyrate is instigating more circulating adiponectin that  then stymies pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Hi, Might--

You make a crucial point that, I believe, explains much of the benefits to fasting: via improvements in cytokine levels and tissue responsiveness, especially adiponectin.

Fabulous!

Hi, Curtis--

Exactly. There are going to be exceptions. However, I speak for the 80% or more people who do indeed have addictive and appetite-increasing relationships with wheat.

I wasn't able to fast when Dr. Davis started discussing it about 1-2 years ago. Most of my life, if I didn't "graze", I'd get hypoglycemic symptoms like my mother, and my paternal grandmother. My mother even got a note from my doctor that I had to have a sandwich before Jr high band practice, else I'd get headaches or light-headed - that's how long I've dealt with frequent hypoglycemia episodes.

So I came up with my own personal mini-fast-challenge. I would only eat when an actual hypoglycemic symptom happened, ignoring the regular hunger pangs. Then when I ate, I avoided sugars, starch and wheat - I did have a bit of rice though. I'm guessing it was about 3-4 days before I could go 5-6 hours with no hypoglycemic symptoms, and about 10'ish days before I could go 12 waking hours with no calories (I draink tea with stevia).

Looking back, both my parents' families ate lots of wheat: bread, biscuits, pasta, so that's probably what gave my paternal grandmother, mother, and then me our hypoglycemia. If I have a hypoglycemic symptom, I start my mini-fast-challenge again. I finally figured out my family's curse is wheat, so I avoid it except the occasional pasta dish.

I followed the "East Stop Eat" approach a while back, with good results. I agree with one poster that said best to skip the breakfast insulin surge. In fact I think the whole "three square meals" with grazing in between, needs to be challenged (perhaps one meal a day). My guess is that humans are designed to go days without food and have plenty of energy. Its an ability that needs to be regained. Also I gather fasting is good for HGH response, especially if combined with resistance training.

Dr. Davis, I have done intermittent fasting for a long time...so long, I have lost count but I think that it has been 4 years. I do my version on a daily basis so it I am not as strict as someone who does this occasionally. Now that being said, my final meal of the day is the meal that I begin my fast so I keep it as nutritious and ketogenic as possible. So, I eat my final meal at around 7:00 P.M. I don't eat again until 3:00 P.M. the following day. Eating is such a treat and I eat very tasty low carb food when I break my fast. I will have my morning coffee with heavy whipping cream and MCT oil. Or I will have a glass of water with MCT oil. I take my vitamin D at this time of day because it wards off any allergy bugs lurking in the air. This summer I would like to lose 10 lbs so I will just kick up my fasting method in intensify my diet by keeping it balanced between protein and fats.

I am not athletic in the least but I find that being active is not hindered during fasting. I strongly believe that we should not need to eat before exercise. Nor should we need to eat immediately after exercise.

Sorry, I just noticed that post came up under my husband's name. That post on fasting should come up under my name Mary...I am the one playing flute.

Yes, I do agree with you . I read about HGH becoming activated through a combination of fasting and resistance training.

Yes it’s true that to become faster and sharper than we should have wheat, grain, etc. in our daily meal than you will be satisfied by your performance.
Physical Therapy Supplies

18 hour fasts are easy, 24 hour fasts are hard, but once I break the 24 hour barrier, another 12-16 hours isn't bad.  My diet isn't wheat heavy, but I certainly don't avoid it.  What works for me is moderate physical activity, which gets me over the hump.  The hump may be the switchover from carb burning to fat burning, which moderate activity of a couple hours duration trains the body to do.

I was quite sold on IF but keep finding conflicting findings, any comments on this http://chriskresser.com/blog/intermittent-fasting-cortisol-and-blood-sugar/ ?

Dr. Davis,
Please refer me to your source of  "wheat is destructive".  I have eaten Shredded Wheat breakfast cereal every day for 25 years.  It is the only breakfast cereal I am not allergic/sensitive to.  After eating it for breakfast, it fills me up and I do not eat again for 6 hours.  I understand about wheat products raising a person's glycemic index, but I have read that the fiber in Shredded Wheat takes so long to digest that it actually controls a person's blood sugar all day.
I am a healthy, near ideal-weight 50 year-old female.  My experience finds this statement to be false: "wheat is a powerful appetite stimulant through its 2-hour cycle of exaggerated glycemia followed by a glucose low, along with its addictive exorphin effect".
Thank you for your time.

I take omega-3 fish oil supplements and I eat lots of oily fish, generally around 400g salmon, 200g sardines and 200g trout per week. I'm not worried about the mercury content of the fish I eat, partly because these are fish low in mercury anyway but also because I did a fair bit of research and discovered that a lot of the mercury content of fish and how it affects a person depends on the age of the person and how many years they have been eating fish. I, for example, only started to eat fish a couple of years ago in my early 50s, and by the time any serious level of mercury might have built up in my body I will be an extremely old lady...but I'm not worried.

I've also read that the mercury in the bodies of children growing up in the Pacific who eat a lot of fish is much higher than the rest of the world but they are not damaged by it, and the beneficial effects of the fish outweigh the effects of the mercury. Here's one comment about that:  'Mercury, fish and you: what to do ?': http://tinyurl.com/5ddkbs

Anne

I have been increasing the amount of salmon in my diet, but it is getting harder to find wild salmon in my area (Tulsa, Oklahoma), and when I do find it, it is much higher in price than farmed salmon. So, as a result, I eat a lot of farmed salmon, which probably does not offer much of a health benefit.

Are there good quality large scale studies linking the use of fish oil capsules with improved outcomes?

Studies like the Japanese one you cited are of people eating fish, not taking the oil separately, and it's worth noting that the Japanese who are always cited as the good health example for fish do eat shark and just about anything else that swims.

It is also a fact that the people I mentioned who needed chelation therapy for proven mercury poisoning were eating mostly salmon and cod.

I do use fish oil capsules. But so many nutrients have proven ineffective when taken apart from the foods they are embedded in that one has to wonder.

Vitamins A, C and E supplementation has not tested out but foods high in those nutrients do.

So that makes me wonder how much of the benefit of eating fish is from the oil and how much from  other factors associated with fish eating. Has the benefit of fish oil eaten without the rest of the fish and not as part of a meal been shown in high quality research not funded by fish oil merchants?

What you want is molecularly distilled fish oil.  The molecular distillation process reduces the amount of mercury to a level that is not detectable with modern instrumentation.  Since our bodies can tolerate detectable quantities of mercury without harm, using molecularly distilled fish oil is pretty much mercury free.

So which brands use molecular distillation?  Carlson's, LEF, and pretty much all of the major brands do.  If you're not sure, take a look at the label.  It should be written somewhere on there.

Any product claiming to have "lower mercury levels" than other quality sources is just blowing smoke.  None of them contain measurable amounts of mercury.

Is rancidity a significant problem with capsules?

The omega-3 fish oil I take is not in capsule form but a liquid - Eskimo-3. It says it has been purified so that mercury and other environmental contaminants are well below current acceptable levels and this has been confirmed by independent studies. It has not been chemically modified. You have to store it in the fridge once opened. They press the oil from sardines caught in deep seas from the Antarctic and south Atlantic.

Anne

the data on mercury toxicity from fish is very interesting- basically, the toxicologist (in lieu of epidemiologists) defined the 'upper limits'. Toxicologists routinely assume 1/10th the level where problems were identified as their upper limit threshold-- if you look at the original data, however, you'll find that it was based on people who's primary food was pilot whale and another group and in both cases there was at best, minimal cognitive changes noted.  they then took this threhold and lowered the limit by 10 fold--- the result of this national public policy--- 3/4 of all pregnant woman eat insufficient amounts of omega3FAs-- had epidemiologist looked at this issue and been involved in creating the recommended guidelines you would have seen 5-10x higher levels of mercury consumption permitted.  i'll find the original data on this and send it your way abit later.

The mercury content of fish oil capsules have little to do with the method of processing and much more with the animal source of oil. Fish oil is generally obtained from sardines, salmon, and cod, all low in mercury. Fish oil capsules are not prepared from swordfish or shark.

I also get these mercury remarks or concerns every time I encourage friends to start taking fish oil supplements. I always explain that as long as they come from clean waters, like the ones surrounding New Zealand, it's ok. I guess I gave them the wrong explanation. Now I know what to tell them.

Celiac disease is often noticed by people who go off wheat for health reasons, then when they try to eat it again, it makes them sick.  

For the record, Corn Flakes contain barley malt which has the same protein, gliadin, as wheat.  I have celiac and the "formula" is no wheat, barley or rye because they are so closely related and have the same "gluten" protein.

Isn't it interesting. They treat obesity by fixing the "mesolimbic reward system" because they believe eating too much "food" makes us fat. But then you say wheat isn't food, it's a drug.

Are we really eating too much "food"?

A heroine is a very different concept than "heroin."  And withdrawal from oxycontin or heroin is unlikely to cause hallucinations or seizures (Trainspotting babies on the ceiling notwithstanding) - though it is exceedingly unpleasant, it is not typically medically dangerous.  Perhaps you are thinking withdrawal from alcohol, barbituates, or benzodiazepines, all of which can cause hallucination, seizures, or death if done without medical supervision.

I have celiac and had similar problems when I first went off gluten.  It took me about a month to stop reacting.  I get quite ill whenever I accidentally am exposed to gluten, say at a restaurant.  My symptoms are migraine and flue like aching in my joints, plus severe fatigue.  None of my doctors thought I might have celiac by the way, because I am slightly overweight (BMI 25) and didn't have severe digestive symptoms, but there is recent research showing that many patients present with migraine as their only celiac symptom.

Oohh. Thanks for catching the typo, Dr. Deans. Fixed.

By the way, I've seen plenty of hallucinations and seizures with opiate withdrawal, as well as benzodiazepine withdrawal. Or, perhaps it was combination addictions that were at fault.

That, however, was not the point.

I think the point was well-made - just didn't want anyone to fear that wheat withdrawal was medically dangerous (quite the opposite).  I've had a few cases where I was able to stop night (carb - typically bread) binging with (off-label) use of naltrexone - pretty telling, I would say.

Dr. Deans--

I am VERY impressed you knew of this effect.

I have tried this, too, in people who are, despite their best effort, unable to resist temptation to consume this drug-disguised-as-food called wheat.

My health improved dramatically after I stopped eating wheat, grains, and other carbs, I even had a cataract disappear.  But it required nine months before I could adjust to the low carb way of eating. It's worth all the trouble, no more high blood pressure or diabetes medicine.  Most of my arthritic pain is gone, I am able think more clearly. Lost 30 pounds. No more allergies or indigestion.
Thank you for writing this blog!

I was able to stop night (carb - typically bread) binging with (off-label) use of naltrexone - pretty telling, I would say.

Nothing at all particularly telling I would say. Other than telling that opioid receptors are part of the reward circuit. Which is obvious and not disputed by anyone. Naltrexone main use is in treatment of alcohol dependence. Using your logic ethanol is an agonist of opioid receptors. Which is self-evidently not true. The effects are indirect.

Question here:

Is the "craving" for wheat due to psychoactive tri-peptides derived from wheat protein ?  If that is the molecule that "dopes" our opiod receptors then decreasing levels of tri-peptides as the day progresses will make some look for their wheat "fix".

Naltrexone @50mg was FDA approved (1984) in 1984 opiod addition; to block receptors. I think the doctors here are referring to single evening doses of 3 to 4.5 mg.
for screened patients.

Here's what I don't understand: Why is it that entire countries of people who eat bread by the basket, like Spain, have exceptionally low levels of heart disease? This is a sincere question. I want to do what's right for my heart, but it seems to me that a naturally occurring sample size of several million people is pretty compelling. What am I missing?

Jack LaLane on sugar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJVEPB_l8FU

Milk and dairy products are also a source of endorphin-like chemicals. Would it make sense to try to kick a wheat habit by temporarily drinking more milk?

BWR

It is possible that Spanish bread is made from a much healthier wheat variety.

The devil is on the details.
From a HSB comment May 24, 2010
Here in France, Einhorn( Triticum monococcum) has been cultivated since the 9 th millennium BC in a small area of Haute Provence. It is called petit epeautre and it is truly delicious! It has very little gluten.
There is much regulation in the cultivation in order to protect the genetic purity of this ancient grain. Like wines it has a AOC (appelation d'origine controlee

Please note: Higher Mg and Lysine in einkorn

Modern wheat has had much of the Mg bred out
http://petitepeautre.com/nutritiona.html

Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology
http://www.einkorn.com/toxicity-of-einkorn-gluten/

Same for casein in milk where A1 milk can be a serious problem and the casein is similar to gluten
http://www.guernsey.net/~wgcf/PageMill_Resources/Acres_Woodford.pdf

Hi, BWR--

There are some unanswered questions with this thing called wheat. As the anonymous commenter pointed out, there may be differences in strains grown worldwide. While 99% of all wheat grown today are dwarf variants of Triticum aestivum, there are pockets of agricultural adherence to older cultivars.

I am perfectly willing to believe than many people cannot tolerate wheat. But this obsession with villifying wheat discredits Dr Davis's very valuable promotion of regular heart scans and other diagnostics, as well as D3, Iodine and other supplements.

It isn't just the Spaniards. My own ancestors are a mix of French, German and English, and I don't seem to have any problems with wheat, rye, barley, to speak nothing of oats. Furthermore, I believe a heavy grain diet is precisely why I am able to keep my weight down and my test results good. I experimented with going to a somewhat more paleo diet recently and the result was to DECREASE my insulin sensitivity when I went back to eating oats. Now that I'm back to eating mostly oats, my insulin sensitivity has returned to normal. Worse, the paleo diet caused a surge in uncontrollable hunger. One particularly bad day, I ran through a dozen eggs, a pound of meat, another pound of nuts and all sorts of other food before my appetite finally settled down. I never had these uncontrollable appetite problems with my usual mostly oats diet, nor did I have problems when I used to eat mostly pasta (though I was younger then and had higher metabolism than now).

Appetite is the key. If a food sends appetite soaring, then it doesn't matter how healthy that food is by itself--it will make you fat and thereby reduce insulin sensitivity and thus destroy you in the end. Conversely, if a food depresses appetite, then assuming it isn't absolute poison (like arsenic), eating that food will allow you stay lean, and by staying lean you stay insulin-sensitive (assuming you also do some daily exercise), and that is the ultimate key to avoiding most health problems, from what I understand. For some people, wheat and oats may very well be the keys to appetite suppression, and it is thus a disservice to condemn these foods for everyone.

what do you make of this new study citing adverse effects of a high fat diet?

http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2011/01/26/ajcn.110.002758.abstract

@revelo,

In his practice of Cardiology, Dr. Davis has apparently observed great results with a good number of his patients that choose to avoid wheat. Apparently, an impressive enough effect, in his opinion, to make the statements that he does. These observations, and the recommendations he makes based upon them, hardly "discredit" his professional advice.

It may be true, as you suggest, that not every single person will have a problem eating wheat, but a person's weight (or appetite) is not the only indicator of potential heart-health related issues. While wheat might not make everyone fat, it may still provoke immune response, inflammation, surge in blood glucose and triglycerides, etc.

Anecdotally, thanks to Dr. Davis' advice regarding wheat, my 68 year-old mother lost 15% of her bodyweight in four months, without exercise, and without any other change in her diet except to replace the pastas and breads with eggs, vegetables, and meats. She had always taken great pride in the "healthy" foods she ate, but over the past twenty years had very slowly gained weight and a bloated appearance. She started crying during our last visit because she is so happy to "recognize" herself again in the mirror, and is wearing clothes that haven't fit in over a decade. I stopped eating wheat one year ago. Since then, I've dropped from size 34 to 28 pants and get compliments weekly concerning how young I look; I feel great and lab results (blood tests, radiology) are unbelievably improved.

Wheat avoidance may not indeed be necessary for everyone; but, it's done wonders for *all* of those around me that have given it a good chance.

Jonathan,
Subbing milk for the wheat wold NOT work as milk produces a morphine- like substance called caseomorph and wheat produces gliadimorphs. Two different types of exogenous morphines.

This is one of the rationales for the gluten free- casein free diet that seems to greatly help some children on the autistic spectrum.  Sorry to be a spoilsport!

oops!  typo alert ...sorry
Subbing milk for the wheat would NOT work as milk...

reikime,
thanks for the answer.

You're welcome Might-.

Check out www.theglutensyndrome.net

I get folks who contact me from my site who have strange neurological symptoms when they either withdraw from gluten/wheat the first time or  flip flop on and off too much. I have a page on temporary adverse effects from going gluten free.

Our 23 year old nursing student daughter experienced a very strange neurological effect from a 6 week gluten challenge after being strictly gluten free for 6 months.  Ischemia/reperfusion injury is a possibility, and gluteomorphin withdrawal also.  Her story is on the site.  For sure she is very strictly gluten free now, and doing fine 6 years after the experience. http://glutensensitivity.net/cases.htm#ztop

In the book, "Mendel in the Kitchen, Nina Federoff, a strong proponent of GMO technology, relates how wheat was genetically altered by the 1950's by both x ray irradiation and chemical mutation, and the gluten levels were raised far above older varieties. The wheat today is not the same as our ancestors, at least not here in the States.

FYI, a new lab (www.Cyrexlabs.com)  has just opened 2 weeks ago with much more complete gluten syndrome testing.  They are testing many more antibodies than previous standard panels, and expected to turn up many more folks with gluten syndrome.  They also teach that gluten can damage multitudes of tissues by molecular mimicry between gluten related antibodies and look alike innocent tissues all over the body.  The villi, which have been the gold standard target tissue in the celiac community, are turning out to be just one of many possible sites of damage.  

Many folks have gluten/wheat related antibodies, but their main target of autoimmune tissue damage is in places other than the villi, such as the heart, nerves, organs, joint lining, etc.  Villi as the target tissue is found in relatively a few folks, and that is the tissue damage that has gotten most of the attention.

Dr. Aristo Vojdani, PhD, Immunology, and others have accumulated a lot of research to support these theories, and they fit the gluten syndrome community like a glove.

>> "Subbing milk for the wheat wold NOT work as milk produces a morphine- like substance called caseomorph and wheat produces gliadimorphs. Two different types of exogenous morphines."

Right, but is the fundamental problem generally the morphine-like effect, or is it some other antigen specific to gliadins? My wife has hashimoto's thyroiditis, and the smallest trace of wheat, barley, or other gliadin grains quickly makes her miserable... she can feel her thyroid swell, she gets cold, she has other problems. Dairy does not have this effect. Since cutting out gluten from grains, her T3, T4, and TSH levels have returned to normal, while her anti-thyroid antibody level has dropped to very near normal.

I am willing to consider that with some conditions (like autism), both gluten and milk can be a problem. It is not clear to me that if gluten is a problem then milk must also always be a problem. If the casomorph proteins allows some people to quit wheat with fewer withdraw symptoms due to the substitution of endorphin-like molecules, that could be a good thing.

Jonathan,

The issues your wife has with gliadin really dont seem related to the morphine like responses some people have with gluten and /or dairy.

Sure some people that have a wheat/gluten intolerance can ingest dairy just fine...that said, if the microvilli are damaged from wheat and not healed yet, you are much more likely to have a problem with dairy.
The tips of the villi are where lactase is produced.
Also, if one is subject to the effects of gliadiamorphins, IMHO one would likely be sensitive to caseomorphins, because the unhealed intesine is permeable.. ie leaky gut syndrome. This allows proteins into the bloodstream that would normally not be there. (and to wreak havoc)

Willing to say I may be wrong, though. Anyone?

I spend alot of time on celiac  research issues, so naturally this is where my brain goes!  lol

Great to see that others have identified gluten as a potential pathogen/allergen that can significantly contribute to both mind and body deterioration through compromised immune dysfunction. I know you, Dr Davis, often think of the heart as the canary in the coal mine, and I see the brain as a canary partner showing first signs of impending acute deterioration.

This link will take you to a series of interviews I did with Dr Peter Osborne on similar issues as discussed in this posting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJCZmNzkRNA&playnext=1&list=PLD61FCED98A4A5C66

Hope this helps encourage more discussion and awareness, and thanks for your excellent work!
cp

[...] The first couple of weeks without grains and sugars were not pleasant.  In the beginning, I had a headache nearly every single day.  By body was detoxing and coming off the caffeine, carbs and sugars.  I was crazy tired.  For several days, I was so ravenous I wanted to gnaw my arm right off my body (would somebody please pass the sea salt…?)  If this lifestyle is sooo healthy, why have I been feeling like I’ve been run over twice by a dinosaur?  The answer is simple and thanks to in-depth research before starting my journey, it is something that I anticipated would happen – I have been experiencing the classic symptoms of Low Carb Flu. [...]

I don't eat wheat, at your suggestion.  But while it's clear to me that processed foods are a huge health problem, it's not clear to me if the biggest problem is wheat, or sugar, or processed meat, or processed vegetable oils, or some other problem due to factory food production.  It does seem like cultures with traditional diets are better off before they start eating American processed foods, but I don't know of any research that pinpoints the problem.

@Peter
Good point, however, I feel that if a person DOES give up all wheat products and then sees/feels a dramatic change in their body or the control of a particular disease or just a feeling of improved over-all well being, then something is definitely going on.

The older I get, the less confidence I have in either the majority of physicians I see or in the advice/guidelines from my government.

This reaction just means you're onto something important.  Keep fighting the good fight!  Loved your interview on The Paleo Solution this week.  I ordered your book and can't wait to read it.

On the Six Servings blog they write, "Cutting out one specific food is not only unrealistic, it’s dangerous. Omitting wheat entirely removes the essential (and disease-fighting!) nutrients it provides including fiber, antioxidants, iron and B vitamins."

. . . um, yeah . . . because you can't get fiber, antioxidants, iron or B vitamins *anywhere* else. How uninformed do they think people are?

Dr. Davis, I'm really curious, what do you mean by the "misguided" gluten-free movement?

I am looking forward to reading your book and adding it to my growing health-related library of books. I just visited that blog you referenced and here is something they stated,
“Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the gold standard of scientifically-sound nutritional advice…”

That is laughable...if it wasn't so scary when you think about it's implications.
Keep up the good work!

I received my copy of  "Wheat Belly"  yesterday. It is even better than I expected Dr. Davis. Very readable and amusing too. You have really started a fire storm and you have alot of people behind you including me!

I am doubting this comment will make it past the moderation on the SixServings.org website, but here is what I posted (all of which I believe is absolutely true):

I haven’t read Wheat Belly, but this quote strikes me as odd:

“Omitting wheat entirely removes the essential (and disease-fighting!) nutrients it provides including fiber, antioxidants, iron and B vitamins.”

What about the lectins, phytates, gluten, and blood-sugar elevation?

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but can’t you simply get more fiber, more antioxidants, more iron, and more B vitamins (amongst others) from fruits and veggies? Without them being fortified and bound up with the anti-nutritious phytates in our digestive system?

Chow -- Dr. Davis has talked a lot about most "gluten-free" foods are almost as bad as wheat.  In other words, the replacement grains they use to make "gluten-free" baked products (pizza, bread, cereal, etc.) are just not good for you.  Of course, if you just stick to whole foods - fruit, veggies, nuts, meat - primarily found in the outer supermarket aisles, you can be gluten free and healthy.
I also loved the assertion that cutting classes of food is "unrealistic."  Huh?  it is very easy to do, provided you want to.  I quit cold turkey on a dime last year after following the Paleo movement (primarily Art Devaney) and once I noticed how much better I felt -- especially with no wheat and grains -- I was motivated to continue to quit.  I don't feel "cheated" or "deprived".  I feel liberated.  Keep up the great work, Dr. Davis.

Yup. Next door neighbor works for one of the largest bakeries in the US here in Fort Worth Texas.  And yes, it shows.

I'll bet my comment on their website doesn't make it either. Funny how their post was days ago yet there are no comments. I wonder how many they've removed? All of them... either that or people aren't jumping in to sing the praises of grains.

If there was no evidence, the grain lobby would be in a legal process to shut you down, not a media process of discrediting. Keep up the fine work.

No sugar, no grain, no omega 6 oil.

Thanks Daren, I thought that might be it, but wasn't quite sure.

I put a review up as fast as I could at Amazon, convinced 3 folks already (they bought the book). Last night my sister calls me that she read about Wheat Belly in Woman's World and is gonna try the wheat free thing to see how she feels, as she looked back at her life and realized whenever she gave up bread, she felt BETTER. (This after weeks of me pleading with her to try gluten free, as she and my other sister both have lupus, I have Hashimoto's and asthma/allergies, and our family is riddled with auto-immune stuff. She'd been tested "allergic" to wheat ages ago.) So, hopefully, the message really branches out. I just want my family to get better. As the third of three sisters, two with lupus, and a mom dead from auto-immune aplastic anemia, and a niece sans hair with alopecia, if we can tame the autoimmune beast, we'd do ourselves a huge service.

Thanks for the good word.

@Tyler @Melissa,  Fruits and vegetables aren't much better than grains for mineral bioavailability again because they are locked up by phytates, and vitamin content of fruits & vegies is lower today than 50 years ago because of the nutrient depleted soils they are grown in.

Just Google 'Phytates are Mineral Magnets', here's a cut & paste:    "Iron and other minerals required for cellular respiration aren’t usable by humans if they are ingested in plant or vegetable foods, because plants contain phytates. Phytates biochemically lock up the minerals with the plant fiber, rendering them unusable. This makes minerals, as well as the fiber, UNUSABLE BY HUMAN cells. That’s why it was shown, and reported in the “Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2000,71:446-471,” that WOMEN EATING THE MOST FIBER AND THE LOWEST AMOUNT OF FAT HAD 20% LOWER CALCIUM RETENTION.

Eating meat did NOTHING to increase colon cancer risk. Yet this shocking result hasn’t been reported in the popular press. “Fiber fiction” has run rampant in America for many years.

An exceptional article was written for the general public in 1997 by “Albion Research Notes – A Compilation of Vital Research Updates on Human Nutrition”, Albion Laboratories, Clearfield, UT (Vo.. 6, No. 2, June 1997). Here is what it said:

“Natural sources of fiber, such as cereals and fruits, generally have a DEPRESSING EFFECT on absorption of minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, and copper.” Imagine taking mineral supplements and still going into a negative balance for the very minerals that are being supplemented! Too few of us saw this important paper.

Minerals can’t be separated from the fiber in human digestion so, because you aren’t a cow with four stomachs designed to accomplish that difficult task, you can’t make effective use of the minerals in plants. “Consumer Reports on Health” reported on this – in fact, the magazine actually published the statement that eating spinach was worthless for obtaining necessary iron. It’s “in there” but not usable for a human being.

We keep getting misled with what sounds good, but isn’t based on science.

Phytates TAKE OUT MINERALS (the respiratory co-enzymes Dr. Warburg speaks of) – JUST THE OPPOSITE of what we desire and require to avoid contracting cancer.

Think of fiber as bad “mineral magnets”, removing the precious minerals from your body and inhibiting oxygen transfer through the blood, whereas Essential Fatty Acids  are the good “oxygen magnets” helping bring an abundance of needed oxygen into your cells."

Huh, that's funny. All my comments on the sixservings grain website got deleted. Must be a technical glitch.

It's called "Reasoned Discourseâ„¢". It's what happens when organizations make claims on their blog, and the other side shows up with overwhelming logic and scientific evidence that pounds them into the ground. It's pretty obviously broken out there.

@Peter Silverman;  There's plenty of research out there if you know how to look for it or if you have  sources you can trust to give you the real truth and scientifically solid references.  

Also you must realize that the term "biggest problem" is relative to time and degree of disease progression, in other words it depends on how fast and how bad you want to get sick or suffer the effects of an industrial foods diet.  For my money the "food" that is the biggest problem in having the most immediate negative effect on humans is the nutrient depleted & stripped white flour used in ALL processed "foods" that is known to cause severe dental decay and physical degeneration and under development as was clearly established by Weston Price in his 1938 book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration."  To see the entire book for free just google 'nutrition and physical degeneration online', it's the first result, and at least look at the pictures and read the captions to see how the effects of processed "foods" can be seen with the outcome of just the next pregnancy!  Both wheat flours and sugars are carbs, and as ALL carbs reduce to glucose molecules they are essentially one and the same, which is why a diet high in just breads even from the much lauded whole grains can quickly rot your teeth.  In the section about the Arctic Inuit in his book, Weston Price details how the Inuit eating their native diet would go their entire lives and only get maybe one or two dental cavities, and their teeth would eventually repair themselves and get even harder as the people got older.  

As bad as the almost immediate physical degeneration effects of industrial flours are, the other "biggest problem" has to be the toxic, adulterated, pre-oxidized trans molecule fats in partial & fully hydrogenated vegetable oils that are KNOWN to be a direct cause of cancer and arterial plaque formation.  Can't find it now but I once saw a chart somewhere overlaying the use of trans fat vegetable oils & margarines with the incidence rates of cancer & heart disease since the introduction of the bad oils into processed "foods" around 1920 and the curves matched almost exactly.  The problem with industrial oils is that the latency period of cancer and heart disease progression due to trans fat intake is measured in decades, so people tend to not see the association of those diseases with those oils until they are shown the facts, such as the fact that at the turn of the century in 1900 when most people subsisted on a pre industrial  "farm style" diet of eggs, butter & whole milk & cream, cancer and heart disease affected only 3 percent of the population and obesity was only 5 percent (google 'margarine vs. butter newsflash' see the top hit).

As for processed meats just google ' avoiding nitrates in foods is unnecessary', you'll see this:  "No one mentions that nitrate is naturally occurring in greens such as lettuce and spinach. The article, “Bad Rap for Nitrate: Infamous Preservative Maj Help Defend Against Bacteria,” by J.R. Minkel, Scientific American Biochemistry Section, September 2004, page 24, details that “they” were wrong again and sets the record straight. It was known in 1994, that the stomach contains lots of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide kills germ in the bloodstream. Therefore, it is obvious that nitrate is a helpful substance. Why this has taken ten years to be publicized is astounding, Here are some key points from the article:

” … [D]ietary nitrate is actually part of the body’s inherent defense against infection ….

“Bacteria in the mouth convert nitrate to nitrite, which gets swallowed, so the stomach can naturally produce nitric oxide …. “

”’We’ve gone from considering all of these things to be toxic and carcinogenic to realizing that [nitrates are] playing a fundamental homeostatic role [safe and required, and NOT cancerous],’ says microbiologist Ferric Fang of the University of Washington.” (Emphasis added.)"

Hope that answers your question and helps round out the nutritional picture.  Live long and prosper.

"Wheat Belly" arrived today at my door (in Germany). Great reading and a real eye opener. I am distributing the message here as well and will loan the book to others. Would make a good candidate for translating into other languages. How about Nihongo?
Renfrew

Thanks, Amy! Be sure to come back and share your impressions.

Hi, Chow--
I was referring to the terrible practice of replacing wheat/gluten with cornstarch, rice starch, tapioca starch, and potato starch that make you diabetic, give you cataracts, arthritis, and heart disease. We should be eating wheat-free and low-carb.

Thanks, Patty!

Dr. Davis, is it true that there are no sound scientific studies referenced in the book that support your case?

I haven't looked at the book, but I have the same question.

I've been a subscriber to this blog for a while, and I recall when Dr. Davis solicited reader experiences, along the lines of, "if you stopped eating wheat and it helped your health let me know!" I don't recall any solicitations along the the lines of, "if you stopped eating wheat and nothing happened, let me know!"  In sum, I suspect that the grains marketing group's criticism of the book's advice being based on anecdotal evidence may be substantially correct.

I should mention that for a variety of reasons, I don't eat wheat.

Are there studies to show the current version of wheat is safe? It would seem to me the burden is on the produce of a new food.

Make that "producer of a new food"

Hi cancerclasses,
Maybe (?) you'd like last week's Oncogen journal's full "Dynamic epigenetic regulation of ... tumorigenesis" ,see  http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/vaop/
current/full/onc2011383a.html

Hi, Don-

Absolutely none. Of course, wheat lobby defending the status quo will quote the studies that say things like replacing white flour products with whole grains yields less diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and colon cancer--that is indeed true. What they fail to ask is what happens when you replace wheat products with NO wheat products? The products of "traditional breeding methods" have also been assumed to be safe for human consumption, essentially no questions asked.

Noted. However, Steve, I would reserve judgement until you read the book. It is not just a compilation of anecdotes; all the science is laid out as plain as day.

Hi, Gary--

No, of course not. There are several hundred relevant references over 16 pages. And that was just a partial compilation of the literature already published.

I think you need to package your book with Tom Naughton's "Fat Head" movie.  It could be the Fat Head/Wheat Belly combo!

(Seriously.)

Dear Doctor Davis,
I'm so glad that  you've published your book. I will be buying it for myself and others. Also,my library is waiting for it to come in, 5 people are waiting for it!.  I have a calcium score of 206. I HAVE HASHIMOTO THYROID and b 12 intrinsic factor problems,,,I HAVE ALSO HAD LYME DISEASE AND BABESIA A FEW YEARS AGO ,,I have been wheat (and grain -free) since 4/11 and I'm down to 130 pound (from 150) and with a thyroid problem.....this is amazing.  MY lipids have dropped significantly .  Thank you...I hope to contact your office to look at my NMR in the future....Linda

Wheat adherents are mostly orientated to a nutritional perspective; and so miss out on Doc's point that unique byproducts of wheat digestion affect the brain, irregardless of one's intestinal and/or metabolic response. His clinical results seem to indicate that some wheat digestion byproducts acting in the brain influence the gene BDNF (brain derived neuro-trophic factor) to either encode different proteins for expression &/or down-regulate the DNF total output; BDNF is inherently related to being overweight and obesity (but not "morbid" obesity).

BDNF experimentally  injected into the cerebral ventricle affects circulating triglycerides,  the size of adipocytes and most importantly visceral fat mass ( see Doc's recent 27 Aug post "Good Fat Bad Fat" for orientation on non-nutritional relevance of visceral fat). When there is more BDNF produced the lower the blood glucose levels go and the more peripheral insulin sensitivity improves; as well as the less visceral fat there is. The mechanism whereby BDNF expression works is  apparently via a cortico-trophin releasing hormone (CRH)-urocotin-CRH R2 pathway in the hypo-thalamus PVN (para-ventricular nucleus). Nutritional needs on a fad diet isn't the same as practicing medicine; Doc elsewhere said no one diet is right for every person (nor all life long, I'd add).

My comment at sixservings.org has also not appeared.

Dr. Davis,  What do you think of The Esselstyn diet?  They are making some of the same claims you are but with a different diet with about the only thing the same is to eat lots of fresh vegetables.

2 days ago in  "Adipose Tissue Dysregulation in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome" from Sept.  Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism lead author ( I. Jialal, 34 years in endocrinology , quote) " ... some body fat may actually be toxic. .. dysfunction in the fat of people with metabolic syndrome is more than can be explained by obesity. " Report shows when fat cells outgrow their supply of blood those cells have macrophage crusts crowning them; the macrophage inflammation has cardiovascular implications. Team previously found those with metabolic syndrome visceral fat have less endothelial progenitor cells to preserve blood vessel lining functional integrity.

I like how Ashley at SixServings.org infers in her statement that being a vegan or vegetarian in "not only unrealistic, but dangerous." And she's their crack PR person - what a joke. Wheat Brain!

I so need to get your book.  I test positive for the DNA that leads to Celiac disease and was diagnosed with IBS (before I went low-carb, now I'm symptom-free).

My only concern is my kids.  They have my genes, LOL.  Is there a resource for feeding them properly so they're not getting wheat, or spelt, but still get to eat "bready" style things?  Basically I guess I mean a cookbook.

yes, this book deserved to be translated into multiple languages!
am going to order one!
my colleagues won't believe me that "wheat is evil" & causes "man boobs" & belly.

comments I just posted (awaiting moderation) at Six Sevings:


No Comments
Steve L says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
September 3, 2011 at 4:45 am
So, cutting wheat is not a cure all for coeliac disease??

Well, I have coeliac disease.

Sure, there are other sources of gluten in western diets, but wheat is by far the most important source…by a country mile.

So, maybe cutting wheat is not a cure all for coeliac disease, but it goes pretty damn close.

Steve L AUS 20110903.14.45

Reply
Steve L says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
September 3, 2011 at 4:58 am
…further to my comment (above) regarding the nonsense in this article about coeliac disease, let’s also consider the value of wheat (and other grains) for various nutrients.

Look at nutrient density tables. Wheat is only a good/cheap source of energy/calories, especially if your government subsidises its production. Maybe fibre too, depending on how heavily its processed. As to other nutrients, its a pretty poor source compared to vegetables and meat (incl poultry and fish).

This is without getting into more contentious issues such as whether wheat (and other grains) damage the gut of even non-coeliacs, causing leaky guy syndrome and possibly being involved in the pathogenesis of some autoimmune diseases….

Then there is the high glycaemic load wheat provides in the diet, with metabolic consequences.

Remember too that there is not unanimity amongst experts regarding official dietary guidelines: far from it. So, you can’t reasonably appeal to a consensus among experts.

But leave that aside, and also the damage it does to coeliacs (I was VERY ill for 10 years because of wheat), wheat is a pretty poor source of nutrients apart from calories.

Steve L Australia 20110902.1500

It does seem like cultures with traditional diets are better off before they start eating American processed foods.
These days people are becoming more and more health conscious as well conscious about their outer look. Skin care is part of healthy lifestyle.How do we ensure that we have all that we need to have a healthy living? This is a big question among everyone. We need proper nutrition and a fit and healthy body. Good Health is all that one craves for. Becoming healthier and fitter though not very difficult needs dedicated efforts.u can see some more suggestions on:

rhinoplasty
in this u will surely find out some important tips to be healthy.

Challenge them on Twitter and Facebook. Ask them why they are not allowing comment on the Wheat Belly post.

What struck me from this post is the "concern" that those who do not eat wheat are missing out on essential nutrients, but there seems to be none of this concern for those who do not eat wheat because of celiac disease or gluten-intolerance. So does that mean that since I have celiac, I wouldn't "suffer" by eliminating that nutrious wheat? Eliminating that wonderful wheat has transformed me. I was constantly in pain, muscular and headaches, terrible heartburn, skin issues, etc. Eliminating that nutritious wheat has been amazing. I believe that everyone can take in all of the nutrients they need by eating the good stuff. I can't wait until my copy of "Wheat Belly" arrives. It will be on my 17 year od son's reading list too.

Sadly lots of people are that clueless.

Check out everydaypaleo.com. I don't know about wating "bready" things but that blog is all about getting the kids on board.

Hi, Debbie--

Yes, a crucial point. Provided wheat calories are replaced with real foods like vegetables, nuts, avocados, cheese, eggs, etc., there is absolutely no deficiency that develops. Of course, Mary Q. Dietitian automatically assumes that you replace lost calories with Slurpies, Twinkies, and French fries--the default position being we're stupid.

Be wheat-free, be healthy!

Yes, Michia. We should all do that and not let up!

Thank you, Steve. I find it incredible, also, that for every person who knows he/she has celiac disease, nine others don't know it.

Keep on punching away!

Thanks, Pam. This is why I wrote Wheat Belly: to bring to light all that is ALREADY known about wheat and its relationship with human health.

Hi, Helen--

The world is indeed a field of wheat landmines, especially for kids who eat at friends' houses, school cafeterias, etc. There's little to do except educate them and help them understand why they shouldn't eat the foods their friends are eating.

Rodale has mentioned the possibility of a Wheat Belly Cookbook, but it's still pretty early, only 5 days after release of the book! So stay tuned . . .

Yes, indeed: impaired, foggy, wheat-added thinking!

Yes, Might: a crucial issue in understanding how visceral fat is bad, bad, bad, unlike the fat, say, on the arms or backside.

Hi, Tracy--

A strict vegetarian low-fat diet can be better than an average American diet--minus fast food; junk food; hydrogenated fats; meats from warehouse-raised livestock given corn, hormones, and antibiotics--but it is far from an ideal diet. Esselstyn and Ornish, while they have great intentions, are beating a dead horse in this diet. This is the diet, by the way, that made me diabetic 20 years (yes, 20 years! that's how long they've been preaching this nonsense), made me gain 30 lbs, and gave me lipid distortions: HDL 27 mg/dl, triglycerides 350 mg/dl. It all reversed when I stopped following their advice.

Thanks, Linda! Keep up the momentum!

Hi, Serge--

That's a darn good idea!

I just checked that blog you referenced and they didn't post my comment that questioned their approach...interesting.

Since people eat clusters of foods rather than single foods (wheat, sugar, vegetable oil; hot dogs, hot dog buns, Coke; brown rice, tofu, broccoli) it must be hard to single out individual foods as being lifesavers or villains.

HI, Peter--

Nope, I don't think so.

Wheat stands apart at many levels, unique in its protein content (glutens, gliadin, and others), carbohydrate (amylopectin A), and glycoprotein lectins (wheat germ agglutinin).

Parallel to this is allergy: You can have fatal allergy to peanuts but not to walnuts. That's a bit difference, though on the surface they seem roughly similar. Food composition is a crucial factor in human tolerance and foods cannot be lumped together willy nilly.

Great interview with Robb Wolf. I have been waiting for Wheat Belly to come out, so we're getting ours and several others to share ASAP. LIke many, many others, eliminating wheat (and other bad juju) from my diet dramatically changed my health (it's been almost 2 years, now).

The Go with the Grain commentary was rubbish. And I find it very telling that they are not printing the critical comments. Not to mention that their site is sponsored by the Grain Foods Foundation. I'm sure they only have everyone's best interest at heart - yeah, right.

Thanks for your bold move with this book. It is needed.

I have just gotten started in your book (around 50 pages) and am really enjoying it.  Who would have thought a book about wheat and science would be such a page turner!

I have a question though:  Why?  Why are the doctors/dieticians/nutritionists so uninformed?   Why is this seemingly such a 'fad' diet to so many?  Is it really just about money and keeping the cycle going?  I just find this concept so hard to fathom.  Do 'they' really want us sick and fat or have they just created a mess that is far too big to clean up and now they are just saving face?  

I also posted over at that six serving's blog and thought something was a bit fishy when I didn't see any other comments.  It is clear that she/they can't take any form of reasonable, informed rebuttal.  Mostly though, my thought was: that's it?  That is all you are coming with?  That is your review?  Saying nothing would have been better than what she tried to pass off as an honest review of your book.  I would be very surprised if she even read it.  If you had, one can't remain that misguided can they?

Hmm, wonder if my comment will ever get approved on the sixservings.org site

I was struck by the tenor of the wheat-industrialist organs in that they seem a bit defensive. If I were in charge of their message, I would have a very low key response. I would make some low level noise about the science being on our side and use some back handed compliments directed at “fringe nutritional ideas”.

In other words, I think it is a mistake for them to act provoked. It is actually in their power to control this because in my experience, people do not want to listen to the message of wheat-belly. If the noise level stays down a bit, people will keep on eating their “healthy whole grains” and downing Twinkies when no one is looking because fundamentally they do not want to change. Everyone wants to know what I did to transform my health, but when I tell them, they look at me like someone who escaped from a mental institution and generally, they never bring it up again. I understand that completely too, because at one time, I would’ve said you’ll have to pry the baguette from my cold dead fingers.

The best thing that can happen for you, Dr. Davis, is a full scale onslaught by the evil empire. That is the only way people like me will take note of the message in a serious way.

Hi Dr. Davis,

This is my comment I left at sixservings.  I am pretty sure it will not get posted either:

Honestly,
If you don’t start posting some of the comments coming your way from the folks that have been commenting about their experiences regarding wheat consumption, then people are just going to think of this organization as a bunch of intellectual cowards! What is so hard about defending your position?

Or, are you just having technical challenges?
Susan Moles

Thanks, Susan.

It looks like they've censored--CENSORED--all of our comments, so I posted a challenge on their Facebook page (though I had to "Like" them to do it).

I'm itching to engage these people. I'm not hoping to convert them, just to allow me to bring all the incredible and damning evidence against wheat out into the open.

Hi, Tony--

You clearly understand the ways of the world! I am going to hammer away and try to embarrass and shame them into responding!

It looks like they've blocked all of our comments. I've counted 5 people who say they've posted comments, none show on their blog. Yes, I believe they are practicing CENSORSHIP.

Thank you for joining the fight, Corina! You are absolutely correct: NONE of our comments are showing up.

They are choosing to not engage in the fight face-to-face. I suspect they will never engage in a public debate, since it will allow me and others to publicly air all the damning evidence against wheat. Instead, they will rely on the misleading and deceptive research showing that whole grains are better than white flour.

All I want is not to convert them to our way of thinking, but a chance to articulate these ideas to the broader public.

Thank you, Cathy. "Wheat and other bad juju" . . . that made me laugh!

I knew the fight was coming. It would be nice if they would not just say nasty things and then run away, but confront me and others face-to-face.

Dr. Davis,

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed Wheat Belly.  Not only was it informative, but it was fantastically well written as well.  Over at Tom Naughton's blog, I joked that your huge number of synonyms for "extreme" and "extremely" show that you must have either a massive vocabulary or the Deluxe Edition of Roget's Thesaurus.

But in all seriousness, it is a great book!

Who profits? Follow the money:

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/Meeting2/CommentAttachments/GrainFoodsFndn-182REF.pdf

ConAgra, Pepperidge Farm, various milling companies.

Yes, indeed, Damaged. And a LOT of money--hundreds of billions.

Thanks, Ari. I'm extremely happy you like Wheat Belly!

Sarah  from Everyday Paleo did a great podcast over at The Paleo Solution, here is the link:
http://robbwolf.com/2011/01/11/the-paleo-solution-episode-62-everyday-paleo/

So why don't they go after vegans and vegetarians?

How can these people live with themselves?

Rhetorical question, yes ... sigh.

Looking forward to reading WB after being blown away by Dangerous Grains.  Have been eating a paleo diet for 6 months and the improvement in my health is nothing short of astonishing.  In my 50s, I look and feel 20 again, actually better.  I truly believe if everyone dumped grains from their diet for a month, you could kiss Cargill, Monsanto and ADM good-bye.

Hi, Leslie--

Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. Feel and look like in your 20s while in your 50s? That's great!

I think they're worried about Wheat Belly"s head-on attack. This is the most direct attack they've suffered yet.

Don't take it personally  ... in looking over all the blog posts on that site there are no comments on any of them.  Comments likely encounter a script that reads, "send acknowledgement message then delete"  Wonder what happens if someone posts a positive comment?  

I posted a comment over there, I loved that 99% of the comments were anti-wheat.  This is awesome.  Great book and great interview on LLVLC.

Thanks for all you do!

Hi, Karn--

The battle being waged over at Good Grains Foundation has been nothing short of an anti-wheat rally with placards reading: "We won't eat wheat!"

Read a bit of "Wheat Belly" while in the bookstore taking a break from flood traffic.  I probably won't buy it for awhile since I already have a long reading list and consider myself in the "choir" since I've been eating Paleo/Primal for almost a year.  I do have three diabetics in the family that are so stuck in conventional wisdom that I don' t think it would be much help for them.  Lent Mom my Paleo book at her request but she never got around to reading it.  I had hoped that she would take to it and become n=2 and turn their T2D and Dad's congestive heart failure around, but maybe they are two far down that path.  Time is running out and all they do now is treat the diseases and resulting symptoms and are clueless about the underlying causes.  Death by Conventional Wisdom and "Modern Medicine".   I was happy to see the book make the NYTBS list.  This may be a good shot at getting the health/healthcare situation turned around.  Unfortunately, 99.99% of people are not paying attention or are fixed on the CW way.  "Eat less fat!  More healthy whole grains!  More cardio!"  The rest just wants food thats cheap and tastes good(sweet or salty).  Just waiting for the other shoe to drop and the book get recalled from the stores and the Kindles since it presents such radical, subversive information and viewpoints.   The book will become a black market item and will only be shared in meetings of the anti-wheat cell groups in private homes of those trying to stop the Great Amirican Wheat Machine.

Your book is great!
I happened upon your blog through another blog 6 months ago.
I am gluten free but became fat from all the new products and assumed I was eating real food.
With a bit of reading, I connected the sugar
being the problem. I am a 58 yr old woman who runs 5 miles 5 days a week and who by accident through trial and error happen to eat your diet and was convinced to by another doctor friend to go for the higher fats.
My old body is back less 2 sizes in 5 mos. I feel wonderful again. I too feel like a lean machine again while jogging. It feels great!
The body fat is so noticably gone that people in the large community I live in have asked me how I did it.
I have directed them to read your book. Better understanding of the real reasons to get fit may change their old beliefs and give it a try.
I am curious to see Dr. Oz's new live show today. He will be discussing how to lose belly fat. I hope you
are his guest!!! congrats to you on your contributions to a better life!

Thanks, M!

I, too, had to stumble my way to find the path to a diet that truly works. So why are given this information at the outset? Why do we all have to inadvertently commit egregious errors of dietary misbehavior to learn from mistakes?

I agree so much Dr. Davis.  In fact, I often think that the replacing of gluten containing products with other very processed starches is the reason why so many parents and studies have concluded that GFCF diets do not work for kids on the autism spectrum.  GFCF was where we started with my son, but he did not show significant improvement until we went grain and sugar free, including severely limiting fructose.  Low carb GAPS/Paleo or Primal diets are much more helpful for kids with neurological and digestive issues, but do not get nearly the press.  Love your blog.  Keep it up.

Thanks, Mom!