Wheat Belly Cookbook: 150 delicious wheat-free recipes for effortless weight loss and optimum health. Dr Davis William
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problems. Rather than developing diarrhoea, people with coeliac disease more recently tend to demonstrate impaired coordination, difficulty controlling their bladders and a wide variety of other nervous system derangements.
Most nervous system involvement has been confined to people with abnormal immune markers (such as increased levels of transglutaminase, endomysial or gliadin antibodies) to wheat typical of coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity, though many do not experience intestinal symptoms. Nervous system involvement is especially worrisome, as it is difficult to diagnose, since it yields symptoms that most doctors would not associate with wheat consumption, and is not fully reversible. Cerebellar ataxia, for instance, involving loss of balance and bladder control and destructive changes in the cerebellum (the region of the brain responsible for co-ordination) seen as atrophy (shrinkage) on MRI, with a typical age of onset of 48 to 53 years, has been linked to wheat consumption. Peripheral neuropathy, the loss of sensation in the legs or the loss of bladder and bowel control, may be due to wheat consumption in as many as 50 per cent of those afflicted when no other cause can be identified. Even dementia from wheat has been identified, recently documented by a study from the Mayo Clinic and identified at autopsy – yes, fatal dementia from wheat.
The effects of wheat consumption on the human brain can also involve seizures, typically of the temporal lobe variety but also grand mal, and migraine headaches.
You don’t have to have coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity for wheat to exert effects on your brain. We know that gliadin gains access to the brain, yielding the appetite-stimulating opiate effect that increases calorie consumption. Gliadin is also the probable cause of behavioural effects (reduced attention span and behavioral outbursts) in children with autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Gliadin is likely to blame for the worsening of auditory hallucinations, social detachment and paranoia of paranoid schizophrenia and the manic phase of bipolar illness. Gliadin effects in these conditions are reversible: They occur with wheat consumption; they dissipate with wheat avoidance.
In most of us, wheat does not generate auditory hallucinations or destruction of the cerebellum. But it does induce appetite to the tune of 400 or more calories per day, every day. Think about this: What if Big Food and Big Agribusiness got hold of such information? Would they warn us – or just put wheat in everything?
Inflammation: Going Down in Flames
Signs of inflammatory processes gone awry in the wheat-consuming individual are common. Typical signs include painful wrists and hands, painful elbows and shoulders, worsening of arthritis in knees and hips, and tender ankles and shins when touched. If any form of inflammatory disease is present, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, wheat is the gasoline on the fire, typically worsening inflammation and resulting in greater pain, swelling, rash, etc.
Inflammation is a fundamental process that underlies an astoundingly wide range of conditions, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, Sjögren’s syndrome, scleroderma, polymyositis, polymyalgia rheumatica, coronary disease and heart attacks, even cancer – to name just a few in a long, long list. The elaborate processes of inflammation can be initiated by a variety of triggers, including nutritional deficiencies (e.g., vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids), chronic infections (e.g., gingivitis, intestinal bacterial overgrowth), ingestion of oxidized compounds (e.g., polyunsaturated fatty acids, foods cooked at high temperature), autoimmune processes in which the body’s immune defences mistakenly attack normal tissue (e.g., Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, autoimmune hepatitis), and ingestion of toxic substances. The last two paths are especially relevant to our wheat conversation.
Wheat is an especially prominent player in the complex web of inflammation: The direct toxic effects of wheat germ agglutinin and the indirect toxic effects of gliadin get the fires of inflammation started; autoimmune processes are set in motion by the abnormal entry of foreign substances into the bloodstream allowed by wheat germ agglutinin; and the inflammation-stoking effects of visceral fat further fan the flames.
The process starts with the direct toxic effects and intestinal leakiness created by wheat germ agglutinin. Foreign compounds gain access to the bloodstream, some of which intensify ongoing inflammatory responses, while others mistakenly generate autoimmune responses, immune responses errantly waged against the body’s own proteins, which is the signature process underlying conditions such as autoimmune hepatitis and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
Gliadin, the wheat protein responsible for coeliac disease, indirectly provokes inflammation in the lining of the intestinal tract. Gliadin triggers the entry of inflammatory T-cell lymphocytes, damaging the fine hair-like villi lining the intestinal tract, and invites a barrage of inflammatory proteins such as interferons and interleukins. People with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity show inflammation from gliadin. Although it doesn’t wreak the same degree of destruction of the delicate villous lining, inflammatory changes, such as infiltration of inflammatory lymphocytes, are seen.
The visceral fat of the wheat belly that lines the intestinal tract or encircles the liver, pancreas and kidneys, thanks to repeated bouts of high blood sugar and insulin, amplifies inflammation. Visceral fat is itself inflamed. If biopsied, it appears to be riddled with white blood cells, not unlike the pus that oozes from an inflamed wound. Visceral fat, often reflected on the surface as ‘love handles’ or a ‘muffin top’, also pours inflammatory proteins into the bloodstream, proteins like tumour necrosis factor and leptin that export inflammation out from visceral fat and into all other areas of the body.
All the pieces in wheat add up to an incredibly effective vehicle for generating inflammation in multiple organs, head to toe. How’d those biscuits taste?
Make Your Skin Crawl
The skin is the largest organ of the human body, serving functions such as temperature regulation, insulation against water loss and protection from bacteria and other potential invaders.
Think of the skin as the outward reflection of internal health. Rashes, acne, itchiness, pain – all can reflect something going on inside. Skin health may especially reveal gastrointestinal health. So a rash may not simply be a rash; it may provide insight into some process gone awry in, say, the small intestine, pancreas and liver.
Dermatologists typically biopsy rashes, then treat them with steroid creams and toxic drugs like dapsone, sulphameth-oxypridazine and isotretinoin (Accutane). It is not uncommon for dermatologists to have no idea why you have a rash and have no choice of treatments except to shotgun it with drugs, wear long-sleeved shirts and long trousers, and grin and bear it.
Skin problems are rampant in wheat-consuming individuals. The most frequent problem is a dry red rash along the edges of the nose and on the cheeks. Dermatologists call this seborrhoea. However, it is so common and so typical of wheat consumption that I recognize this as a wheat rash.
Dandruff, itchy rashes of eczema and seborrhoea-like rashes on the elbows are also common expressions of wheat consumption. The thick, silvery, scaly rash of psoriasis is another very common expression of wheat consumption.
Dermatitis herpetiformis, a herpes-like rash (but not caused by the herpes virus), is the signature rash of people with a coeliac disease tendency (characterized by having abnormal immune markers to wheat, such as increased levels of transglutaminase antibodies). It is an angry-looking, itchy rash that occurs symmetrically on the body. Although it occurs in people with a genetic susceptibility to coeliac disease, intestinal symptoms of coeliac disease are not usually present.
In truth, the list of skin conditions that can develop from consumption of wheat is easily four pages long. It includes such peculiar conditions as acanthosis nigricans, black velvety patches on the back of the neck, armpits and elbows; dermatomyositis, a rash that occurs along with muscle weakness and inflammation, resulting in difficulty walking and climbing stairs, and blood vessel inflammation; and alopecia, or hair loss from the head or other areas. Wheat causes so many skin conditions that I believe it makes sense to always consider wheat consumption as the underlying cause of all rashes until proven otherwise.
Death, Taxes and Wheat
Nobody escapes the effects of wheat. They might be visible on the surface, they might be hidden deep within your stomach, intestinal